As presidential candidate Rick Perry returned to Iowa today, the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) took the opportunity to question the Texas governor’s plan for energy tax incentives.

After the IRFA pointed out that Perry’s energy plan would end ethanol tax credits in less than two months, but allow oil tax subsidies to continue indefinitely, a Perry spokeswoman told Bloomberg News that Perry would “work with Congress to phase” out oil subsidies “over the next 20 years.”

“How in the world does Governor Perry justify 20 more years of tax subsidies for oil companies?” asked IRFA President Walt Wendland. “The renewable tax credits cease at the end of this year. But despite that some of the oil subsidies go back 100 years, now we’re told that Perry wants to give oil companies another 20 years of subsidies. Given this extreme position, Perry’s talk about not picking winners and losers and having a level playing field is simply hollow rhetoric.”

IRFA notes that, in addition to favoring tax benefits for oil, Gov. Perry opposes the federal renewable fuels standard (RFS) but his energy plan would leave intact the “federal petroleum mandate” – mandating that over 95 percent of vehicles on the road be filled with a fuel that is a minimum of 85 percent petroleum. Perry has proposed 18 specific policy recommendations in his energy plan to promote the production and use of oil and natural gas, “but not a single policy recommendation to promote the production and use of renewable fuels.”

“The Perry energy plan is not good for Iowa’s economy or America’s security,” says Wendland.

Governor Perry is in eastern Iowa tonight and then plans a major policy roll-out on government reform Tuesday morning.