In the News
Nov 2, 2015
By Devin Henry
The White House has begun the final review of proposed ethanol-level rules under the federal renewable fuels mandate.
The Office of Management and Budget reported Monday that it has received the final Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the last step before finalizing the ethanol requirements.
EPA officials rankled both ethanol interests and the oil industry in May with the three-year ethanol mandate proposal, which looks to set the amount of ethanol refiners are required to mix into their gasoline supply every year.
The proposed mixing levels are well below what Congress said they should be when lawmakers expanded the RFS in 2007. Corn-growers and biofuel advocates have pushed the EPA to increase the levels while finalizing the rule.
At the same time, the oil industry argued that it is already mixing as much ethanol as is possible into its fuel supply, warning that most cars can’t support fuel with more a higher ethanol concentration than 10 percent.
Industry groups on both sides of the issue have launched ad campaigns over the proposal, and lawmakers had appealed directly to the White House and the EPA to make their cases for or against it.
The EPA received more than 670,000 comments on their proposed RFS levels. A spokeswoman said Monday that the agency is “committed to the long-term growth in biofuels that will strengthen energy security and increase greenhouse gas emissions benefits.”
The Obama administration is required to issue the standards by Nov. 30.
Read the original story here : White House Begins Final Review Of Ethanol Rule
Nov 2, 2015
By Mario Parker
Americans are burning the most gasoline in eight years. And the nation’s ethanol suppliers wouldn’t have it any other way.
More demand means more gasoline being blended. And more blending means more ethanol potentially getting added to the mix. That may give President Barack Obama’s administration just the support it needs to raise the amount of ethanol that fuel suppliers must use, according to the Washington-based consultancy ClearView Energy Partners LLC. The Environmental Protection Agency submitted proposed biofuel requirements to the White House for review on Oct. 30, the government’s website shows.
“We think the numbers are going higher,” Tim Cheung, vice president and research analyst at ClearView, said by phone Monday. “Gasoline consumption has increased and therefore consumers are using more ethanol.”
Since the Environmental Protection Agency issued its proposal in May to change national biofuel targets, the U.S. government has raised demand projections for both gasoline and ethanol to reflect improving economic conditions and lower prices. The revisions threaten to weaken refiners’ longstanding argument that drivers aren’t using enough of the motor fuel to support more ethanol blending.
“EPA is obligated to use the latest gasoline demand projections from EIA, so we fully expect the final” targets to reflect higher consumption estimates, said Geoff Cooper, senior vice president of the Renewable Fuels Association, a Washington-based trade group.
The American Petroleum Institute, which represents Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., referred to comments made on an Oct. 28 conference call with the group’s director, Bob Greco. During the call, he described the Renewable Fuel Standard as a “failed program.”
Ethanol already comprises 10 percent of gasoline consumption, and the institute has argued that blends exceeding that share may lead to car engine and fuel system damage.
In May, the EPA proposed to set corn-based ethanol requirements at 13.4 billion gallons this year and 14 billion in 2016. The government had targeted 15 billion gallons for both years when it was outlined in 2007.
Read the original story here : How Gas-Guzzling Americans Are Aiding The Call For More Biofuels
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
October 30, 2015
DuPont celebrated the opening of its cellulosic biofuel facility in Nevada, Iowa, with a ceremony including Iowa Gov. Terry Brandstad and many other dignitaries. This biorefinery is the world’s largest cellulosic ethanol plant, with the capacity to produce 30 million gallons per year of clean fuel that offers a 90 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions as compared to gasoline.
The raw material used to produce the ethanol is corn stover – the stalks, leaves and cobs left in a field after harvest. The facility will demonstrate at commercial scale that non-food feedstocks from agriculture can be the renewable raw material to power the future energy demands of society. Cellulosic ethanol will further diversify the transportation fuel mix just as wind and solar are expanding the renewable options for power generation.
DuPont brings an unparalleled combination of science competencies and almost 90 years of agronomy expertise in Iowa to develop both a pioneering clean fuel and biomass supply chain. Vital to the supply chain and the entire operation of the Nevada biorefinery are close to 500 local farmers, who will provide the annual 375,000 dry tons of stover needed to produce this cellulosic ethanol from within a 30-mile radius of the facility. In addition to providing a brand-new revenue stream for these growers, the plant will create 85 full-time jobs at the plant and more than 150 seasonal local jobs in Iowa.
“Iowa has a rich history of innovation in agriculture,” said Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad. “Today we celebrate the next chapter in that story, using agricultural residue as a feedstock for fuel, which brings both tremendous environmental benefits to society and economic benefits to the state. The opening of DuPont’s biorefinery represents a great example of the innovation that is possible when rural communities, their government and private industry work together toward a common goal.”
Biomass-based businesses can bring new sources of revenue and high-tech opportunities to rural economies around the world. As a global company with operations in more than 90 countries, DuPont is uniquely positioned to deploy its cellulosic technology for a global rollout, in transportation fuel and other industries.
“Today, we fulfill our promise to the global biofuels industry with the dedication of our Iowa facility,” said William F. Feehery, president of DuPont Industrial Biosciences. “And perhaps more significantly, we fulfill our promise to society to bring scientific innovation to the market that positively impacts people’s lives. Cellulosic biofuel is joining ranks with wind and solar as true alternatives to fossil fuels, reducing damaging environmental impacts and increasing our energy security.”
