(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump’s nominee to oversee American farming was once head of a group that was among the loudest opponents of a favorite US agriculture product: biofuels.
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But Brooke Rollins, a Texas native who’s Trump’s choice for US secretary of agriculture, vowed in her confirmation hearing Thursday to “elevate and honor all sources of fuel.” She said she looks forward to continuing Trump’s “current energy dominance plan,” of which biofuels is an “important piece.”
Rollins spent 15 years as head of the Texas Public Policy Institute, before moving on in 2018. The conservative think tank backed fossil fuels and vocally opposed US corn-based ethanol. At the time, traditional fuelmakers found themselves at odds with biofuels, with a federal blending mandate dividing the two traditionally right-leaning sectors of energy and agriculture. Even Trump sometimes found himself walking a tightrope between the constituencies during his first term.
Since then, the rivalry between the sectors has faded. More fossil fuel companies have started pumping out products made from corn and soybeans, America’s two biggest crops. Trump’s administration is considering steps to boost sales of biofuel.
“She’s working for a president that’s pro-ethanol, so she’s obviously going to have to follow the president’s lead, and I’m sure she will,” Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the largest US corn grower, said in an interview before the hearing.
“Coming from Texas, I was a massive defender of fossil fuels and the importance of fossil fuels in the energy independence and energy dominance narrative,” Rollins said during the hearing. “Clearly, I’ve spoken with so many of you on both sides of the aisle on this issue. I will be a secretary for all agriculture.”
Rollins’ “extensive qualifications and dedication to America’s farmers” would be on display during the hearing, White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement to Bloomberg.
During Trump’s first term, he was still working to broker a compromise between oil and biofuel interests. In the years since, oil majors have invested in renewable fuels to capture financial government incentives and as a way to gain an environmental sheen and fend off the threat from electric vehicles.