In the News

Morning Consult

July 19, 2016

Policymakers on both sides of the aisle love to pledge their support for innovation and American competiveness. How many times have we heard President Obama talk about his administration’s commitment to fostering a new era of green jobs? As voters, we’ve learned to take these promises with a healthy dose of skepticism – even the best-intentioned ideas can run into a brick wall of partisanship once they get to D.C. That’s what makes the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) – which was designed to grow biofuel use – such a unique success. Born under a GOP administration in 2005, the program was expanded in 2007 and continued to gain support after Democrats claimed the White House.

Thanks to the RFS, at least 10 percent of the fuel in almost every American gas tank comes from a renewable source, like ethanol or one of the newer cellulosic fuels now being made from alternative feedstocks, such as corn stalks and cobs. Oil companies are required to offer these blends, and consumers end up saving anywhere from $.50 to $1.00 per gallon during periods of high oil prices. Equally important, America is less vulnerable to supply interruptions and manipulation by oil exporters in Russia, Venezuela, and Iran.

The transition to ethanol doesn’t just mean we use less oil. It’s also helping to reduce carbon emissions from America’s transportation sector and clear the air of gasoline additives like benzene, the same cancer-causing chemicals found in cigarette smoke. According to research sponsored by the Department of Energy (DOE), the average gallon of corn ethanol yields 34 percent fewer carbon emissions than gasoline, while the advanced ethanol production now coming online can cut emissions by 100 percent or more.

Not every lawmaker is sold on the idea of renewables, but it’s hard not to appreciate the billions of dollars of economic activity across the U.S. that has been driven by the RFS. Investments that would otherwise go to China and Brazil have landed in America and now support more than 852,000 American jobs across agriculture, manufacturing, and engineering. U.S. oil imports have fallen by half since 2005.

The greatest threat to the program today is its own success. With ethanol blends like E15 and E85 now gaining popularity, oil companies are increasingly desperate to curtail the competition. They are pushing Congress to weaken the RFS and asking the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to lower America’s annual biofuel targets for 2017. Opponents frequently claim that ethanol is bad for engines, but extensive testing by the DOE has shown the opposite. The EPA agrees and has approved blends up to 15 percent for all cars manufactured after 2001.

Researchers from Argonne National Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have proven that ethanol boosts the octane in fuel, lowers greenhouse gas emissions, and provides for better fuel economy. Of course, NASCAR drivers have known that for a decade, which is why they all use a 15 percent ethanol blend.

Nevertheless, those with strong ties to the fossil fuel industry continue to push, and the EPA continues to give ground. For 2017, the agency proposed reducing America’s targets for conventional biofuel by 200 million gallons and for advanced biofuels by more than half. According to BIO’s most recent analysis, the EPA’s unwillingness to implement the law as designed has chilled $22.4 billion in U.S. investments – money that could be creating that new wave of green energy jobs that so many of our policymakers claim to support.

If they really support innovation and American competiveness, now is the time to show it. Our representatives in Congress should speak up and urge the EPA to support America’s most successful green energy program. Those of us at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) will be paying attention, as will voters across the country.

Brent Erickson is executive vice president of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO)

Read the original story: The Energy and Job Creation Program that Works for People and the Environment

Successful Farming

Reuters

July 19, 2016

By Chris Prentice

Midwest fuel terminal operator HWRT Oil Company LLC will become the first U.S. company to sell pre-blended fuel with 15 percent ethanol content in the coming months, the latest sign that more of the biofuel is making its way to the gas pump.

HWRT will begin selling the preblended fuel out of its four terminals in Illinois, Arkansas and Indiana in mid-September, the company said on Tuesday, a move that follows announcements by fuel retailers including Power Energy Corp and Thorntons that they will add pumps to sell higher ethanol blends in the Chicago area.

"As more and more retailers have the equipment to handle E15, we want to be able to supply them," Matt Schrimpf, president of the Illinois firm, said in a phone interview.

HWRT has been selling E85, a fuel with up to 85 percent ethanol content, for several years, Schrimpf said.

Nearly all U.S. gasoline is blended with 10 percent ethanol, according to the U.S. government. E15 contains anywhere from 10.5 to 15 percent ethanol.

In its battle against Big Oil, getting higher blends to consumers has been a years-long struggle for the biofuels industry. Renewable fuels companies like Pacific Ethanol Inc and Green Plains Inc have pressed U.S. regulators to boost annual requirements for use of renewable fuels like ethanol in gasoline.