In Asia, DuPont recently announced its first licensing agreement with New Tianlong Industry to build China’s largest cellulosic ethanol plant, and last fall a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was announced between DuPont, Ethanol Europe and the government of Macedonia to develop a second-generation biorefinery project. The company also is working in partnership with Procter & Gamble to use cellulosic ethanol in North American Tide® laundry detergents.
The majority of the fuel produced at the Nevada, Iowa, facility will be bound for California to fulfill the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard where the state has adopted a policy to reduce carbon intensity in transportation fuels. The plant also will serve as a commercial-scale demonstration of the cellulosic technology where investors from all over the world can see firsthand how to replicate this model in their home regions.
FACT SHEET: The DuPont Cellulosic Ethanol Facility
DuPont’s achievement provides the technology that will transform the U.S. fuel supply enabling a transition to fulfill the original cellulosic ethanol volume targets as Congress intended when it passed the Renewable Fuel Standard, a regulation established in 2005 to encourage growth and investment in sustainable fuel solutions. Earlier this month, DuPont and America’s Renewable Future released new poll findings that suggested Iowa caucus-goers from both parties – 61 percent of Republicans and 76 percent of Democrats – would be more likely to vote for a presidential candidate who supports the Renewable Fuel Standard and renewable fuels.
Read the original story: DuPont Celebrates the Opening of the World’s Largest Cellulosic Ethanol Plant
October 28, 2015
By Kyle Nixon
The author is the general manager of the Novozymes facility in Blair, Nebraska.
At the end of November the Environmental Protection Agency is due to issue the final rule on the amount of renewable biofuels that will be blended into the nation’s fuel supply.
The initial proposal, which was issued back in May, was a step backward for the economy and a threat to future investments.
Biofuels blending volumes are set by the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS), which was signed into law 10 years ago. Each year the EPA is required to issue regulations that turn those volumes into a percentage of the fuel supply. As you have probably noticed at the gas pump, most of our fuel supply now contains 10 percent ethanol.
The latest EPA proposal, however, sets the blending below the levels dictated by the law. If that change is finalized, that flawed proposal will undermine significant economic success.
Ever since the RFS was passed, companies like Novozymes have been investing in renewable fuels. We are a global biotechnology company and we supply the enzymes that help prepare biomass for the biofuels industry.
Since 2005, we have invested $500 million in technology, facilities and people to move the biofuels industry forward. We spent $200 million to build our plant in Blair, which opened in 2012 and now employs more than 100 people.
I am the general manager of the Novozymes facility in Blair, and I’ve seen firsthand the economic benefits of the RFS for Nebraska. According to the trade group Fuels America, the renewable fuels industry supports more than 850,000 jobs nationally, paying $46.2 billion in wages and $14.5 billion in taxes each year.
Instead of sending money to overseas oil producers, the biofuels sector has provided financial stability for rural farming communities right here at home.
It also has produced returns for the environment. In the 10 years since it was enacted, the RFS has reduced U.S. carbon emissions by 590 million metric tons by pushing gasoline out of the fuel supply. That’s like removing 124 million cars from the road.
But the law has been so successful that the oil industry is pushing back. Afraid of losing market share, the oil industry has attacked the RFS and attempted to influence the EPA’s administration of the law. Unfortunately that strategy resulted in the recent EPA proposal that would reduce the amount of blended renewable fuels.
Novozymes invested and innovated because of the RFS. Our workforce is here, in Blair, because of the RFS. We want to invest more, but the instability of this policy is putting the brakes on a fast-growing industry. In June, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts visited our global headquarters in Denmark and heard about the challenge of investing with an unpredictable policy.
“They are looking at all their investments in light of the EPA decision,” he said. “When the EPA changes the rules, it creates uncertainty and hampers job creation.”
Novozymes believed that the EPA would follow the letter of the law. Now EPA officials are pulling the rug out from under the biofuels industry and betraying hardworking Americans and the communities that have built this industry.
The final rule is due on Nov. 30. Between now and then the EPA has a chance to stand up for American workers and farmers, follow the law, and get this policy right.
The EPA can still keep our government’s promise and drive a great economic success story.
Read original story: EPA Biofuels Rule Could Hurt Economy
October 26, 2015
By Mikkel Pates
With grain prices dropping since 2013, farmers are closing the 2015 season with big crops and difficulty penciling profits.
Agweek visited with the presidents of the South Dakota Farm Bureau and the South Dakota Farmers Union, the two general farm organizations that aren’t specific to a commodity or a species of livestock. The organizations differ in emphasis, but agree on certain things. Significantly, both say ethanol will be important to the region, and will weather the financial storm.
Scott VanderWal, president of the SDFB since 2004, operates a third-generation family farm, raising soybeans and corn, with some custom cattle-feeding and custom harvesting near Volga, S.D., which is about 8 miles west of Brookings, S.D.
South Dakota Farmers Union President Doug Sombke farms with his sons on land his great-grandfather farmed near Groton, S.D., about 20 miles east of Aberdeen. Today, the Sombkes run the farm and have diversified with a hunting lodge, dog business and a soil-sampling enterprise.
Ethanol a key
VanderWal leads an organization of about 16,000 member-families, meaning a single member might represent several family members. He says the SDFB is clearly and consistently in favor of ethanol development. It is opposed to lowering ethanol volumes required in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Renewable Fuel Standard, as has been proposed.
Ethanol production also creates a byproduct called distiller’s grains, which benefits the state’s livestock industry as a feed option.
