Press Release

MINNEAPOLIS, November 30 - Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association Executive Director Timothy Rudnicki released the following statement on the final targets:

"EPA’s Final Volume Numbers Are Capitulation to the Petroleum Industry.

"The EPA’s failure to uphold the RFS gives petroleum just what it wanted: more heel dragging rather than complying with the law. According to the RFS, at least 15 billion gallons of renewable fuel, such as ethanol, should be used in the fuel transportation market in 2015.  Unfortunately, EPA’s final numbers fall short of the legally required amount of renewable biofuels for both 2015 and 2016.

"Congress intended for the RFS to drive change so as to increase our collective energy security while driving down GHG emissions with renewable biofuels like ethanol.  Biofuel producers relied upon the law and made significant investments to fulfill its part of the equation. Conversely,petroleum has dragged its feet since the first RFS in 2005 and now the EPA is rewarding noncompliance. 

"Biofuels, like ethanol, play a major role in reducing GHG emissions in the transportation sector.  Rather than abide by the black letter law of the RFS and maximize the GHG benefits of biofuels, the EPA has chosen to take us backwards."

The EPA finalized the volume requirements and associated percentage standards that apply under the RFS program in calendar years 2014, 2015, and 2016 for cellulosic biofuel, biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel, and total renewable fuel. EPA also finalized the volume requirement for biomass-based diesel for 2017.

The final 2016 standard for advanced biofuel is nearly 1 billion gallons, or 35 percent, higher than the actual 2014 volumes, while the total renewable standard requires growth from 2014 to 2016 of over 1.8 billion gallons of biofuel, or 11% higher than 2014 actual volumes. Biodiesel standards grow steadily over the next several years, increasing every year to reach 2 billion gallons by 2017.

Rulemaking and supporting documents.

Hoosier Ag Today

November 30, 2015

By Gary Truitt

The long awaited Paris Climate Conference gets underway this week. The purpose of the international meeting is to focus on how the world can address factors that are impacting our climate, including carbon and greenhouse gasses. Participants will also  try to agree on the text of a new international treaty. Countries will discuss related matters such as forests and funding for poorer countries to deal with climate change. All of the nations are working towards the common goal of limiting greenhouse gas emissions to prevent climate change from getting out of hand. Trying to get 196 countries to agree to anything makes the process slow going.

President Obama will present recommendations from the US on how to reduce carbon and GHG.  The oil lobby has been pressuring the administration not to mention biofuels or the Renewable Fuel Standard.  Geoff Cooper with the RFA is hopeful the White House will mention one of the few US programs that has been successful in reducing GHG: the RFS, “We are hopeful the President  will mention the RFS or renewable fuels in his speech. The RFS has been huge success in reducing carbon emissions in our transportation fuels.” The US is aiming for a reduction of at least 26 per cent below 2005 levels by 2025. How the President plans to achieve this without renewable fuels is baffling to Cooper.

Cooper admits the powerful oil lobby has been working hard to keep renewable energy out of the Paris discussions, “But we are hoping the administration will see through that fog  and include the RFS in its discussions in Paris.”

Obama, who has stated he is a climate change authority, has had a mixed record on supporting the RFS and biofuels. In advanced materials sent by the US to the Paris conference, there was no mention of biofuels or the RFS.

Ironically, as the Parris conference begins, the EPA will be releasing its final rule on the level of ethanol that can be blended into gasoline. It is likely the EPA will allow less than the ethanol industry wants and can produce. The RVO rule is expected to be released on Monday.

The location for the conference moves around each year. In 1997, it was in Kyoto, where the famous Kyoto Protocol was written up. In 2009, it was in Copenhagen, a meeting which ended in anti-climax. It was decided two years ago in Warsaw that the 2015 COP21 meeting would be in Paris. Country representatives also have smaller meetings throughout the year, mostly in Bonn, Germany.

