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In the News

Governors Say EPA’s Proposed Rule Fails to Honor President Trump’s Biofuel Agreement

October 30, 2019

News Release

Last month, President Trump directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to restore the biofuels lost when EPA granted excessive small refinery waivers. In the past three years, the EPA has issued 85 small refinery exemptions, representing a loss of over 4.3 billion gallons of biofuels.

The President ordered EPA to follow the Renewable Fuel Standard that requires 15 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol blended into the nation’s fuel supply, beginning in 2020. The President also directed EPA and USDA to take steps to address barriers to the use of E15 and to expand ethanol’s infrastructure.

Biofuel and agriculture representatives praised the President’s agreement but pointed out that EPA must follow through with a proposed rule that accurately implements the agreement. President Trump also praised the agreement, saying, “We’ve come to an agreement and it’s going to be … getting close to 16 billion [gallons].”

Today, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem in comments to EPA Administrator Wheeler said the proposed rule “… demonstrates that EPA is oblivious to the harm it has caused” and is ignoring the agreement President Trump reached with the nation’s biofuels community

“EPA chose to approve these waivers at a time when farmers and biofuel producers were already hurt by adverse weather conditions, flagging export market opportunities, and chronically low commodity prices. Approving these waivers when the agriculture economy was struggling represented a callous disregard for the economic interest our nation’s farmers.” The governors pointed out that at least 30 plants remain closed and that the rule will not allow those facilities to open and “put people back to work.”

The governors urged Administrator Wheeler to use a three-year rolling average of actual exempted gallons as the basis to estimate 2020 exempted volumes. “This approach would ensure the 15 billion gallon requirement is actually enforced and truly results in actual blending of at least 15 billion gallons of conventional renewable fuel,” the governors said.

Read the original news release: Governors Say EPA’s Proposed Rule Fails to Honor President Trump’s Biofuel Agreement

Members of Congress Urge Wheeler to Change SRE Proposal

Ethanol Producer Magazine

October 28, 2019

By Erin Voegele

Nearly two dozen members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to U.S. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler on Oct. 23 urging him to reconsider the agency’s recently small refinery exemption (SRE) proposal and uphold the White House’s commitment to farmers.

The letter references the supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking issued by the EPA on Oct. 15 seeking comments on the agency’s plan for accounting for future SRE waived volumes in annual Renewable Fuel Standard rulemakings.

The representatives stressed the rulemaking does not fulfill the agreement reached by the White House, EPA and USDA as conveyed to stakeholders by way of the EPA’s announcement on Oct. 4.

The letter notes that 85 SREs have been approve since the start of 2016, resulting in a net loss of more than 4 billion gallons of renewable fuels. That loss has been devastating to the lawmakers’ local economies.

“Given the vast number of [SREs] that have been granted since 2017, we are disappointed in the proposed rule as it would not change the proposed volumes for 2020 to wholly account for a realistic average of SREs that have been granted and may be granted in the future,” the members of Congress wrote.

“This announcement does more harm than good for our producers and lends to even greater uncertainty in this challenging farm economy,” they continued. “As published, the proposed rule, despite outlining several potential approaches to reallocate a fraction of the lost gallons, states that the EPA may consider adjusting methodology for projecting the exempt volumes of gasoline and diesel. This is problematic, and not only because the various calculations are based on prior years and do not account for most recent damages, but because it leaves room for the possibility of an even more detrimental calculation.”

The lawmakers urge Wheeler “to publish a rule that lends confidence in the process, requiring the EPA to use the average number of [SREs] granted in the previous three calendar years when formulating the renewable volumes obligation for an upcoming year, as conveyed to stakeholders.” They also argue that the final rule must bring assurance to farmers and producers not just for the 2020 renewable volume obligations (RVOs), but permanently, given the damages caused by the SREs.

“We cannot support a proposal that does not set our farmers and producers on a path toward certainty by ensuring that a fix applies to all future years,” they continued. “As you move forward, on behalf of the EPA, USDA and the White House, we strongly urge you to reconsider the proposal and uphold the commitment that was made to our farmers.”

The letter is signed by Reps. Rodney Davis, R-Ill.; Roger Marshall, R-Kan.; Mike Bost, R-Ill.; Sam Graves, R-Mo.; Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb.; James Comer, R-Ky.; Don Bacon, R-Neb.; Dusty Johnson, R-S.D.; Tom Emmer, R-Minn.; Ann Wagner, R-Mo.; Darin LaHood, R-Ill.; Steve Watkins, R-Kan.; Steve King, R-Iowa; Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.; Mark Pocan, D-Wisc.; Paul Mitchell, R-Mich.; James R. Baird, R-Ind.; Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo.; Jim Hagedorn, R-Minn.; Ron Kind, D-Wisc.; Ron Estes, R-Kan.; Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo.; and Adrian Smith, R-Neb.

A full copy of the letter can be downloaded from Davis’s website.

Read the original article: Members of Congress Urge Wheeler to Change SRE Proposal

Klobuchar Addresses Renewable Fuel Standard Hardship Waivers

KEYC

October 22, 2019

By Ryan Sjoberg

Presidential Candidate and U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar has spent months calling for an end to the harm caused by the abuse of the Renewable Fuel Standard ‘hardship’ waivers.