“We do have some livestock producers who feel the RFS is an unfair advantage, and that it drives up the cost of corn,” VanderWal says. “But we can see now that corn is back to some pretty low prices. We’re still producing ethanol at record levels, like we had been.”
He harvested a good soybean crop, and the biggest corn crop his farm has ever experienced, with a yield of nearly 190 bushels per acre.
Ethanol development and expansion is the biggest priority for the Farmers Union, an organization of about 14,000 people. With the rise and fall of corn prices in the past several years, Sombke sees ethanol as “the way to go” to help stabilize corn and other grains.
“It gives us another market for the marketing of the corn, but also the byproducts,” he says.
South Dakota has been one of the most aggressive places for developing ethanol, and is still trying to expand. The Ring-Neck Energy & Feed LLC project in Onida, S.D., about 30 miles northeast of Pierre, is the most recent effort to build a new plant. The company, formed in September 2014, is trying to gather finances to build a 70-million-gallon-per year plant that would take 25 million bushels of corn per year.
The current $3-per-bushel corn price might mean less cash for investment, but that’s when farmers need the ethanol market the most, Sombke says.
“That’s the reason I got into it 10 years ago, and why I started using higher blends of ethanol rather than just using the 10 percent, and not only in flex-fuel vehicles but in non flex-fuel vehicles, as well.”
A national industry effort seeks to raise the ethanol level in fuel from 10 to 15 percent, but Sombke thinks the future is the E30 blend. It’s the “most stable fuel you can find,” he says, regarding its evaporation volatility. He has E30 splash-blended and delivered to his farm for use in flex-fuel and standard vehicles.
Despite allegations against the ethanol blends, Sombke emphasizes there has never been “proof in a legal case” of any standard engine failing from the use of E30.
Politics, regulation
In terms of policy efforts, Sombke says SDFU is circulating a petition to acquire 27,741 valid signatures to create an independent political redistricting committee for the state. It would revise the way the state legislature changes voting district boundaries. Iowa has done it. Montana is one of 26 other states considering something similar.
Gerrymandering political districts to suit partisan motives is a problem for rural voters, Sombke says. A recent district change put 1,500 people from Aberdeen into a district that sprawls 100 miles away into Spink, Clark and Hamlin counties.
“The legislators are picking the voters, not the voters picking the legislators,” Sombke says.
As for its policy initiatives, the SDFB is anxious to help follow through on a state wetland mitigation bank it helped develop in the last Legislature, VanderWal says.
Under the wetland mitigation bank plan, a farmer wanting to eliminate a wetland in the middle of a field can buy credits toward creating a new one, and the person expanding or creating a wetland can take a payment toward that purpose. The state is still in the process of getting the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service to approve the details.
VanderWal says frustration surrounds NRCS backlogs in making wetland determinations.
In a related wetland issue, SDFB supports litigation efforts to oppose the expansion of EPA authority over wetlands in the Waters of the U.S. rule. VanderWal says if WOTUS can’t be stopped legally, the groups will work through Congress to defund or overturn the rule. South Dakota joined a North Dakota effort that created an injunction on the rule in 13 states, which has since been expanded nationwide.
Dairy differences
The 2015 North Dakota Legislature passed exemptions to the state’s anti-corporate farming law to closer reflect legislation in South Dakota that allowed growth in its dairy industry.
To compare, South Dakota voters in November 1998 approved Amendment E, an anti-corporate farming law, but it was ruled unconstitutional in 2003. Sombke says the SDFU supports dairy development, but he agrees with North Dakota Farmers Union colleagues who have opposed an anticorporate exemptions in North Dakota.
“I don’t think (overturning the law) changed anything for the better or worse,” Sombke says of the South Dakota law. “I do know corporations try to build because of [a lack of anti-corporate law in South Dakota], but we’re still largely family-owned, not corporate-owned.”
VanderWal says his organization is in support of “responsible livestock development and expansion. With land prices and the cost of capital now for starting to farm, it’s virtually impossible for a young person who isn’t inheriting a farm to get started.”
South Dakota needs more dairy cows with the opening of the Bel Brands cheese plant in Brookings. The expansion of the dairy industry has been a good thing, VanderWal says.
“Lots of people have new (dairy-related) jobs around Brookings,” he says. “It’s economic development.”
VanderWal says South Dakota’s program to help counties identify areas well-suited for livestock production is significant from environmental and social perspectives.
The climate
Sombke says South Dakota’s main advantage over North Dakota is climate.
“There’s a big difference between here and Fargo in the coldness of the weather and the climate for livestock,” says Sombke, who lives 35 miles from the North Dakota border. “That’s the biggest reason there’s no development (in North Dakota), not the corporate farming law. That’s just what the North Dakota Farmers Union says, as it is leading an effort to overturn the new exception.”
Sombke says the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources should gather more diverse opinions on the environmental impacts of large dairies and feedlots. He says the large livestock enterprises can have bigger negative effects on the environment.
VanderWal says the bottom line is that livestock development is still the most available avenue for young people to get into agriculture.
“You can still put up buildings or a feedlot, and start contract-producing livestock,” he says.
Most of the dairies that have moved here from other countries and states initially only wanted the 50 acres or so to place their buildings, and would buy feed products from surrounding farmers. Now, some are starting to buy their own farmland and put up their own feed.
That’s important, because it means they’re making money.
And both organizations can agree that’s crucial.
While the two groups have historically been split along political lines, the South Dakota Farm Bureau and Farmers Union do agree on some issues.