Read the original story: A Big Week Ahead for RFS and Biofuels

The Hill

November 24, 2015

By Jon Soltz

As a veteran, I’ve witnessed fellow servicemen and servicewomen risk life and limb over oil interests in hostile regions, all so we can feed our dependence on foreign oil. That’s one of the many reasons why Congress passed the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) into law in 2005. Our leaders saw American-grown renewable fuel as a way to cut our dependence on foreign oil and bolster our energy and national security. They recognized that it’s senseless to keep putting Americans in harm’s way when we are producing renewable fuel right here at home. Biofuels are crucial to our national security, and since the RFS was enacted, our dependence on foreign oil has decreased by more than 55 percent. Biofuels are also a major contributor to job growth in America, creating more than 852,000 annually. 

Lowering the renewable volume requirements under the RFS, as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed several months ago, would be disastrous for our country’s energy independence and security. With ongoing instability in the Middle East and so much at stake, continuing to depend on foreign oil is not an option. The RFS is the most successful energy policy in the U.S., and producing secure renewable fuel, like ethanol, in our country is one of our most effective tools at breaking our addiction to foreign oil. But now it’s being attacked by people who only stand to gain from our foreign fossil fuel dependence: the oil industry.

The oil industry’s advocacy for continued dependence on imports from hostile foreign regions cannot be allowed to sway our nation’s energy policy. According to Brigadier General Steven Anderson, there have been 1,200 casualties among American soldiers transporting fuel in Afghanistan and Iraq. We can and must do our part to allow access to and production of homegrown biofuels to lessen our reliance on foreign oil.  

America’s military has recognized that and invested in advanced biofuels to increase its diversity of energy. As the largest consumer of energy in the nation, the Department of Defense has used renewable fuel to insulate itself against price shocks in the rigged global oil market. America cannot control the price and global production of oil, but we can control the fuel we grow right here at home. 

Increasingly, climate security is also playing a role in global stability. As climate change contributes to extreme weather events, we will only see further destabilization throughout the world. So it’s more important than ever that we curb our carbon emissions by diversifying our fuel supply and using increasing amounts of renewable fuel produced in America. After all, the advanced biofuels we’re producing right here at home are the cleanest motor fuels in the world. 

When oil and gas production and pollution are increasingly fouling our land and water and threatening the world’s climate, we need a strong RFS to promote the production of secure energy. We have a choice between dirty oil from volatile regions of the world and homegrown renewable fuel made by America’s farmers and rural communities. We should be finding ways to cut, not increase, our use of oil, despite what the oil industry and its cronies want.

President Obama has said that, “The only way for America’s energy supply to be truly secure is by permanently reducing our dependence on oil.” We have the technology and know-how to make that happen. But we need the Administration to stop standing in the way of this progress. We can ensure our energy security and our national security by taking steps now to cut dependence on foreign energy and develop the resources in our own country. 

The RFS is imperative to our national security, and we can’t let oil companies dictate the safety of our men and women in uniform. If enacted as EPA has initially proposed, the current rule would undermine efforts to break from oil and attempts to move forward with advanced biofuels. We have a solution to our dangerous oil addiction, and we can’t afford to turn back now.

Soltz is an Iraq war veteran and co-founder and chair of VoteVets.org.

Read the original story: RFS is Crucial to National Security

The Hill

November 23, 2015

By Devin Henry

Corn growers have a new pitchman in their campaign to protect the federal ethanol mandate: the “Bachelor.”

Chris Soules, the former star of “The Bachelor” and a contestant on “Dancing with the Stars,” plugs the economic and environmental benefits of ethanol fuel in a new ad campaign a week before regulators are due to finalize new fuel ethanol standards.

“I’ve been able to see first-hand the benefits of renewable fuels,” Soules, a native Iowan, says in the ad. 

He adds that he’s seen the “effect on my family’s enterprise and I’ve seen it affect other families who haven’t even been involved in farming, by providing jobs and cleaner energy and to help us the country diversify our energy resources."