These ‘hardship’ waivers were originally meant to help a small refinery if they were struggling to stay in business.

In a typical year, five or six waivers were granted.

In just a short time, the Trump administration has issued over 80, including waivers to big oil companies such as Exxon and Chevron, which Klobuchar says gives big oil companies a major advantage.

“It’s really been a gut punch to the Midwest. I believe we should be investing in the farmers and the workers in the Midwest instead of the oil cartels of the Middle East and instead of these big oil companies. They seem to have a different view,” Klobuchar said.

According to Klobuchar, approaches to help this cause moving forward would include stop giving the waivers, make the process more transparent, try to get back fuel lost and fix the standard.

Read the original article: Klobuchar Addresses Renewable Fuel Standard Hardship Waivers

Peterson Statement on House Energy and Commerce Hearing on Small Refinery Exemptions

Rep Collin Peterson

October 22, 2019

Press Release

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson of Minnesota voiced his support following an announcement today that the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on the Environment and Climate Change will review the nation’s biofuel-blending requirements, and specifically the Environmental Protection Agency’s granting of Small Refinery Exemption waivers and the Administration’s plans to reallocate those waived gallons of biofuel.

“I would like to thank Chairmen Pallone and Tonko and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce for scheduling an oversight hearing on the Administration’s operation of the Renewable Fuel Standard’s Small Refinery Waiver provision. Our farmers and rural communities rely on the RFS for their economic viability, and EPA’s actions have done nothing but provide uncertainty and the potential for economic ruin.”

Chairman Peterson is a co-chair of the Congressional Biofuels Caucus, a bipartisan group of Members of Congress who advocate for homegrown renewable fuel policies that boost farmer incomes and reduce dependence on foreign oil. He is also the sponsor of the Renewable Fuel Standard Integrity Act of 2019, a bill which provides certainty to the biofuels industry by setting an annual deadline for small refinery exemption applications and bringing transparency to the process.

Read the original release: Peterson Statement on House Energy and Commerce Hearing on Small Refinery Exemptions

New Court Documents Detail Rampant EPA Abuse of Small Refinery Exemption Program

Renewable Fuels Association

October 22, 2019

News Release

Newly available court documents assert that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency inappropriately granted Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) compliance exemptions to certain small refineries that did not even qualify for the waivers, and that there was division within the Trump administration about its new approach to small refinery hardship exemption requests.

Specifically, the briefs and supporting documents show EPA granted disproportionate economic hardship exemptions to small refineries whose previous exemptions had fully lapsed, meaning the Agency disregarded the requirement that refiners may only obtain an “extension” of an existing exemption.

The redacted briefs and other documents filed in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals pertain to Renewable Fuels Association et al. v. EPA, which addresses EPA’s decisions to retroactively grant hardship exemptions to two refineries owned by HollyFrontier and one refinery owned by CVR’s Wynnewood subsidiary. An audio file of the oral argument was also recently made available by the Court.

The exemptions, which include two granted for RFS compliance year 2016 and one for compliance year 2017, were impermissible under the statute and based on analysis that rendered EPA’s actions arbitrary and capricious, according to the opening and reply briefs filed by RFA, along with the American Coalition for Ethanol, the National Corn Growers association, and National Farmers Union.

The petitioners’ briefs argue that EPA, in addition to ignoring the commonsense meaning of “extension,” also misinterpreted the phrase “disproportionate economic hardship”—the statutory criteria required to extend an exemption. EPA’s interpretation is also undermined by the agency’s own published conclusions that RFS compliance costs are generally passed through to purchasers of fuel and are borne proportionately for small and large refineries alike.

The parties’ filings also revealed what ethanol interests had suspected for quite some time – that EPA was granting full exemptions not only where the Department of Energy had recommended only a partial exemption, but even where DOE had recommended a denial of the small refinery exemption extension in its entirety. EPA’s supplemental proposed rulemaking for the 2020 RVO, while proposing an inadequate solution to the small refiner exemption problem, reveals the extent to which EPA departed from DOE’s recommendations. For the 2016-2018 compliance years, DOE on average recommended that 7.6 billion gallons of gasoline and diesel from small refineries be exempted from RFS obligations; however, EPA disregarded those recommendation and actually exempted an average of 12.8 billion gallons.

Although EPA maintained that the statute gives it final say on whether to extend the exemptions, EPA’s decision to grant a full exemption where DOE recommended full denial is at odds with the recently released EPA decision document for 2018 small refinery exemptions, where EPA indicated that it denied all exemption requests where DOE had recommended denials.

Although the issues have been fully briefed by the parties, on October 15, RFA and the other petitioners filed a request for the Court to consider three new documents that reveal disagreement within the administration regarding its approach to small refinery exemptions.

The first document, a memo authored by Francis Brooke, Special Assistant on the President’s National Economic Council, describes a 2018 proposal to resolve the differences between ethanol and oil interests in part by a “restructuring” whereby “EPA will grant future small refinery exemptions based on only true disproportionate economic hardship,” implying the administration was knowingly issuing waivers to small refineries who were not truly experiencing disproportionate economic hardship. The second document details the reservations of David Schnare, one of the senior aides to Former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, regarding the Agency’s granting of small refinery exemptions that Schnare maintained were unlawful. The third document is the EPA decision document for 2018 exemption extensions, showing inconsistencies in EPA’s adherence to DOE recommendations.