Ethanol’s influence on their state’s economy and farmers is at the top of that list.
Read the original story: Common Ground: SD Farm Groups Differ on Policy, but Support Ethanol
October 27, 2015
Novozymes today announced the launch of Avantec® Amp, an advanced enzyme product that improves yield and throughput in corn ethanol production, while increasing corn oil extraction and significantly reducing the need for several harsh chemicals used in ethanol production. By switching from standard enzyme technology to Avantec Amp, a typical ethanol plant with a capacity of 110 million gallons can make up to $2.5 million a year in additional net profits.
“Avantec Amp enables yield improvements and chemical reductions that were previously impossible,” says Peter Halling, Vice President – Biofuel, at Novozymes. “It will boost our customers’ bottom line and give them flexibility to adjust their various revenue streams based on market conditions. Ultimately, it will give them a competitive advantage in a challenging market.”
Simpler and more profitable, with fewer chemicals
Avantec Amp continues the success of the original Avantec®, introduced in 2012, by adding significant new benefits. It combines multiple enzyme activities into one product, and surpasses competing enzyme solutions by squeezing more ethanol from each kernel of corn and enabling increased output from the ethanol plant, thus saving energy and water and increasing return on invested capital. It can also boost corn oil production, an increasingly important revenue stream in the industry, by freeing up oil bound in the corn germ.
In addition, Avantec Amp reduces the need for a number of chemicals used to control and accelerate production processes at ethanol plants. Urea, which is used to improve the fermentation of ethanol, can be cut by more than 70%. Surfactants and ammonia, used to extract corn oil and adjust pH levels, can also be significantly reduced. Avantec Amp is the first enzyme product to replace urea and surfactants.
“By replacing these chemicals with enzymes you get greater safety for workers and lower costs,” says Peter Halling. “When you simplify the recipe, you reduce the risk of errors associated with handling multiple different compounds and you also have less need for storage.”
Read the original release: New Enzyme Boosts Profits, Cuts Chemical Use at Ethanol Plants
October 25, 2015
By Patty Judge
Like so many other issues today, what was once a source of bipartisan compromise and agreement has become laden with divisive rhetoric and the influence of special interests. So it goes with the Renewable Fuel Standard, a 2007 law establishing a widely lauded goal of increasing the amount of renewable resources in our gasoline to fight climate change, revitalize rural communities and put the U.S. on a path to energy independence.
In less than a decade, what was once seen as a symbol of good government and the synthesis of agriculture, energy and environmental priorities has become a political punching bag.
Renewable fuel is contentious inside the Beltway these days for one simple reason: oil industry influence. Being the only alternative liquid transportation fuel eating up precious market share at the pump, the fossil fuel industry will stop at nothing to maintain their monopoly. Of course, biofuels aren’t the only alternatives facing this kind of lopsided fight; wind and solar are only just now breaking the chokehold of the utility industry’s legacy players after more than three decades of struggle. We shouldn’t have to wait that long for renewable fuel.
One could argue it’s needed now more than ever. Climate change impacts have become more profound and urgent, rural communities are shedding jobs, and although oil prices are low today, they will continue to be unpredictable and it is only a matter of time before they rise again, subjecting the American pocketbook to geopolitical turmoil.
Nowhere is this more keenly understood than in Iowa, a corn state that prides itself on both agricultural innovation and developing alternatives to fossil fuels. And luckily, the Iowa caucuses provide an important mechanism to pull politicians away from the Washington bubble, out of earshot of the fossil fuel industry. After all, in Iowa, people matter more than big donors do. Once engrossed in true retail politics in diners and town halls, candidates can take a more rational look at the issue and talk to the thousands of men and women impacted by their decisions.
Outside Washington, especially in the rural communities buoyed by biofuels’ economic value, the tone is very different — one might say approaching unanimous. A newly released poll from America’s Renewable Future and DuPont suggests Iowa caucus-goers from both parties — 61 percent of Republicans and 76 percent of Democrats — would be more likely to vote for a presidential candidate that supports the Renewable Fuel Standard and renewable fuels.
In fact, the Renewable Fuel Standard — which requires a certain amount of fuel produced each year to be made from renewable sources — is a clear winner for Iowa caucus-goers for a number of reasons: three-quarters of Republicans and 7 out of 8 Democrats surveyed cited greenhouse gas emissions reductions over gasoline as a reason to support the RFS. About nine out of ten voters in both parties approve of the strong job and wage benefits the RFS ensures for Iowa. And 86 percent of Republicans and 92 percent of Democrats support the RFS for the hundreds of thousands of American jobs it supports across the United States as a whole.
It doesn’t take a political whiz kid to understand this phenomenon. The simple fact is that the renewable fuel industry supports some of Iowans’ biggest priorities: jobs, agriculture and a sustainable future.
As it happens, these benefits are set to expand tremendously with cellulosic ethanol, showcased at the end of October when DuPont opens the world’s largest cellulosic ethanol facility in central Iowa. Rather than processing corn kernels, the facility will create 30 million gallons of liquid renewable fuel from crop waste collected from within a 30-mile radius of the plant. This “biorefinery” reflects the forward thinking and entrepreneurship of Iowans and squarely puts the state in the bull’s-eye of the global advanced renewable fuel industry. It exemplifies both a pinnacle in human scientific achievement and the roll-up-your-sleeves hard work ethic of Iowa growers.
