The U.S. Energy Information Agency is estimating the average retail cost of gasoline to be $3.79 per gallon in 2012 and $3.72 per gallon in 2013. Some areas of the country can see gas priced at well over 4-dollars per gallon into the foreseeable future. The National Corn Growers Association reports there is one factor that, when removed, can drive the cost of gas in your tank significantly higher – and that is domestic, renewable ethanol.

NCGA President Garry Niemeyer, a corn grower in Illinois, says – this is not the time to be reducing our production and use of ethanol, but increasing it, by moving forward quickly with the E15 blend and by building more flex-fuel cars and trucks – and the infrastructure to support them.

Meanwhile, Gary Gensler, chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, asked lawmakers this week to think of consumers paying more for gasoline as Congress decides how much money to give his agency. According to Gensler, if his agency’s funding were cut, – it would struggle to employ new market surveillance tools to target inappropriate activity. The CFTC is in charge of ridding commodity markets of fraud and manipulation.

Courtesy: NAFB News