Soules, a fourth-generation farmer, proposed to "The Bachelor" winner Whitney Bischoff at his farm during the season finale earlier this year. 

The ad in which he appears, for Growth Energy, is meant to rebuff arguments from oil groups and those opposed the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) who have been running ads around the country questing the RFS’s impact on the environment. 

The ad is running in Iowa, Illinois, Ohio and Indiana, all big corn-producing states. Anti-RFS groups have hit the airwaves in some of those states and others with their message against the mandate.

“This ad is more about the positive benefits of ethanol and not just the policy debate, like we’ve run before and currently are running in Washington,” said Tom Buis, the co-chairman of Growth Energy. 

Federal regulators have a Nov. 30 deadline for finalizing three years of ethanol-blending requirements for gasoline. Both sides have looked to influence public opinion and policymakers on the ethanol mandate in the lead-up to the announcement, and ethanol backers are now deploying Soules to take on those opposed to the mandate.  

“He is a fourth-generation farmer, and that is the real stardom, in my opinion,” Buis said. 

Read the original story Ethanol Backers Enlist ‘Bachelor’ Star to Push Fuels Mandate

St. Louis Post Dispatch

November 22, 2015

By Jim Talent

Renewable Fuels Association

November 19, 2015

Press Release

At a meeting on Wednesday with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Bob Dinneen, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), and Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy, delivered the message that the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is working and that there is no reason for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set the Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) for undifferentiated renewable fuel (primarily corn ethanol) below the levels specified in the statute. EPA is expected to issue the final RFS rule for 2014–2016 on or before Nov. 30. Dinneen said data show the U.S. ethanol industry would have no problem meeting the 15 billion gallon blending level specified by the statute.

“The latest data from the Energy Information Administration show that gasoline consumption projections for 2016 have increased. In fact, EIA expects 2016 gasoline demand to achieve a nine-year high,” said Dinneen, underscoring a recent analysis by RFA. “Our calculations show that because of the uptick in gasoline demand alone, EPA must increase the 2016 RVO by 270 million gallons.

“Additionally, the EPA significantly understated the use of E85 and non-ethanol conventional renewable fuels, including non-advanced renewable diesel and biodiesel, in its proposal. Moreover, USDA’s recent Biofuels Infrastructure Program grants will give consumers greater access to higher blends of ethanol like E85 and E15 through the installation of more than 5,000 blender pumps at 1,400 fueling stations. We provided OMB with data showing that EPA has understated the likely market for E85 and non-ethanol conventional biofuels in 2016 by at least 440 million gallons. All of this suggests there will be at least 14.7 billion gallons of undifferentiated renewable fuel blended next year. With approximately 2 billion surplus RINs credits available for refiners to use for compliance with the RFS, there is simply no reason for the EPA to lower the 2016 RVO below the statutorily imposed level of 15 billion gallons.”

Buis added, “Yesterday we impressed upon OMB the importance of moving the Renewable Fuel Standard forward, not backward. This is a policy that is creating jobs, reducing our dependence on foreign oil, improving our environment, and one that is breaking the near monopoly Big Oil has on the liquid fuels transportation market, providing consumers with a choice and savings at the pump. The data is there to prove the value of the program and it shows the RFS is doing exactly what it was intended to do.”

“This meeting was really our closing argument before the administration makes its final decision. We impressed upon OMB that the oil industry’s ‘blend wall’ narrative is simply not true. The president needs to uphold the statute,” both concluded.

Read the original story: RFA and Growth Meet with OMB and Urge Administration to Uphold the RFS

Ohio's Country Journal

November 17, 2015

By Matt Reese

It can be really hard to know which way to feel about some issues because these days it seems everyone has their own set of “facts” that conclusively proves their point. The problem, of course, is that as soon as you conclusively prove a point, you run into someone else who has an entirely different set of facts that definitively proves their point, which happens to be the opposite view of the first point that was proven. Confused yet? I know I am.