This facility will create 85 permanent jobs and 150 seasonal jobs for the collection, transport and storage of biomass. Second, it represents an entirely new revenue stream for the 500 farmers providing the cobs, stalks and leaves for feedstock. This biorefinery has also created a microcosm of technological and agricultural partnerships — from the companies developing custom farm equipment for feedstock collection to the government-academic collaboration to cultivate sustainable harvesting practices — that will only continue to grow and bear fruit in the coming years.
Finally — and most importantly — this represents a tremendous milestone in creating clean, renewable and homegrown fuel to power U.S. vehicles. (Of course it doesn’t hurt that we can export this technology to any agricultural economy in the world that also seeks to develop its own localized source of energy.)
Reasonable people in Iowa and across the country certainly don’t see a downside to the job creation, agricultural revitalization and energy independence renewable fuel provides. In fact, that’s a list of benefits members of both parties can certainly agree upon. Come election time, candidates would do well to remember just how important renewable fuels are to Iowans, and to so many Americans, who care about our environment, our economy and our energy security.
Read the original story: Colum: To Win Iowa, You Must Support Ethanol, And That's Good
More...
Oct 23, 2015
By William Morris
CLAREMONT - A group of Owatonna High School students got an in-depth look at a possibile career in agribusiness Friday when their Agriculture Explorations class visited Al-Corn Clean Fuel in Claremont.
The students got a bus tour of the ethanol plant, which processes up to 50,000 bushels of corn each day, with Al-Corn Compliance Manager Henry Blair serving as their guide. Blair explained the nuts and bolts of the distillation process and handed out samples of the ethanol, high-protein animal feed, corn oil and other products cranked out at the plant.
Al-Corn CEO Randall Doyal said the cooperative is pleased to show students a look inside the $4 billion Minnesota renewable fuels industry.
"Science plays a very important role in ethanol production, and tours like this give students a first-hand look at how clean Minnesota-grown renewable energy is produced," he said.
Blair answered questions about the mileage and performance of ethanol fuels and the skills needed to work at ethanol plants such as Al-Corn.
"One of the biggest things is the trouble-shooting ability," he said. "A lot of the day-to-day stuff is honestly very easy. Where the real value comes in is the ability to troubleshoot, follow a pipe from point A to point B, which sounds easy but is suprisingly more difficult in practice."
Blair has a chemical engineering degree, but said there are a variety of education paths that can lead to the same place.
"It's very learnable on the job," he said. "The Building and Utilities Maintenance (degress) through the tech schools, and a lot of guys come out with their boiler licenses, that's a good basis there."
Owatonna High School agriculture teacher Elizabeth Tinaglia said the students, who range from 9th to 12th grades, could connect what they learned at the plant with a number of lessons they'd learned in different classes.
"We're actually doing a unit right now on renewable fuels, so it's perfect," said said.
The trip was organized as part of a grant program by the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association. Communications and Education Coordinator Ashwin Raman joined the students for the tour and told them ethanol supports workers all around southern Minnesota.
"It's homegrown and it's clean and it's green," Raman said. "And as you can see from plants like Al-Corn, ethanol has boosted the economy of rural Minnesota and other states like it. ...It's estimated that in the entire country, there's about half a million people whose jobs are affected or depend on ethanol."
Read the original story here : High School Students Visit Al-Corn Ethanol Plant
Oct 23, 2015
By Bob Dinneen
The petroleum-funded study by the University of Tennessee is yet another attempt by the oil industry to spread misinformation about the positive role that biofuels like ethanol have on our nation's environment, economy and energy security ("Use of corn-based fuels detrimental to environment, economy").
Lifecycle analyses by the U.S. Department of Energy and others, including the University of Illinois, the International Energy Agency and Lifecycle Associates, have shown that, since the final Renewable Fuel Standard rule was implemented, grain ethanol produced today reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent compared to fossil fuels - even when hypothetical land-use emissions are taken into account. Ethanol production last year reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 40 million metric tons, which represents the equivalent of removing 8.4 million cars from the road.
It was not too long ago that the same authors of the UT study called bioenergy a "win-win-win scenario for energy security, agriculture and rural economic development." In fact, in 2006, these authors produced a lengthy study that concluded that the United States could eventually produce 60 billion gallons of ethanol per year sustainably, yielding huge benefits to the nation's economy and economic security. The authors wrote: "Not only can U.S. agriculture meet the nation's food and feed demand, but it has sufficient resources to produce significant quantities of biofuels."
Apparently, receiving funding from Smarter Fuel Future, an oil industry-led coalition composed of RFS oppononets, has caused the authors to change their minds about the positive impact biofuels are having and will continue to have on our nation's environment, economy and energy security.
Read the original story here : "UT Study Attempts To Smear Biofuels
Representative Collin Peterson
October 21, 2015
Press Release
Congressman Collin C. Peterson today announced 17 bipartisan members of the Congressional Biofuels Caucus sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy in opposition to the agency’s proposed Renewable Volume Obligation numbers for 2014, 2015 and 2016.
“The RFS is a crucial part of our domestic production of renewable fuels which works to boost our agricultural economies here at home and cut our nation’s dependence on foreign oil,” Peterson said. “I am disappointed in the cuts the EPA proposed for the RFS this spring and I hope the agency recognizes the disastrous effects this could have on rural America.”
The letter asks the EPA to follow Congressional intent of the RFS law and avoid triggering a provision which allows the agency to reset volumes that are lagging behind due to EPA’s continued delay of RFS implementation.