The move by HWRT is a "game changer that can help expand the market for E15 overnight," said Robert White, the Vice President of Industry Relations for the Renewable Fuels Association.

The boost in use of biofuels has been largely driven by the over decade-old Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program. Ethanol producer Archer Daniels Midland Co has said that regulators are underestimating the amount of higher blends in the market.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has spent millions of dollars to help gas retailers overhaul tanks and pumps to be able to offer higher ethanol blends.

Biofuels advocates are suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for setting annual requirements for use below 2007 requirements targets out by Congress.

Read the original story: U.S. Fuel Terminal Operator to Offer Higher Ethanol Blend

Biomass Magazine

July 14, 2016

By Ron Kotrba

More than 40 national organizations have called on Congress to end more than a century of tax breaks for the oil industry. In a letter to U.S. legislators, a diverse coalition of environmental, veterans, labor, renewable fuels and social justice groups are challenging Congress to repeal nearly $4 billion a year in taxpayer subsidies to Big Oil, tax breaks given to the most profitable companies in the world “despite the industry’s continued efforts to promote climate science skepticism and avoid any accountability as a leading contributor of carbon pollution,” stated a press release issued by Americans United for Change.

U.S. Senators are also being called on to support the FAIR Energy Policy Act, legislation sponsored by Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, which would phase out special tax breaks for fossil fuels on the same schedule as the law Congress passed to phase out the wind production tax credit. 

“We know today that we are putting too much carbon pollution into the atmosphere,” said Greg Dotson, vice president for energy policy at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. “And we should stop using tax payer dollars to encourage even more.”

Stephen Kretzmann, executive director of Oil Change USA, said, “Members of Congress have been a very lucrative investment for the oil industry. For every $1 they put in in campaign contributions, they get back more than $188 in subsidies … I am sure most Americans wish we could get returns even a fraction that good from our 401Ks. This has gone on for far too long, it is time now for a separation of oil and state.”

“We could send 166,000 kids to college every year with the $4 billion that is instead squandered on Big Oil,” said Brad Woodhouse, president of Americans United for Change. “Over summer recess, we’re going to demand answers from Republicans in Congress who can’t find the money to address the Zika Virus or Flint water crisis, or repair our crumbling infrastructure, but think Big Oil can’t live without these subsidies. Even with persistently low oil prices, which dipped below $30 a barrel earlier this year, ExxonMobil still reported nearly $1.8 billion in profits last quarter, and BP over $500 million. It seems even in the worst of times, Big Oil can make tons of money comfortably without a taxpayer handout. And it seems the only return on taxpayers’ investment is dirty air and 14,000 oil spills every year.” 

Woodhouse added, “Behind closed doors, Exxon accounted for the environmental impact of climate change in their business plans, but put on a public face that everything was normal,” he said, referring to the cover-up that ExxonMobil scientists recognized fossil fuels contributed to global warming as early as 1977, yet for decades it funded misleading campaigns against climate science.

“Worse,” Woodhouse said, “for decades Exxon has funneled millions of dollars into front groups like the ACCF to wage misinformation campaigns to discredit climate science and discourage use of cleaner renewable fuels.”

Read the original story: 40-Plus Groups Call on Congress to End Tax Breaks for Big Oil

Biofuels International

July 15, 2016

A total of 17 members of the US-based House Biofuels Caucus have urged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to change its 2017 biofuels blend target from 14.8bn gallons to 15 billion gallons.

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) was among several associations to submit comments in a letter to the EPA.

According to the association, there’s no justification for lowering the requirement, which would turn the RFS “into a stagnant, backward-facing policy.”

EPA’s recent proposal calls on refiners to blend 14.8 billion gallons of conventional biofuels in 2017, slightly below the 15-billion-gallon level envisioned by Congress when it expanded the RFS in 2007. Record levels of E10 consumption, broader availability of E15 and E85, more than 2 billion surplus renewable identification numbers and other factors make the statutory requirement readily achievable in 2017.

‘Back on track’

RFA president and CEO Bob Dinneen said: “We thank the lawmakers for their leadership to ensure EPA finalises a strong RFS that gets the program back on track.

“As the House members wrote, ‘a final rule that falls short of the conventional biofuel cap will do nothing to assuage critics of the program, while missing an opportunity to refocus on addressing the pressing issues needed to fully realise the potential renewable fuels can make for our economy and energy security.’ We couldn’t agree more.