A decision by the court, which could impact how EPA grants other retroactive small refinery exemptions in the future, may come by early 2020.

Read the original news release: New Court Documents Detail Rampant EPA Abuse of Small Refinery Exemption Program

Global Ethanol Use to Grow Dramatically, Says USGC Analyst

Successful Farming

October 15, 2019

by Chuck Abbott

China, Brazil, and the United States will help drive a dramatic global increase in ethanol consumption in the next 10 years, said a U.S. Grains Council analyst on Monday. However, the Sino-U.S. trade war will blunt the opportunity for ethanol from the United States, the world’s largest exporter, to win a share of the Chinese market in the near term.

Ethanol production hit 110 billion liters in 2018 and could expand significantly in the next decade, said Mike Dwyer, chief economist for the export-promoting Grains Council, at the Global Ethanol Summit. Some 400 people from 60 nations attended the conference in Washington.

“We think that number (110 billion liters) is set to grow dramatically, especially with developments in China, Brazil, and the United States itself as we make our transition to mid-level blends and higher,” said Dwyer.

Farm groups and ethanol makers expect ethanol sales to rise now that E15 can be sold year-round. Until this year, sales of E15, a 15% blend of ethanol into gasoline, were banned during the summer. The traditional ethanol blend is 10%, which Grains Council president Ryan LeGrand called “just a starting point. It will work in any vehicle.”

About 10% of global ethanol production is sold on the world market, with the United States holding a 61% market share. Brazil, second to the United States as a producer and also second in exports, accounts for one fifth of sales.

Speakers at the ethanol summit extolled ethanol as an octane-enhancing fuel that reduces air pollution and could help nations meet their pledges under the Paris Accord to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The biofuel also reduces dependence on petroleum, they said. Five dozen countries have policies that encourage use of biofuels.

China, the world’s most populous nation, says it will adopt E10 beginning in January. But it can produce only one-third of ethanol that is needed to meet its goals, so large-volume imports may be necessary, said Dwyer.

“That is what is so unfortunate about the trade war we are having with them right now. The United States could provide more ethanol to China, but we face 70% duties,” he said. If the trade war tariffs were removed, “we could find a pretty good home in China,” even with the previous 30% tariff.

Brazil’s RenovoBio policy, taking effect in the new year, will encourage use of E100, said Dwyer. Over time, it could increase ethanol use by 20 billion liters annually, enough to nearly double consumption.

In the near term, Asia offers the greatest potential for growth, because of a rising middle class and low ethanol consumption at present, followed by Central and South America, said Dwyer.

About 35% to 40% of the U.S. corn crop is used to make ethanol. The USDA says corn-for-ethanol has hit a plateau of around 5.4 billion bushels a year. Domestic ethanol consumption declined for the first time ever in 2018.

Read the original article: Global Ethanol Use to Grow Dramatically, Says USGC Analyst

Farm, Renewable Fuel Groups Angered by EPA Plan to Replace Lost Demand for Ethanol, Biodiesel

Des Moines Register

October 15, 2016

By Donnelle Eller

Iowa farm and renewable fuel groups say a proposal that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released Tuesday fails to keep President Donald Trump's promise to boost the sagging market for ethanol and biodiesel.

“We had a deal with the president … but what the EPA rolled out isn’t that deal,” said Monte Shaw, the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association's executive director.

Jim Greif, president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association, said his group "is outraged" that the EPA's proposal Tuesday doesn't reflect what the administration outlined "only 11 days ago."

On Oct. 4, the EPA said it would begin accounting for the reduction in demand for corn-based ethanol and soybean-based biodiesel that resulted when the administration granted some refineries exemptions from a federal mandate called the Renewable Fuel Standard.

The law, known as RFS, outlines how many gallons of ethanol and biodiesel that oil refiners must blend into the nation's fuel supply each year.

The EPA said Tuesday it plans to use a three-year average to account for the reduction in demand for ethanol and biodiesel resulting from the waivers, using the number of gallons that the U.S. Department of Energy recommends waiving.

But the Trump administration earlier this month told farm groups it would use the average of the actual number of renewable fuel gallons that are waived, which is much larger. "Any proposal that does not account for actual waived gallons under the Renewable Fuel Standard fails to restore the integrity of the law," Greif said in a statement.

The difference between the two is significant, said Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association.

The energy department, which provides an initial review of small refinery exemption requests, most recently recommended granting waivers for 770 million gallons of renewable fuels. The EPA, however, approved waivers for 1.4 billion gallons during its last round of exemptions.

Since taking office, the Trump administration has granted 85 waivers to oil refineries, freeing them from using 4 billion gallons of renewable fuel. The exemptions have killed demand for 1.4 billion bushels of corn used to make ethanol, industry officials say.

"It's not a shock that the EPA is trying to water down" the plan the Trump administration announced earlier this month, Shaw said.