One only has to sit and listen to a political debate on any issue between any candidates of any party to get all caught up in a muddled mess of my-facts-versus-your-facts. Then there is often a behind-the-scenes reporter who does a fact check on the aforementioned facts to clarify the situation. Unfortunately, more often than not, these fact checks often just compound the problem by providing another opportunity to spin the issue with a set of suspect facts about the facts.

Of course, in my line of work I see this all the time in great detail with the wide variety of complicated issues facing food and agriculture. This is certainly true in the current debate over the Environmental Protection Agency’s impending decision about the levels set in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The recent story by Joel Penhorwood on this issue highlights the divergent facts in the RFS debate. Here is an excerpt:

ACCF (an anti-ethanol group) Executive Vice President Dave Banks responded strongly to the outcry by Ohio ag and pro-ethanol groups.

“I think these guys sometimes get lost in this weird, parallel universe in which they actually convince themselves that this mountain of damning, definitive science and data about corn ethanol’s environmental impact doesn’t exist, or that folks don’t actually know about it,” Banks said in a statement.

That environmental impact Banks spoke of is one of negative consequence. The ACCF points to research that they say shows the production of ethanol doubles greenhouse emissions when compared to gasoline over 30 years, making it a dirtier fuel in the end — a highly disputed claim. 

“It’s just misinformation,” said Ohio grain farmer Chad Kemp about the anti-RFS ads. “The things they’re saying there is no scientific backing for. They’re trying to get the people to jump on board with it and basically, their idea is to kill renewable fuels in this country.”

The heated debate over the RFS really ramped up in recent weeks with dueling ad campaigns in Ohio and Washington, D.C. highlighting very different sets of facts pertaining to ethanol’s impact on the environment, the economy and so forth. So whose facts are right?

In the end, the complexities of these various issues generally boil down to some basic truths. The key for me is getting down to those basic truths and sorting out how I feel about those. So, here are some facts about the RFS (that are really facts) that helped me to form my opinion.

1. Congress created and approved the RFS.
2. Businesses planned their investment strategies based upon the RFS.
3. The RFS was implemented and businesses responded as they saw fit.

While there are many more nuances to the RFS debate, for me this set of undisputable facts is reason enough to support it. The government made a deal. Regardless of whether you like the deal or not, it was made and I believe it should be upheld and seen through to fruition. Maybe this set of facts doesn’t address your primary concerns about he RFS. Here are more real facts.

1. Ethanol offsets the purchase of foreign oil.
2. Ethanol is made from corn produced by American farmers.

I would rather support farmers in the U.S. with my energy dollar than who knows who I am supporting when I use petroleum.

In the end, there is usually at least some kernel of truth in either side of these debates. Which facts matter to you? The way I sort through them is by identifying the key (and real) facts of the matter that really matter to me.

Either way, the RFS is a no-brainer in my book.

Read the original story: What Facts are Really Facts?

Bloomberg Government

November 6, 2015

By Mark Drajem

An odd-bedfellows group of lawmakers — led by an oil-industry ally from Texas and a progressive Vermonter — raised a familiar-sounding concern about ethanol in a letter this week to EPA chief Gina McCarthy.

Their argument that the Environmental Protection Agency is requiring more ethanol than can be safely blended into gasoline has been made repeatedly by the oil industry. The echo in the letter wasn’t a coincidence: A lobbyist for refiner Marathon Petroleum Corp. was listed as an author of early drafts of what was distributed to lawmakers for them to sign on. The company says it offered input, but didn’t write the letter.

Ethanol producers say this shows that a campaign including chain restaurants, chicken producers, small-engine makers and even some environmental groups is being driven by oil producers and refiners, which oppose the mandates of the Renewable Fuel Standard. They found the lobbyist’s name in the letter’s electronic record and shared it with a reporter.