Full text of the letter is below:
Dear Administrator McCarthy:
As members of the Congressional Biofuels Caucus, we write to express our concern regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed rule on renewable volume obligations (RVOs) for 2014 and subsequent years under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). We urge you to make significant changes to this proposed rule, use criteria found in statute for determining domestic biofuel volumes, and follow Congressional intent when it passed the RFS.
The RFS is a key piece of our nation’s energy policy and it is working. The RFS has driven billions of dollars of investment in the biofuel sector in the United States and has created and supported hundreds-of-thousands of U.S. jobs, while also enhancing our nation’s energy security and delivering reliable renewable energy to market. Setting aggressive biofuel volume requirements is essential to continuing growth in our homegrown energy sector.
Unfortunately, the EPA’s proposed rule is inconsistent with the intent of the law. The proposed rule adopts a zero-growth approach and proposes limiting the annual blending targets based on available infrastructure—a criteria that is not included in the EPA’s clearly defined statutory waiver authority and was expressly rejected by Congress during the conference committee of the 2005 Energy Act (P.L. 109-58).
We are also concerned that the EPA’s continued delay and misinterpretation of the RFS could provide yet another avenue to shortchange the future of the biofuel industry. The RFS includes a “reset” provision that takes effect after 2016 if the EPA has reduced any of the mandated amounts by at least 20% for two consecutive years or by at least 50% for a single year. Should the EPA undermine the biofuel industry with insufficient volume requirements in the final rule, and use those very targets as the justification for a reset, it would add insult to injury for an industry already hamstrung by uncertainty. Instead we urge the EPA to set forth a strong methodology that reflects the original Congressional intent and is consistent with the long-term energy production goals of the RFS. Certainty in the biofuel market will unfreeze capital investments that have been waiting on the sidelines for far too long.
The decisions your agency makes in the coming weeks and months about the volumes for 2014, 2015, and 2016, as well as a decision on the biomass-diesel volume for 2017, will set the trajectory for the biofuel industry for decades to come. We again urge you to make significant changes to the final rule and follow clear Congressional intent in existing statute.
Sincerely,
Read the original story: Peterson Leads Bipartisan Letter in Support of Strong Final RFS Rule
October 21, 2015
By Holly Jessen
A new survey shows that, once informed about the renewable fuels standard (RFS), 79 percent of Republican and 90 percent of Democrat caucus-goers from Iowa think the RFS is good for the nation. In addition, 76 percent of Democrats and 61 percent of Republicans said they would be more likely to vote for a presidential candidate that supports the RFS.
“This isn’t a Republican thing or a Democrat thing, it’s an America thing” said Eric Branstad, Iowa state director of America’s Renewable Future, during a conference call Oct. 21, when the group jointly released the poll results with DuPont. America’s Renewable Future is a non-profit based in Iowa with the goal of protecting the RFS during the presidential election. DuPont will hold a grand opening celebration at its 30 MMgy cellulosic ethanol facility in Nevada, Iowa, Oct. 30.
Seventy-one percent of voters from both political parties reported having positive associations with corn ethanol, according to the poll results. Survey takers (78 percent of Republicans and 76 percent of Democrats) also indicated that they most often chose gas with ethanol or a biofuel mixture of some kind.
The survey was conducted by Selzer & Company, which in late September, contacted about 400 Democratic and 400 Republican Iowa voters likely to attend the February presidential caucuses. The voters were asked some general questions about energy and renewable fuels and then more specific questions about ethanol and the RFS, was described with this sentence. “The Renewable Fuel Standard requires that a certain percentage of renewable fuels like ethanol be blended into the gasoline supply.”
Jan Koninckx, DuPont’s global business director of biofuels, said during the call that cellulosic ethanol is on the verge of transforming and reforming the transportation fuel market, he said. It’s going from a centralized model, with large production facilities utilizing fossil fuel supply chains around the world, to more regional production of clean and renewable fuel. “In short, we are not surprised about these results, but we are happy to see this confirmation,” he said.
Brooke Coleman, founder and executive director of the Advanced Biofuels Business Council, talked about how extraordinarily effective the RFS has been, as a policy. The U.S. biofuels industry now has a total fuel production equivalent to that of an OPEC country, such as Ecuador. “We also find ourselves at a crossroads, and the crossroad is, there is a new rule coming by Nov 30 of this year,” he said. “That rule, as decided by the Obama administration and U.S. EPA, will either get us back on track with regards to the RFS and drive innovation and drive feedstock diversity, or it will continue to hit the pause button on the RFS and force companies like DuPont and others to invest into a marketplace that will demand cellulosic ethanol above oil, not be what the RFS intended and Congress intended.”
The current EPA proposal not only cuts blending numbers but changes in how the program works. “The point of the RFS, the reason the RFS is necessary, is to require oil companies to buy low carbon, more innovative gasoline and diesel alternatives, is because we don’t have a competitive marketplace and the oil companies won’t do it without policy,” he said, adding that the last thing any market needs is a change in law in the middle of the program.
Read the original story: Poll Shows Strong Support for RFS, Ethanol in Iowa
October 22, 2015
By Americans for Energy Security and Innovation
Americans for Energy Security and Innovation (AESI) released the following statement on a deceptive attack by Smarter Fuel Future on the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). A new ad released by Smart Fuel Future—an organization that openly represents the oil industry—uses outdated, false claims that the RFS increases greenhouse gas emissions and raises the price of food:
“The Renewable Fuel Standard is America’s most successful energy policy, and recent scientific studies have proven that it has helped to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to studies used by the United States Department of Energy, using corn ethanol reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 34 percent compared to regular gasoline while advanced biofuels like cellulosic ethanol can achieve reductions in greenhouse gases of 86 percent or higher.