The administration in the Oct. 4 announcement said Trump had made a deal with Iowa Republicans, including U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, and Gov. Kim Reynolds, to increase renewable fuel demand.

Grassley said in a statement Tuesday that Iowa farmers and renewable fuels plants will have to trust the EPA to adequately account for the waived gallons.

"The ethanol and biodiesel industries have a lot of cause to distrust EPA and that is understandable," Grassley said. "But President Trump brokered this deal and any attempt to undermine it from EPA would represent a betrayal of the president. I expect EPA would not do that after all the work that’s gone into this issue.”

Ernst and Reynolds said in separate statements they would do everything they could to hold the EPA accountable.

“I understand the biofuel industry’s frustration and distrust following the EPA’s announcement today,” Reynolds said. “The next 30-day comment period is crucial to making sure the EPA follows through on the president’s commitment.”

A public hearing is scheduled to be held Oct. 30 in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Growth Energy, a Washington, D.C., ethanol association, called on the EPA to hold the public hearing in Iowa “so more Midwest families racing to complete this year’s harvest will have an opportunity to share their views.

“The farm families hit hardest by EPA exemptions deserve a seat at the table, and that can’t happen if the EPA refuses to hold a hearing in a central location, closer to millions of voices who cannot afford to leave the farm for days at a time,” said Emily Skor, Growth Energy's CEO.

The decline in demand for ethanol and biodiesel has been a double blow to farmers already dealing with depressed prices for corn and soybeans because of the administration's trade wars with China, Mexico, Canada and other countries.

The current corn ethanol requirement is 15 billion gallons.

Shaw said it will be tough for many farmers to trust EPA.

“We couldn’t trust the EPA to stick to the deal for 11 days,” Shaw said. “We haven’t been able to trust EPA for the last two years with the RFS.”

Few Iowa renewable fuels or farm groups would have supported the Oct. 4 plan if they had known how the EPA planned to implement it, Shaw said.

“We all said it has to be real numbers. It has to be accountable," Shaw said. "And it has to send a market signal.

Grant Kimberley, Iowa Biodiesel Board's executive director, said he believed the EPA's proposal would be "likely to inflict further damage on the already struggling biodiesel industry and farm economy."

Nearly 30 U.S. ethanol and biodiesel plants have closed either temporarily or permanently because of the exemptions. Four are in Iowa.

U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack, an Iowa Democrat, said the EPA's proposed rule "is another in a long string of broken promises for our farmers and biofuel producers."

The proposal leaves “farmers and biofuel producers with no guarantee that the billions of gallons of biofuels exempted from the mandate would ever be restored, as has long been promised by the Trump Administration and EPA,” Loebsack said.

The Renewable Fuels Association called the EPA's proposal a "step backward."

"It falls short of delivering on President Trump’s pledge to restore integrity to the Renewable Fuel Standard and leaves farmers, ethanol producers, and consumers with more questions than answers," Geoff Cooper, the group's CEO, said in a statement.

"This proposal is not what was promised by the administration just over a week ago and fails to answer President Trump’s personal call for a stronger conventional biofuel requirement of more than 15 billion" gallons, Cooper said.

The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association said the EPA's proposal "reneges on the core principle" of Trump's plan earlier this month.

"It is unreasonable and counterproductive to expect Iowans to put their faith in EPA to fix the small refinery exemption problem when they were the ones who created the crisis in the first place," Shaw said.

The EPA released details of its plan as part of a supplemental document to the 2020 biofuels requirement. It was required to be filed by Nov. 30.

In a statement earlier this month, the EPA said that under its plan, it would seek comments on actions "to ensure that more than 15 billion gallons of conventional ethanol be blended into the nation's fuel supply." But it did not specify how many gallons will be restored beginning next year.

Read the original article: Farm, Renewable Fuel Groups Angered by EPA Plan to Replace Lost Demand for Ethanol, Biodiesel

New Study: Renewable Fuel Standard Saves Consumers at Pump, Enhances Energy Security

Renewable Fuels Association

September 19, 2019

News Release

A new study from energy policy expert Dr. Philip K. Verleger, Jr., has found that consumers save 22 cents on every gallon of gas thanks to the Renewable Fuel Standard. That’s a savings of nearly $5 every time you fill up, or $250 per American family every year. Additionally, the report demonstrates how renewable fuels enhance energy security and help act as a counterbalance to consolidation in the oil refining industry.

The Renewable Fuel Standard Program: Measuring the Impact on Crude Oil and Gasoline Prices looks at the impact of the Renewable Fuel Standard program (RFS) on crude oil and gasoline prices over the last four years (2015-2018). The findings highlight how the RFS has helped keep prices down at the pump by requiring oil refiners to blend a certain amount of renewable fuel into the fuel they produce.

Key Report Findings:

-The RFS program has provided economic benefits to consumers in the United States and worldwide. Retail gasoline prices are lower thanks to the program. The findings from an econometric analysis show that the savings to consumers resulting from the RFS averaged $0.22 per gallon from 2015 through 2018.

-The blending of approximately one million barrels per day of ethanol into U.S. motor fuels under the RFS over the 2015 through 2018 period has lowered the average price of crude by $6 per barrel.