“It’s not hard to see the oil industry’s fingerprints all over this campaign,” said Brooke Coleman, the executive director of the Advanced Biofuels Business Council, which represents biofuel makers. “What this is about is trying to destroy the only competition they have in the marketplace.”

Michael Birsic, the lobbyist for Marathon and a former congressional aide, was listed electronically as the letter’s author.

Seeking Relief

“As you would expect, these types of documents are collaborative in nature,” he wrote in an e-mail. “Marathon Petroleum was one of the collaborators and suggested technical comments. We were not the original or primary author of the letter. We are just one the many interested parties who are seeking relief from the unreasonableness of the RFS mandate.”

Oil and ethanol companies have intensified their battle over the future of the program in recent weeks, as President Barack Obama’s administration prepares to issue long-overdue requirements for the fuel’s use last year, this year and next year.

Blend Wall

Lobbyists representing companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Tesoro Corp.say the EPA’s proposal would force them to blend ethanol in at more than 10 percent of the gasoline supply, breaching what they call the blend wall of how much can be safely used. Ethanol producers say EPA is proposing to illegally cut the requirement for ethanol, and should prod refiners into using higher blends of the fuel.

In recent weeks the debate has a surprising turn, as the oil industry and its allies unveiled a television advertising campaign that argued ethanol is worse for the climate than gasoline. The ads used a quote from former Vice PresidentAl Gore, who won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his work to stop climate change: “First-generation ethanol was a mistake.”

The letter to McCarthy was sent Wednesday and signed by more than 180 lawmakers. The EPA proposal for 2016 “would constitute a breach of the ethanol blendwall, which would cause adverse impacts on American consumers and the economy,” they said. The signers include a wide range of lawmakers, including Vermont Democrat Peter Welch, Virginia Republican Bob Goodlatte and the incoming chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Kevin Brady.

Not Aware

Republican congressman Bill Flores of Texas, who first circulated the letter, “was not aware until last week that the letter contained some material which might have originated from a stakeholder,” his spokesman, Andre Castro, said in an e-mail.

Spokespeople for both Welch and Goodlatte, who were signatories of the draft that went around to congressional offices, said the letter came from Flores’ staff.

“Congressman Welch signed on to Congressman Flores’ bipartisan letter to Administrator McCarthy regarding the RFS because it is consistent with his view that the corn ethanol mandate is a well-intentioned flop that is bad for consumers, bad for small engines, bad for farmers, and bad for the environment,” his spokeswoman said in an e-mail.

The EPA has a deadline of the end of this month to set the ethanol mandates.

Read the original story: Oil Lobby Had Hand in House Lawmakers’ Anti-Ethanol Note to EPA

Ethanol Producer Magazine

November 2, 2015

By Syngenta

Iowa Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum visited the site of the first commercial cellulosic ethanol production in the state of Iowa at Quad County Corn Processors (QCCP) Oct. 30.

QCCP recently passed the two-million gallon milestone for cellulosic ethanol production using trademarked Cellerate-process technology. Cellerate is a collaboration between Syngenta and Cellulosic Ethanol Technologies LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of QCCP.

Santorum met with QCCP and Syngenta representatives, including QCCP CEO Delayne Johnson, to discuss renewable fuels policy and see first-hand the innovative process technology that has enabled QCCP to become a leader in cellulosic ethanol production. Cellulosic ethanol is seen as a major contributor to meeting renewable fuel standard (RFS) targets.

"One of the things that's helped rural small towns and farmers, particularly in Iowa, is the Renewable Fuel Standard,” Santorum said.

Increased demand for ethanol has helped revive many rural communities by providing thousands of new, good-paying jobs. In 2013 alone, the ethanol industry created and supported nearly 400,000 new jobs across the country, while contributing more than $44 billion to the Gross Domestic Product and generating more than $4.5 billion in federal tax revenues.

Santorum also called for investment in flex fuel infrastructure to increase access to biofuels – which he believes would provide consumers with increased access to the fuel marketplace and allow greater market competition.