“As we outlined in comments to EPA this week on its proposed 2017 RFS rule, there’s no justification for lowering the conventional biofuel target. Record levels of E10 consumption, broader availability of E15 and E85, more than 2 billion surplus renewable identification numbers and other factors make the statutory requirement readily achievable in 2017. It’s time EPA follows the statutory requirement and increase the conventional biofuel target to 15 billion gallons.”

 The letter signed by the Caucus members states: “Given the proven track record of innovation and capacity for development in the renewable fuels market, we believe that a final rule that falls short of the conventional biofuel cap will do nothing to assuage critics of the programme, while missing an opportunity to refocus on addressing the pressing issues needed to fully realise the potential renewable fuels can make for our economy and energy security.”

Read the original story: US House Biofuels Caucus Makes Final Plea for EPA to Increase Biofuel Target to 15bn Gallons

The Star Press

July 12, 2016

By Dave Hudak

It is disappointing that Indiana’s biofuels industry must once again respond to false allegations from out-of-state hired guns.

This time, Jane Van Ryan, a Washington, D.C.-area resident and former top communications official for the American Petroleum Institute, decries the inconvenience her central Indiana-based family will face because they have the choice to buy gasoline with a 10 percent ethanol blend.

The good news for Van Ryan is that here in Indiana, we know that when she makes her trip from the Washington, D.C.-area to Gatlinburg, she will save money thanks to the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS), the very policy that she and her bosses are seeking to repeal.

The Renewable Fuels Standard, the so-called “mandate” that Van Ryan and the American Petroleum Institute are referring to is a bipartisan energy policy that provides market access for biofuels, which benefit our environment, economy and energy security. It sets annual targets for the blending of renewables into our nation’s fuel supply in order to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and keep our air clean.

As a result of the RFS, ethanol is now blended into 97 percent of the gasoline supply and virtually all regular gasoline sold in Indiana has a 10 percent ethanol blend.  Indiana-made, high-octane ethanol is dropped into gasoline as a method to boost octane so that the petroleum does not damage engines or affect vehicle performance.  In fact, because ethanol is environmentally-friendly and biodegradable, it has replaced dangerous and carcinogenic fuel additives like lead and MTBE, which have been outlawed in the United States.

The fact is that ethanol remains the cleanest and lowest-cost octane available on the market today. According to one analysis, consumers are saving between 50 cents and $1.50 per gallon as a result of increased ethanol production and the Renewable Fuels Standard.

Moreover, higher blends of ethanol have increased octane — which helps your car burn cleaner and cooler, better for your engine’s performance and the environment.  E15, a 15-percent blend of ethanol, is approved for all vehicles 2001 and newer — nearly 9 out of 10 cars on the road today. NASCAR mechanics trust E15 for their vehicles on and off the track, hitting 10 million miles using the biofuel this year.  And teams racing in the IndyCar series already use 100 percent ethanol fuel.

The question is this: Why would Van Ryan and the American Petroleum Institute, an organization funded by America’s largest oil companies who receive more than $7 billion in government subsidies and an additional $800 million in tax breaks annually, be calling for an end to the Renewable Fuels Standard?

“Big Oil” wants to continue their anti-competitive monopolistic actions that created a necessity for the Renewable Fuels Standard in the first place! They want Americans to be forced to buy more oil — whether it is shipped here from the Middle East or drilled, pumped or fractured from our lands or from the bottoms of our oceans.

The RFS enables competition in a marketplace dominated by the oil industry and ensures drivers have better options at the pump. And “Big Oil” is fighting in Congress — and yes, even in the editorial pages — to prevent drivers from having access to higher blends of ethanol. They know that the ultimate check against out-of-control oil prices is not increased supply that has been achieved through drilling technology, but an alternative source of fuel.

For over a decade, the RFS remains the most successful clean energy policy to strengthen our energy security, protect the environment and stimulates investment and creates jobs — including more than 25,000 jobs in Indiana alone.

Hoosiers deserve the truth, not misinformation peddled by “Big Oil” interests; The Renewable Fuels Standard is working and Congress should not mess with the RFS.

Dave Hudak is general manager of POET Biorefining Alexandria and secretary/treasurer of the Indiana Ethanol Producers Association.

Read the original story: Ethanol Standard Saves Consumers Money

Des Moines Register

July 10, 2016

By Austin Dillon

I have been racing cars all of my life. Growing up in the garage, I learned firsthand the incredible amount of preparation, teamwork and determination it takes to succeed. The one thing I have learned in that time, teams are measured by one thing in NASCAR: performance.