-Because gasoline demand is price inelastic, consumers have been able to allocate a smaller percentage of their total consumption budget to fuel purchases. This has allowed them to expend more on other goods. Over four years, U.S. consumers have been able to spend almost $90 billion per year more on other goods because of gasoline prices being pulled down by renewable fuel use.

-If ethanol were eliminated from the fuel supply, as some opponents of renewable fuels have advocated, gasoline prices would surge by more than $1 per gallon.

-There have been 19 oil market disruptions over the last 46 years, starting with 1973’s Arab Oil Embargo. A modest amount of renewable fuels can significantly moderate the price impact of market disruptions. Renewable fuels can limit the process that pushes product prices higher. The suppliers of products, especially gasoline, can and will increase the amount of ethanol blended into motor fuels if the regulations allow and ethanol can be obtained at a favorable price.

-Consumers would likely pay even higher prices if the mergers that created the large oligopolistic independent refiners had not been accompanied by a second trend: the creation of an aggressive, competitive petroleum marketing sector.

-The procedures used for introducing renewable fuels into gasoline allow the competitive petroleum marketing sector to counter the market power enjoyed by U.S. refiners. This independence allows the marketer to vary the amount of ethanol blended depending on the price.

-Consumers will see increasing benefits from lower prices as marketers are allowed to blend additional ethanol into gasoline (or other renewables into motor fuels) when the ethanol can be acquired at a discount to the price of the petroleum-based blendstock. The benefit results from the high level of competition in gasoline marketing and the absence of refinery control over marketers.

Read the original article: New Study: Renewable Fuel Standard Saves Consumers at Pump, Enhances Energy Security

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Alcohol School: Yancey Delivers D3Max Project Update

Ethanol Producer Magazine

September 13, 2019

By Lisa Gibson

Minimizing feedstock cost is one rule for a successful cellulosic ethanol project, according to Mark Yancey, chief technology officer for D3Max. “That can be a very large component of your project costs.”

Yancey spoke Sept. 13 at Lallemand Biofuels & Distilled Spirits’ Alcohol School, held this week in Montreal. The final day of the event focused on cellulosic ethanol.

D3Max partnered with Ace Ethanol in Stanley, Wisconsin, to construct a cellulosic ethanol plant, which is expected to start up in October. Yancey said the D3Max development plan has always been to colocate with an existing ethanol plant.

In a cellulosic project, Yancey continued, avoid feedstock harvest and transportation, make sure it’s available year-round and has a high coproduct value.

Other rules Yancey shared from his experience included those in pretreatment: ensure high solids loading, a low-cost catalyst, and minimize inhibitor production. In Enzymatic hydrolysis, minimize enzyme cost, avoid dilution after pretreatment, and use hemicellulase and cellulase enzymes. In fermentation, ensure both C5 and C6 sugar fermentation, use a robust and low-cost yeast, and aim for a high product yield.

Yancey said issues a cellulosic ethanol plant might face include: feedstock supply, feedstock cost, capital cost per gallon of ethanol, ethanol yield, coproduct value, wastewater and project financing.

The feedstock for the D3Max system is wet cake, making a pretreatment step crucial. The wet cake goes into a reactor, then a clash tank, then to fermentation, beer column, and to dehydration or decanters to recover ethanol or produce feed.

“This is considered separate processing,” Yancey said. “There’s no mixing of the starch or sugars between the two plants. That makes us what EPA calls separate processing.” The separate processing status makes permitting much easier, he added.

Corn oil yield is expected to be 1.2 pounds per bushel, with a dried distillers grains with solubles yield of 10.5 pounds per bushel. That’s an improvement of DCO yield from 0.7 pounds per bushel from a standard dry mill ethanol plant, Yancey said, and a decrease of DDGS from 14 pounds per bushel, but an increase in protein of 27 percent.

“Ace is very happy with the results,” Yancey said.

Key players in the project include Ace and D3Max, as well as Fagen Inc., AdvanceBio, Fluid Quip Process Technologies, DSM, Lallemand and Whitefox Technologies.

The D3Max plant is expected to produce about 3.4 MMgy, increasing Ace’s overall yield of 2.9 gallons per bushel to 3.1 gallons per bushel, Yancey said.

In response to questions about starch in feedstock and the effects of nutrients, Yancey said, “when this is all up, we’ll need to reoptimize the whole facility.

“Everyone is waiting for our plant to start up. The proof will be in the actual commercial demonstration.”

Read the original article: Alcohol School: Yancey Delivers D3Max Project Update

Governor Walz Signs Executive Order Establishing Governor’s Biofuels Council

Governor Tim Walz

Press Release

September 16, 2019

Today, Governor Tim Walz signed Executive Order 19-35, establishing the Governor’s Biofuels Council to advise the Governor and Cabinet on policy and budget proposals to foster the growth of the Minnesota biofuel industry. Recent action at the federal level has led to an increasing number of renewable fuel plants closing or idling production, including the Corn Plus ethanol plant in Winnebago, Minnesota.

“Minnesota farmers endure a lot of uncertainty when it comes to the weather and the economy. They shouldn’t face that uncertainty from their government,” said Governor Walz. “The Governor’s Biofuels Council demonstrates our commitment to supporting the agriculture and biofuels industries and seizing the opportunity to move Minnesota toward a cleaner, greener transportation sector.”