During 2014, QCCP achieved EPA certification to generate D3 renewable identification numbers (RINs) for cellulosic ethanol. According to Johnson, the generation of D3 RINs helps fulfill advanced and cellulosic requirements set forth by the RFS. QCCP is among the first companies to issue D3 RINs, which has also enabled the company to expand sales into racing and advanced biofuels markets.

“We are excited to have achieved our goal of producing 2 million gallons per year of cellulosic ethanol, and are on target to continue, or increase, this production level going forward,” Johnson said. “We’re now focusing on growing alliances and relationships within the industry.”

In 2014, Syngenta announced an agreement with Cellulosic Ethanol Technologies to license Cellerate process technology to ethanol plants. “Ethanol plants can integrate Cellerate process technology into their existing production process,” said Chris Tingle, head of Marketing for trademarked Enogen at Syngenta. “We believe that not only will Cellerate process technology help make advanced and cellulosic ethanol a reality, but the combination of Cellerate and Enogen could represent the next leap forward for ethanol production.”

Read the original story: Presidential Candidate, Former Senator Visits Quad County

Ethanol Producer Magazine

October 30, 2015

By Ann Bailey

The U.S. fuel ethanol industry has dismissed the American Petroleum Institute’s latest diatribe on the renewable fuel standard (RFS), saying the API’s assertions are false and an effort to restrict American consumers’ fuel choice.

The API released a study that said the statutory biofuels mandate under the RFA was not feasible to achieve and could cause great harm to Americans and the U.S. economy. API Downstream Group Director Bob Greco told reporters in a conference call that the mandates try to force more ethanol into gasoline that is safe for most cars on the road.

National Economics Research Associates predicts that refiners will be forced to reduce the nation’s fuel supply gasoline and diesel by 30 percent, rather than risk damage to vehicles, Greco said during the conference call. The research group also concluded consumer demand for higher ethanol content gasoline such as E85 and E15 is too small to serve as an outlet for higher ethanol mandates.

Dissemination of the recent anti-ethanol information by the API is business as usual, said Brooke Bainum, a spokeswoman for Fuels America. The talking points from the API are not new and have been disproven many times, she said.

The oil industry repeatedly opposes efforts to improve air quality impacts from the U.S. supply and denies that is the right thing to do at the same time it makes “wild doomsday predictions” about the economic consequences that have never happened, Bainum said in response to API.

Gas retailers continually have lauded the benefits of higher blend fuels, Bainum noted. For example, Cheryl Near, owner of Jump Start gas station in Wichita, Kansas, said the United States needs to support homegrown renewable fuels and blend more, not less, ethanol into the fuel supply.

Meanwhile, U.S. Energy Department, Argonne National Laboratory and University of Illinois –Chicago studies disprove API’s claims about ethanol and also have proven the benefits of higher fuel blends, Bainum said.

Tom Buis, Growth Energy CEO, countered API’s latest claim by saying that the institute and its allies are attempting Americans hooked on dangerous foreign oil and consumers are paying the price. Americans deserve market access to a less expensive choice at the pump, Buis said. Ethanol choices such as E15 and E85 reduce greenhouse emissions and make the air cleaner, he said.

More than 84 percent of the cars on the road are approved to use E15, Buis noted, and despite what API claims, ethanol blends help clear the environment, are higher performing, cost less and directly benefit consumers by providing a choice and savings.

The Renewable Fuels Association called on the American Petroleum Institute to stop trying to scare consumers about biofuels in an attempt to protect its fuel monopoly.

“Much like an uncontained oil spill which obliterates everything it is path, as we approach the deadline for the EPA to release its final RFS rule Big Oil and its congressional supporters are pulling out all of the stops by completing obliterating the truth,” Bob Dineen, RFA president and CEO said in a news release.

Read the original story: Ethanol Industry Disputes API’s Ethanol Claims