From the crew chief, to the tire changer, to the engineers, everyone on the team ultimately contributes to performance on the track. We rely heavily on each other, but we also depend on key partnerships that ensure we reach our goals. The fuel we put into our engines is one of the most important contributors to our performance at the track each and every weekend.

Fortunately, NASCAR has been powered by a homegrown bio-fuel since 2011. It’s clean, green and renewable. The best drivers in the world have raced almost 10 million flawless miles on Sunoco Green E15 — proving it’s as good for engines as it is for the environment.

Throughout my life, I have been lucky to travel across this great nation of ours. I’ve had the pleasure to meet people from all walks of life, including the hard working families who farm in our country’s heartland. That’s why I am so proud of my partnership with American Ethanol, because the American-grown corn used to manufacture ethanol has helped support countless farming communities, and our nation’s economy.

Educating our fans about sustainable homegrown American fuel that is better for our environment is truly a passion of mine. Offering consumers a higher blend of ethanol at the pump reduces our dependence on foreign oil and creates jobs right here in the U.S., while revitalizing rural economies across America.

In 2011, NASCAR’s groundbreaking partnership with Sunoco and American Ethanol prompted the launch of a long-term bio-fuels program across our three national touring series. Sunoco Green E15, a 15 percent ethanol blend bio-fuel, has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent while increasing horsepower.

How does this apply to you, the consumer who isn’t driving a race car on a daily basis? Tests by the Department of Energy prove that all 21st century engines can run on E15, a higher blend of ethanol, and automakers warranty 15 percent blends for use in nearly 3 out of 4 new cars being sold today. Moreover, drivers have surpassed 150 million miles using E15 in the last 12 months. Higher ethanol blended fuels are safe and viable options.

Gasoline retailers and automakers are embracing consumer demand for higher blends of ethanol by increasing the amount of pumps with E15, E85 and other higher blends and designing vehicles to support these higher blends of clean-burning, high-octane biofuels.

However, even with all of this positive momentum at our backs, we are now facing a critical time for our nation. Since 2005, the Renewable Fuel Standard remains the only clean energy policy working to lower our dependence on oil, keep our air clean and combat climate change.

Right now, preparations are being made to finalize the volume requirements that determine how much renewable fuel oil companies are required to make available to consumers at the pump. The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed initial volume requirements that fall short of even the modest goals set into law by Congress.

To guarantee that the current administration doesn’t turn back the clock on America’s most successful energy policy, consumers across the country must make their voices heard now — the deadline is quickly approaching. By July 11, drivers who care about having affordable, green options at the pump should contact the EPA and ask their lawmakers to support a strong Renewable Fuel Standard. It’s easy, just visit GrowthEnergy.org/Action to make your voice heard by the EPA.

I am proud to run American Ethanol in my car, I promise you will be too.

AUSTIN DILLON drives the No. 3 Chevrolet SS. which includes sponsor American Ethanol, for Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Read the original story: Ethanol Fuels the Race Against Climate Change

Portland Press Herald

July 8, 2016

By Doug Bevren

According to informal advisers to Maine's governor, Paul LePage, the use of ethanol in our fuel mix can be blamed for just about anything - opiate abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder, cancer, anger, depression, allergies and crime. Of course, there are no credible facts to support any of these ideas. Even the oil industry, which actively lobbies against competition from renewable fuels, doesn't make such far-fetched proclamations.

That's because ethanol has been a major part of our energy mix since 1908, when Henry Ford designed his Model T to operate on the homegrown fuel. Today, ethanol makes up 10 percent of the U.S. fuel supply. It burns cleaner and cooler than oil and increases octane, which is good for our environment and our car engines. That's why NASCAR and IndyCar mechanics have trusted the fuel for years.

It's important to remember that ethanol is just another name for the specific kind of alcohol that gives adult beverages their kick. Ethanol may give you a hangover if you drink it, but to suggest that biofuels are responsible for the pyshological struggles of our returning veterans is an outrageous abuse of the truth.

Most importantly, ethanol replaces petroluum-based toxins such as benzene, toluene and xylene. In fact, many states require an ethanol blend under federal law to help them meet standards set by the Clean Air Act, because they know it significantly reduces tailpipe emissions. 

Without ethanol in the fuel supply, we are left with more toxic alternatives, which have been proven to cause cancer and smog. For example, ethanol provided the clean alternative to MTBE, which Maine banned in 2004 because it’s been proven to contaminate groundwater.