The Council will be tasked with creating a report advising the Governor and Cabinet on how to best expand the use of biofuels, increase the carbon efficiency of biofuels, and implement biofuels as part of Minnesota’s larger goal to reduce greenhouse gas production in the transportation sector. The Council will be made up of 15 members including representatives of agriculture, biofuels, and transportation industries, as well as environmental, and conservation groups. The Executive Order mandates that the report be completed by November 2020.

Governor Walz is the Chair of the Governors’ Biofuels Coalition. On September 4, 2019, he and Republican South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, Vice Chair of the Coalition, sent a joint letter to President Donald Trump urging him to support Minnesota farmers and renewable fuel producers. The Governor also published an op-ed emphasizing the need for urgent action.

Trump Backs Plan that Would Boost Biofuel Quotas 10% in 2020

Reuters

September 16, 2019

By Jarrett Renshaw, Stephanie Kelly

U.S. President Donald Trump has tentatively approved a plan to increase the amount of biofuels that oil refiners are required to blend each year to compensate for exemptions handed out to small refiners by the Environmental Protection Agency, two sources familiar with the matter said.

The plan is intended to address a major source of anger in U.S. farm country as Trump seeks to hold favor in the Midwest ahead of next year’s election, but it is likely to upset the oil industry, another important political constituency, underscoring the pitfalls of U.S. biofuel policy.

Under the plan, the U.S. EPA will calculate a three-year rolling average of total biofuels gallons exempted from the mandates under its Small Refinery Exemption program and add that figure to its annual biofuel blending quotas each year, the sources said. For 2020, that figure would be 1.35 billion gallons, according to a Reuters calculation.

That would come in addition to a tentative agreement to boost next year’s blending volumes by 1 billion gallons, including 500 million gallons for conventional biofuels like corn-based ethanol and 500 million gallons for advanced biofuels like biodiesel, the sources said.

A court in 2016 ruled that the Obama administration illegally lowered the mandate by 500 million gallons, and part of the current proposed addition would satisfy the decision.

As a result, if the Trump administration followed through on the plan, next year’s total blending mandate would come out to about 22.4 billion gallons, from just over 20 billion in the EPA’s current proposal, according to the Reuters calculation.

The EPA has until the end of November to finalize its 2020 biofuel volumes mandates.

Under the Renewable Fuel Standard, oil refiners are required to blend increasing volumes of biofuels like corn-based ethanol into their fuel each year, to help farmers and reduce imports, but small refining facilities in financial straits can seek waivers.

Trump inserted himself into negotiations between the rival oil and corn industries after his administration recently granted 31 oil refiners exemptions to their blending requirements, infuriating corn farmers and ethanol producers who say the program undermines demand for ethanol at a time the industry is already suffering from a loss of foreign markets.

He and senior administration officials have held a series of meetings with biofuel company officials, chief executives from Marathon Petroleum Corp and Valero Energy Corp, and lawmakers from key farm states including the Republican senators Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley.

Trump was expected to meet with senators representing oil-producing states on Monday to continue discussions on the issue, sources said.

It was unclear if Trump would secure the backing of the oil industry for the plan without granting it any concessions.

One idea that Trump discussed during the meeting with Marathon and Valero last week to help refiners was to potentially cap the price of blending credits refiners must earn or purchase to comply with the RFS, sources familiar with the matter said.

Senators including Pennsylvania’s Pat Toomey and Texas’s Ted Cruz sent a letter to Trump on Thursday, asking any increase to biofuel volumes be accompanied by safeguards against higher credit prices.

Read the original article: Trump Backs Plan that Would Boost Biofuel Quotas 10% in 2020

Trump Backs Plan that Would Boost Biofuel Quotas 10% in 2020

Reuters

September 16, 2019

By Jarrett Renshaw, Stephanie Kelly

A court in 2016 ruled that the Obama administration illegally lowered the mandate by 500 million gallons, and part of the current proposed addition would satisfy the decision.

The EPA has until the end of November to finalize its 2020 biofuel volumes mandates.

Trump was expected to meet with senators representing oil-producing states on Monday to continue discussions on the issue, sources said.

It was unclear if Trump would secure the backing of the oil industry for the plan without granting it any concessions.

Read the original article: Trump Backs Plan that Would Boost Biofuel Quotas 10% in 2020

Klobuchar, Duckworth Lead Colleagues in Urging President to Help Rural Americans, and the Environment, by Upholding the Intent of the Renewable Fuel Standard

Senator Amy Klobuchar

September 12, 2019

News Release

U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) led a letter to President Donald Trump today strongly urging him to help rural Americans, and the environment, by rescinding the 31 recently approved small refinery exemptions (SRE) for biofuels. They also urged his Administration to uphold the intent of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The letter follows recent news reports indicating that the Administration is considering changes to the RFS that would boost biofuel volumes following backlash from farmers after 31 additional SREs were approved on August 8. SREs, or so-called “hardship” waivers, are intended to help small refineries by exempting them from the RFS, but the EPA has issued dozens of waivers, including for some of the most profitable oil companies in the world. The abuse of these waivers has resulted in lost jobs in rural communities and lost markets for farmers at a time when they are already struggling with low commodity prices and ongoing trade disputes. Under the Trump Administration, 85 SREs have been approved, contributing to a reduction in the use of billions of gallons of renewable fuel.