“Additionally, the Congressional Budget Office has analyzed how the RFS will impact our economy and determined that it will have no significant impact on food prices.
“The myths about the RFS in this ad are false and this ad is nothing more than a dishonest attempt by a big oil front group to undermine the success of this worthy policy. Instead of citing actual facts, RFS critics are forced to peddle the same phony claims that have been repeatedly debunked by the scientific community.”
Myth V. Fact: Correcting false attacks on the Renewable Fuel Standard
MYTH: “Ethanol Nearly Doubles Greenhouse Gas Emissions” (“Inconvenient Fact,” Smarter Fuel Future, 10/15/15)
FACT: The oil industry ads rely on a 2008 study authored by Tim Searchinger to make this claim. First, Tim Searchinger has a long history of criticizing the RFS as a representative of groups funded by the oil industry. (Biofuels Journal, October 16, 2015). Second, it is not a well-regarded analysis by experts in the field, in part because it models a scenario in which 30 billion gallons of corn ethanol are used (the RFS caps corn ethanol at 15 billion gallons). Third, the overwhelming majority of more recent scientific analysis confirms the carbon benefits of corn ethanol, including work done by U.S. EPA, the California Air resources Board, the Department of Energy, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and at least a dozen universities. (DOE Argonne Lab, Dec. 2012; University of Chicago, School of Integrative Biology, 9/14/15; “New Study: Biofuel Use Saved 589.3 Million Tons of Carbon Emissions Over the Past Decade,” BIO, Press Release, 8/24/15). In fact, corn ethanol has generated more than 60% of the credits to date in the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard. (CARB presentation, 9/25/2014)
MYTH: “Ethanol Nearly Doubles Greenhouse Gas Emissions” (“Inconvenient Fact,” Smarter Fuel Future, 10/15/15)
FACT: The oil industry ads rely on a 2011 study from the National Academy of Sciences to make this claim. The report conflicts with far more extensive modeling conducted by U.S. EPA and the California Air Board conducted as part of its regulatory process. In fact, using more ethanol in gasoline actually reduces emissions. The ethanol blend E15 decreases the risk of cancer by 6.6 percent, by displacing toxic emissions from regular gasoline. “Sixty-seven and half percent of the cancer risk is due to lower 1-3 butadiene, and 75 percent of vehicles showed a reduction in this pollutant. Twenty-nine percent of the cancer risk is due to lower benzene emissions, and 88 percent of vehicles showed a reduction in this pollutant. Acetaldehyde emissions increased with higher ethanol blend levels. Changes in acetaldehyde result in a predicted 0.3 percent increase in cancer risk while the risk from other listed carcinogens drops by 6.9 percent, resulting in a net decrease of 6.6 percent.” (Stefan Unnasch and Ashley Henderson, “Change in Air Quality Impacts Associated with the Use of E15 Blends Instead of E10,” Life Cycle Associates & Americans United for Change, July 2014). Finally, the NAS study cited by the oil industry is controversial, as one of its authors disclosed that the committee used inappropriate models and outdated data. (“We didn’t always use the available data, the current data.” Reuters, 10/4/2011)
Read the original story: AESI Claims False Attacks on RFS
October 21, 2015
Jeff Sandborn, a Portland farmer and member of the board of the National Corn Growers Association, highlighted a new nationwide study demonstrating the economic impact of ethanol production, noting that ethanol is tied to more than 22,000 Michigan jobs. The study was released by the National Corn Growers Association and National Farmers Union and highlights the need for a strong Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) as net farm income and other agricultural economic indicators decline to their lowest level in years.
"It's an uncertain time in farm country, and today's report highlights the fact that without a strong Renewable Fuel Standard, we're needlessly putting good Michigan jobs on the line," said Sandborn. "Here in Michigan, more than 22,000 jobs are tied to ethanol production – something the EPA has to consider before giving in to big oil companies and reducing the RFS. Many of those jobs are in our rural communities, either on the farm or related to Michigan's agriculture sector.
Sandborn noted the consensus by nonpartisan analysts that the lack of a long-term commitment to biofuels through the Renewable Fuels Standard is increasing uncertainty in the agricultural economy. Current net farm income, projected at $58.3 billion for 2015, is down by more than 50 percent compared with the record $123.7 billion level in 2013 and is the lowest since 2006.
"Much of the economic growth we've seen in agriculture over the past several years has resulted from increased opportunities for corn farmers, and the RFS played a big role in those opportunities," Sandborn said. "At a time when corn prices are declining to multi-year lows and the agricultural economy is headed for a downturn, reducing America's commitment to biofuels would be a major blow for Michigan agriculture."
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed rolling back the RFS and reducing the amount of ethanol blended into the fuel supply. Hundreds of thousands of Americans opposed the reduction during a recent comment period. The EPA now has until November to make a final decision.
"As the EPA makes a final decision, the choice is clear – we can cave to big oil at the expense of rural Michigan workers and families, or we can renew America's commitment to a clean-burning fuel that saves money, creates jobs and reduces our reliance on foreign oil," Sandborn said.
Read the original story: Lack of Strong RFS Policy Could Put Michigan Jobs at Risk
October 19, 2015
By Susanne Retka Schill
The ethanol industry’s counter-offensive to attacks on the renewable fuel standard (RFS) continues to pick up steam, leading up to November’s expected announcement on the renewable volume obligations.
