The Renewable Fuels Association wasted no time today in congratulating Barack Obama on his victory.

“Throughout this campaign, President-elect Obama has reiterated that American farmers and ethanol producers are a critical component of our national strategy to help reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil,” RFA said in a news release. “We look forward to working with an Obama Administration and members of Congress from both sides of the aisle to ensure the full potential of America’s home grown ethanol industry is realized.”

The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council is pleased with “the role energy independence played in the 2008 presidential election.” Executive director Toni Nuernberg says that in this time of great uncertainty, it is time for the country to work together. “Our fight for Energy Independence should rival the efforts and sacrifices expended at other critical moments in our nation’s history; times when Americans pulled together not only by rationing and conserving, but thinking creatively, experimenting to develop new innovations and efficiencies, abandoning tradition, and working side‐by‐side to get the job done,” Nuernberg said.

In his so-called “closing arguments” in the Wall Street Journal this week, Obama said he would “invest $15 billion a year over the next decade in renewable energy, creating five million new, green jobs that pay well, can’t be outsourced, and can help end our dependence on Middle East oil.” The ethanol industry is reading that as good news for the next four years.