Biofuels are a key pathway toward decarbonizing the transportation sector while lowering gas prices, driving economic growth, and creating jobs. Every gallon of biofuels we use displaces a gallon of oil and cuts carbon emissions. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) found that first generation biofuels cut greenhouse gas emissions by between 39 and 43 percent.

Klobuchar and Duckworth were joined on the letter by Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, and Senators Tina Smith (D-MN), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Gary Peters (D-MI), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI).

“In recent months, the biofuels industry has seen an increase in the number of plant closures, and many other plants are beginning to reduce overall production, resulting in thousands of lost jobs in rural communities and lost markets for farmers at a time when they are already struggling with low commodity prices and ongoing trade disputes. We have previously expressed our serious concerns to the EPA about the impact of your Administration’s policies on the rural economy as a result of the improper issuance of SREs. Since that time, the approval of additional SREs and the worsening economic conditions facing biofuel producers and farmers have only exacerbated those concerns,” the senators wrote.

“The EPA’s continued issuance of SREs is undermining the statutory intent of the RFS to the detriment of rural communities and farmers. It is for this reason that we ask you to ensure that any plan negotiated with the EPA and USDA rescinds the 31 recently granted SREs and upholds the intent of the RFS by accounting for future SREs in the calculation of the 2020 RVOs.”

In June, Klobuchar and Duckworth led a letter, signed with 11 other senators, urging EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler to cease issuing SREs and requesting that the EPA immediately reallocate the remaining gallons and make public the information regarding any recipients of these exemptions.

The full text of today’s letter can be found below:

Dear Mr. President:

We understand that your Administration has convened meetings to consider proposals related to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and the continued issuance of small refinery exemptions (SRE), based on recent reports. As you continue to deliberate on a final package, we strongly urge you to rescind the 31 SREs that were approved on August 8, 2019, and to prospectively account for any future SREs when calculating Renewable Volume Obligations (RVO) for 2020.

For the compliance years of 2016, 2017, and 2018, the EPA has approved 85 SREs, all of which have contributed to a reduction of over 4 billion gallons of renewable fuel blending volumes and 1.4 billion bushels of corn. The abuse of SRE authority by the EPA is negatively impacting the rural economy, and the consequences resulting from the continued misuse of these exemptions are becoming more apparent by the day.

In recent months, the biofuels industry has seen an increase in the number of plant closures, and many other plants are beginning to reduce overall production, resulting in lost jobs in rural communities and lost markets for farmers at a time when they are already struggling with low commodity prices and ongoing trade disputes. We have previously expressed our serious concerns to the EPA about the impact of your Administration’s policies on the rural economy as a result of the improper issuance of SREs. Since that time, the approval of additional SREs and the worsening economic conditions facing biofuel producers and farmers have only exacerbated those concerns.

According to reports, the latest proposal under discussion would increase blending requirements for some categories of renewable fuels including biodiesel, but would fail to rescind the recently granted SREs and delay the reallocation of prospective exemptions until the 2021 compliance year.

The EPA’s continued issuance of SREs is undermining the statutory intent of the RFS to the detriment of rural communities and farmers. It is for this reason that we ask you to ensure that any plan negotiated with the EPA and USDA rescinds the 31 recently granted SREs and upholds the intent of the RFS by accounting for future SREs in the calculation of the 2020 RVOs.

Thank you for your attention to this issue.

Sincerely,

Read the original news release: Klobuchar, Duckworth Lead Colleagues in Urging President to Help Rural Americans, and the Environment, by Upholding the Intent of the Renewable Fuel Standard

Sen. Tina Smith Weighs In On Volatile Ethanol Economics

KEYC

September 11, 2019

By Dion Cheney

The recent closure of the Corn Plus plant in Winnebago has many wondering about a major industry here in southern Minnesota.

Earlier in the month, POET told KEYC that the three main reasons for the volatility in the ethanol markets that caused the shutdown include: Challenging farming weather this year, trade tensions with China and EPA Small Refinery Waiver’s.

U.S. Senator Tina Smith says ethanol is a vital part of Minnesota's economy.

"Renewable fuels like ethanol and other biofuels are a key part of Minnesota’s economy and Minnesota has real strength in ethanol, so I have been strongly opposed to the Trump administration’s secret waivers to refineries that let them off the hook for blending in what they’re required to blend into their regular fuels with ethanol,” Sen. Smith said.

Sen. Smith says the trade disputes are a crisis for Minnesota farmers involved in both plant and animal agriculture.

Read the original article: Sen. Tina Smith Weighs In On Volatile Ethanol Economics

Consumers Urge Automakers to Stay Committed to FFV Production

WhiteFox Technologies Limited

May 15, 2019

Press Release

A Midwest consumer advocacy group is imploring automakers to stay committed to flex-fuel vehicles, which offer American car buyers real choice—on the lot and at the pump. Seeking 20,000-plus signatures, the grassroots group has launched a petition in response to a noticeable downtick in the number of FFVs being manufactured and model types available to prospective car buyers.