We may not think of it often, but we are benefiting from ethanol every day – and not just by breathing cleaner air. Having a share of our transportation sector powered by ethanol reduces America’s reliance on foreign oil and slashes the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. On average, corn ethanol reduces carbon emissions by 34 percent compared to gasoline, and advanced biofuels can reduce emissions by 100 percent or more over gasoline. Meanwhile, biofuels displaced more oil in 2015 than the United States imported from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait combined.

Under normal circumstances, one might imagine that an executive order governing the state’s energy mix would reflect a serious review of the facts. Unfortunately, reports indicate that Gov. LePage’s recent efforts to discourage the use of ethanol were driven by a laundry list of bizarre claims by Beth O’Connor, a member of the Maine House of Representatives, and a retired mechanic from South Berwick. As a result, Maine could find itself with higher fuel costs, polluted air, greater dependency on foreign oil and fewer choices at the pump.

Maine drivers have been able to benefit from more affordable options at the gasoline pump, saving anywhere from 50 cents to $1.50 a gallon during periods of high oil prices. Now is not the time to roll back the clock by adding chemicals that produce cancer-causing emissions back into gasoline, once again becoming more dependent on foreign oil, and paying higher gas prices. The governor and his allies need to take a look at the facts, talk to some real experts and stop implementing policies based on half-understood rumors.

Read the original story here : Ethanol Claim A Dangerous Combination Of Misinformation, Power

Morning Consult

July 6, 2016

By Bob Dineen

In a recent poll conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of the Renewable Fuels Association, voters support the Renewable Fuel Standard, a program to increase the amount of biofuels in the transportation pool, by a greater than 3:1 margin. Additionally, by a 2:1 margin, those same voters oppose efforts to reduce or repeal the RFS. Voters recognize that the program has been an unmitigated success and repealing or dramatically reforming it would reverse those gains already made to reduce petroleum dependency, boost rural economic development and slash greenhouse gas emissions.

That is the message I took to Congress recently, testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power. 

In 2015, 14.8 billion gallons of ethanol was produced, supporting 85,967 direct jobs, while net petroleum import dependence fell to just 25 percent, and would have been 32 percent without the addition of domestically produced ethanol to the nation’s fuel supply. The surge in ethanol production has reduced gasoline imports from nearly 10 billion gallons in 2005 to almost zero today. Looked at another way, the ethanol produced in 2015 displaced an amount of gasoline refined from 527 million barrels of crude oil. That’s roughly equivalent to the volume of oil imported annually from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait combined.

Meantime, the use of ethanol in gasoline in 2015 reduced greenhouse gas emissions from transportation by 41.2 million metric tons — equivalent to removing 8.7 million cars from the road for an entire year. 

While some continue to criticize the RFS on the false premise that it increases food prices (see “We’re Swimming in Fuel, Why Burn our Food Supply,” by Keith Mauck and published June 28 in Morning Consult), a report recently issued by the World Bank and others found that biofuels from crops do not harm food supplies.

We don’t use food for ethanol production. The corn used in the production of ethanol is field corn, not the sweet corn that compliments every back yard barbecue. Field corn is used for animal feed and a variety of industrial products, including high fructose corn syrup and pharmaceuticals. Moreover, we’re only using the starch in the field corn, allowing all the protein and nutritional value to be used as animal feed shipped all over the globe. 

But you wouldn’t know these benefits if you listened to the American Petroleum Institute and their sycophants, who repeatedly trot out false talking points of the oil industry to distract from the fact that they want to continue their 100-year-plus monopoly on the transportation sector. The incumbent industry has already lost 10 percent of the market. If the RFS is implemented consistent with the statute, the market will make the final push to see cellulosic ethanol and other advanced biofuels to fruition, resulting in the loss of 30 percent of the market. You can bet oil companies are not too happy with that prospect.

That’s why maintaining a strong RFS is essential. Congress did an excellent job of crafting the RFS, building in a great deal of administrative and market flexibility to deal with issues as they arise. Congress shouldn’t be bullied by the hyperbole and scare mongering by the incumbent industry that fundamentally disagrees with the need for alternative, low carbon options for consumers.

The American public clearly wants alternatives to Big Oil, and biofuels can help reduce our petroleum dependence, while cleaning the environment and boosting the rural economy. 

Bob Dinneen is the president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association.

Read the original story: How Biofuels Can Help Break Up Big Oil’s Marketshare Monopoly