U.S. Congressman John Shimkus was on break from Washington D.C. last week and stopped by the WNSV studio to talk about some important topics to constituents of this area.  One topic involved ethanol and the decision to cut back on the amount of corn needed from farmers.  He says it is hard to believe, but the nation is purchasing less liquid fuel, such as gasoline or gasoline with ethanol.  There is a blend wall that has a percentage of ethanol that should be in each gallon, based on gallons used, but if that amount being used is going down and the law says you still have to produce and sell a certain amount, and there is no relief from E-15 or people are cautious to move into the flex fuel market, that is a problem.  When the EPA came out with this ruling, it was harmful to ethanol production and bio-diesel production.  He says the EPA will make a final ruling soon and there is hope that the EPA will racket back their original proposal to incentivize ethanol production.  He adds that the biggest battle in Washington is that some want to eliminate it, but that isn’t going to happen.  They say, why would the United States need energy security or flexibility?  Shimkus says that we are still importing crude oil and we need that diversified fuel portfolio is in our national interest.  So now farmers wait to see what the EPA decides and how that will affect them.