Chris Schwarck, of Mason City, Iowa, kicked off the campaign after hearing about General Motors’ apparent retreat from FFVs in favor of other powertrain priorities. “It became apparent to many of us that car manufacturers, in particular General Motors, are moving away from flex-fuel vehicles as we know them today,” Schwarck explained in an e-mail to ethanol producers and corn growers last week. “Many of you have probably had as difficult a purchasing experience as I have in trying to buy a flex-fuel vehicle in a size vehicle you would like. It appears they do not really care what you want; it’s more of “this is what we have” type of thing. In my view, if we are to achieve our goal of selling more gallons of alcohol, we must have more flex-fuel vehicles to do it.”

Schwarck expects a groundswell response from the consumer public and has already gathered nearly 1,000 signatures. “We need everyone’s hands on the rope to pull this off,” he said. “We hope to garner 20,000 or more signatures when we deliver the petition to the vehicle manufacturers. It will take a lot of coordination to do this.”

While the ethanol industry has been especially supportive of the petition, Schwarck said the entire ag community needs be concerned about FFV production. “Every corn grower has a lot at stake here, whether they use ethanol or not; a lot of their corn is ground to make the product,” he said. “In addition, if you are a livestock or poultry producer, I’m sure you want a reliable, dependable supply of distillers grains available to you. The time has come when we must do some of the heavy lifting ourselves and cannot look to Washington or anyone else to do it for us.”

Pleading with automakers to stay the course on FFV manufacturing, the petition states: “We are consumers of your vehicles and we request that you manufacture cars and trucks of all models, engines and trim levels that will allow the use of higher ethanol blends such as E15, E20, E30 and E85. This would make our purchasing experience more enjoyable and less cumbersome than it is today. Many of us can simply not find the vehicles we wish to purchase. In addition, this would be beneficial to your sales presentation to offer environmentally friendly vehicles that burn clean, high-octane American made fuel, while supporting rural America and U.S. agriculture. We wish to support and promote the automakers that choose to produce quality cars and trucks that run on higher ethanol blends.”

The petition can be found here.

Future of Ethanol Exports

Successful Farming

September 9, 2019

By Jerry Perkins

Exports of U.S. ethanol could set another record this year, according to Mike Dwyer, chief economist for the U.S. Grains Council.

U.S. ethanol exports during the current marketing year that ends August 31, 2019, are on track to hit between 1.8 billion gallons and 2 billion gallons, Dwyer predicts. If achieved, that amount of ethanol exports would top the current record of 1.62 billion gallons set during the marketing year that ended August 31, 2018. During that 12-month period, U.S. ethanol was exported to 74 countries, according to the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service.

The U.S. Grains Council and its ethanol export market development partners – the Renewable Fuels Association and Growth Energy – have set a goal of boosting U.S. ethanol exports to 4 billion gallons a year by 2022, Dwyer states. The Grains Council believes that by 2022, 75% of U.S. ethanol exports will go to six countries: China, India, Japan, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico.

The U.S. Grains Council is a Washington, D.C.-based organization that promotes the exports of U.S. corn, sorghum, and barley and value-added products made from those commodities.

Dwyer says the Grain Council’s global strategy includes selling ethanol to China despite trade disputes between the U.S. and China that have roiled the markets there for U.S. crops and other products such as ethanol.

China currently imposes a 70% duty on U.S. ethanol, Dwyer says, but it will have to find a way to import foreign ethanol if it aims to fulfill the mandate it has imposed to use a blend of 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline (E10) by 2020. If trade issues between the U.S. and China are resolved, Dwyer says, ethanol imports by China in 2020 could hit between 300 million gallons and 1 billion gallons.

Kelly Nieuwenhuis, a farmer from Primghar, Iowa, who traveled to China last year on a U.S. Grains Council trade mission, says that he was told by Chinese gasoline retailers that they want to do business with the U.S. ethanol industry. The Chinese also expressed a desire to use more ethanol because it knows that will improve the air quality, Nieuwenhuis says.

Ron Lamberty, senior vice president and market development director for the American Coalition for Ethanol in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, has made seven trips to Mexico to advise the transportation fuels industry there on how it can integrate the use of E10 into Mexico’s fuel supply.

Mexico has made the use of E10 legal in the country, Lamberty says, however, a Reid vapor pressure (RVP) waiver or the use of a lower RVP blendstock would be required for E10 to be used in the nation’s three largest cities: Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey. Small quantities of ethanol are currently being sold in Mexican cities on the U.S.-Mexico border, Lamberty says.

Lamberty has participated in technical workshops on ethanol that have been held for Mexico’s petroleum equipment installers and retailers. The workshops were a joint effort of the U.S. Grains Council and the Mexican Association of Petroleum Equipment Suppliers, and they were intended to inform Mexican fuel marketers about sourcing, blending, distributing, and retailing ethanol-blended gasoline.

Mexico’s potential annual use of E10 totals 1.2 billion gallons, Lamberty says.

Read the original article: Future of Ethanol Exports

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