After Growth Energy and Renewable Fuels Association jumped on a University of Tennessee report critical of corn ethanol last week, the agency working with the Fuels America Coalition, Smoot Tewes Group, sent out a memo to those that may be covering the Brookings Institute Panel or the U.S. EPA inspector general’s research on the lifecycle impacts of the RFS. The group questioned the objectivity of the Brookings Institute which received $430,000 from ExxonMobil in 2014 and its director of environmental and energy economics, Ted Gayer, who has long-held ties to the oil industry.
The media advisory also cited a news release statement from Jeremy Funk, communications director for the pro-renewable fuels group, Americans United for Change. Funk questioned the neutrality of two panelists in the Brooking Institute’s webinar: “We hope Mr. [Chris] Knittel and Mr. [Timothy] Searchinger will be transparent about their financial ties to Big Oil and not present themselves as objective critics of the RFS.” Funk noted “there is mountains of academic research showing that ethanol use significantly cuts down carbon emissions compared to gasoline made from dirty fossil fuels, whether it be from the Argonne National Laboratory, Purdue University, the University of Nebraska, Michigan State University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory/Duke University, the University of Illinois-Chicago and others.”
On the same day, the RFA released a statement critical of another oil industry-backed effort—an advertising campaign being launched by Smarter Fuel Future calling for the repeal of the RFS. “The oil industry thinks it’s being slick by engaging in a consistent and relentless misinformation campaign that is based on false assumptions, straw dogs, and half-truths,” said RFA President and CEO Bob Dinneen. “There is nothing that Big Oil is spouting with this latest wave of scare tactics that we haven’t seen before. Once again the petroleum industry is making patently false assumptions about the relationship between food and fuel. In 2014, a record corn crop sent prices to four-year lows, and more grain was available globally for food and feed use than ever before. In fact, less than 3 percent of the global grain supply that year was used for ethanol.
“The Big Oil misinformation campaign also makes spurious claims about ethanol’s impact on the environment. Lifecycle analyses by the Department of Energy and others, including the University of Illinois, the International Energy Agency, and Life Cycle Associates have shown that, since the final RFS rule was implemented, grain ethanol produced today reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent compared to fossil fuels — even when hypothetical land use emissions are taken into account. Ethanol production from last year reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 40 million metric tons — the equivalent of removing 8.4 million cars from the road. These facts show that investment in biofuels in general and ethanol in particular is critical if we are serious as a nation about creating a future where our energy is cleaner, more secure, and more affordable.
“Congress and the administration should pay little heed to Big Oil’s latest smoke and mirrors campaign. Instead of repealing the RFS, the administration, through the Environmental Protection Agency, needs to break down the supposed ‘blend wall’ and implement the RFS the way Congress intended,” Dineen’s statement concluded.
Read the original story: Counter-Offensive to Defend RFS Continues
Oct 19, 2015
By Bob Dinneen
Even a casual observer of the nightly news is more than likely aware that the presidential election season is under way. Right now, the political chatter is just an obnoxious buzz. As we get closer to 2016, the buzz will grow and get much louder. And, by this time next year, it will have transformed itself into a full-blown cacophony of sound bites and advertisements.
As an unabashed political junkie, I get a particular thrill when the political chatter reaches its fever pitch and the intense national policy debates take center stage. In the age of the 24-hour news cycle it is often difficult to discern substance from superficiality. But it is imperative for those of us in the biofuels industry to pay close attention to what the presidential candidates are saying about how they would deal with the nation’s energy policy, in general, and the renewable fuel standard (RFS), in particular. In this effort, we are aided by the phenomenal job America’s Renewable Future has done in educating the candidates about agriculture and biofuels so that we have a pretty clear picture of where each of the presidential candidates stand on the RFS.
So far, of the 18 candidates running for president from both parties, only one has indicated unadulterated opposition to the RFS. Not surprisingly, it’s Big Oil’s senator from Texas, Ted Cruz. Perhaps even he will come along, however, as he recognizes how out of step he is with voters who realize the RFS is lowering gas prices, reducing carbon emissions and making us more energy secure. But it is certainly notable that every other candidate for president has expressed some level of support for our nation’s most successful energy policy.
But listen closely; there are many degrees of support among the candidates. Some simply recognize the importance of the government keeping its promises and would end the RFS in 2022, whether there is a level playing field and consumer access for ethanol or not. Others support the RFS exclusively as a means to replace corn ethanol with what they believe will be better biofuels from cellulose, a false choice that diminishes the potential of both. America deserves a president who understands that the RFS has been a tremendous success and will fully and faithfully implement the program because of its tremendous economic, energy and environmental promise.
Look for those candidates, and there are several, who support the RFS without qualification, who understand that this important program is driving innovation in both corn and cellulose technologies, that it is providing consumers with real relief at the gas pump, that it is re-energizing America’s Heartland, and that it is providing no small measure of defense against the dual national security threats of oil dependence and global warming.
I certainly intend to keep my ears open to hear what the candidates are saying, and I will keep my eyes open to read what they are writing. It is imperative that we pay attention to the political chatter as we steadily move into 2016, but it is equally important that we are able to slice through that chatter and listen closely to what the candidates are saying with respect to how they plan on approaching our nation’s energy policy. Our future depends on it.
Read the original story here : Slice Through The Political Chatter This Election Season