In the News
Nov 11, 2015
By Joanna Schroeder
Organizations are still reacting to the letter sent by 184 Congressman, including some for top corn producing states, calling on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reduce the volumes of corn-based ethanol blended into America’s fuel supply as part of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The EPA has sent their final rule drafts to the Office of Budget and Management (OMB) and the rules are expected to be released by November 30, 2015.
“The RFS has been an unqualified success since its passage in 2005,” said Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union (NFU), in a letter to President Obama. “Wavering from our commitment to the RFS would be a grave mistake for both America’s family farmers and this nation as a whole. We urge you to reject Big Oil’s talking points and stay the course on the RFS.”
Last week NFU released the results of a poll that showed that released a poll that showed popularity and support for political candidates that support the Renewable Fuel Standard within a majority of rural congressional districts in which the poll was conducted.
Johnson stressed in the letter that the RFS has boosted incomes for family farmers while making strides in mitigating climate change through the use of biofuels. He noted that climate change is a threat to both farmers’ operatons and, in turn, the nation’s food security.
“The RFS has helped family farmers and the nation make tangible steps toward mitigating our impact on climate change by driving the U.S. to make real reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,” Johnson wrote in the letter. “Corn ethanol reduces GHG emissions by 34 percent, and more substantial gains can be made through new types of biofuels.”
Johnson noted that, unfortunately, most popular public policies face a small but vocal group of critics, and the RFS is no different.
“Earlier this month, a minority of House members sent a letter requesting that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) curb the growth of this promising industry by backing off volume targets set forth in the statute,” said Johnson. “These members are reversing themselves by asking for less ethanol production than was signed into law by President Bush.”
“We deeply appreciate your administration’s demonstrated commitment to mitigating climate change for the sake of domestic and global food security among other things. On behalf of America’s family farmers, we ask you to stay the course on the RFS, maintaining your commitment to biofuels and to fully implementing the statutory volume targets laid out in the law.”
Read the original story here : NFU Highlights RFS Success
Nov 10, 2015
By Rep. Donald Payne
For over a century, we have seen fossil fuels pollute our environment, damage our climate, and spew toxic chemicals into the air we breathe. Unfortunately, our most vulnerable communities are hit the hardest from this pollution. Poor air quality affects urban areas and communities of color disproportionately.
To combat the problem, Congress created America’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) in 2005. The RFS is Congress’s answer to lowering greenhouse gas emissions and expanding the nation’s renewable fuels sector while reducing reliance on imported oil. The RFS is the most successful law on the books that cuts greenhouse gas emissions and pollution. In fact, studies have shown that higher renewable fuel blends reduce asthma- and cancer-causing emissions by 6.6 percent compared to regular gasoline.
To help our environment, strengthen public health, stimulate our economy, and boost our confidence in renewable fuels, we must invest in advanced and cellulosic biofuels—the cleanest motor fuel in the world. Advanced biofuels have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 590 million metric tons, an amount equivalent to taking more than 124 million cars off the road.
The renewable fuel industry is responsible for creating more than 852,000 good, American jobs and generating $184.5 billion in annual economic output. In my home state of New Jersey, the RFS is responsible for $1.6 billion of economic output each year, including $88.3 million in the 10th Congressional District. Lowering the biofuels volume requirement would devastate our economy and threaten the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Americans.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s recent proposal on the RFS would weaken the biofuels volume requirements and overturn the progress from the past 10 years of its existence. The EPA’s current proposal is inconsistent with Congress’s intent when it passed the law with strong, bipartisan support. The weakened proposal also runs counter to the Obama administration’s goals on fighting climate change and curbing carbon pollution.
That is why I led a group of colleagues in urging the EPA against reducing the biofuels volume requirement. In addition to the health benefits of reducing greenhouse gases, Congress intended for the RFS to provide an incentive to drive investments in biofuel production and technology. Reducing the biofuels volume requirement could have a chilling effect on innovation, and thus directly affect job creation.
Our communities cannot afford to suffer any longer from the toxic fossil fuel emissions that are hurting public health and leading to a whole host of different health issues, including childhood asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis.
At the end of November 2015, the administration will release its final rule on the RFS biofuels volume requirement. It can and must choose to strengthen the Renewable Fuel Standard and protect our economy, environment, and public health.
Read the original story here : Don't Weaken The RFS
November 6, 2015
By Mark Drajem
An odd-bedfellows group of lawmakers — led by an oil-industry ally from Texas and a progressive Vermonter — raised a familiar-sounding concern about ethanol in a letter this week to EPA chief Gina McCarthy.
Their argument that the Environmental Protection Agency is requiring more ethanol than can be safely blended into gasoline has been made repeatedly by the oil industry. The echo in the letter wasn’t a coincidence: A lobbyist for refiner Marathon Petroleum Corp. was listed as an author of early drafts of what was distributed to lawmakers for them to sign on. The company says it offered input, but didn’t write the letter.
Ethanol producers say this shows that a campaign including chain restaurants, chicken producers, small-engine makers and even some environmental groups is being driven by oil producers and refiners, which oppose the mandates of the Renewable Fuel Standard. They found the lobbyist’s name in the letter’s electronic record and shared it with a reporter.
“It’s not hard to see the oil industry’s fingerprints all over this campaign,” said Brooke Coleman, the executive director of the Advanced Biofuels Business Council, which represents biofuel makers. “What this is about is trying to destroy the only competition they have in the marketplace.”
Michael Birsic, the lobbyist for Marathon and a former congressional aide, was listed electronically as the letter’s author.
Seeking Relief
“As you would expect, these types of documents are collaborative in nature,” he wrote in an e-mail. “Marathon Petroleum was one of the collaborators and suggested technical comments. We were not the original or primary author of the letter. We are just one the many interested parties who are seeking relief from the unreasonableness of the RFS mandate.”
Oil and ethanol companies have intensified their battle over the future of the program in recent weeks, as President Barack Obama’s administration prepares to issue long-overdue requirements for the fuel’s use last year, this year and next year.
Blend Wall
Lobbyists representing companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Tesoro Corp.say the EPA’s proposal would force them to blend ethanol in at more than 10 percent of the gasoline supply, breaching what they call the blend wall of how much can be safely used. Ethanol producers say EPA is proposing to illegally cut the requirement for ethanol, and should prod refiners into using higher blends of the fuel.
In recent weeks the debate has a surprising turn, as the oil industry and its allies unveiled a television advertising campaign that argued ethanol is worse for the climate than gasoline. The ads used a quote from former Vice PresidentAl Gore, who won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his work to stop climate change: “First-generation ethanol was a mistake.”
The letter to McCarthy was sent Wednesday and signed by more than 180 lawmakers. The EPA proposal for 2016 “would constitute a breach of the ethanol blendwall, which would cause adverse impacts on American consumers and the economy,” they said. The signers include a wide range of lawmakers, including Vermont Democrat Peter Welch, Virginia Republican Bob Goodlatte and the incoming chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Kevin Brady.
Not Aware
Republican congressman Bill Flores of Texas, who first circulated the letter, “was not aware until last week that the letter contained some material which might have originated from a stakeholder,” his spokesman, Andre Castro, said in an e-mail.
Spokespeople for both Welch and Goodlatte, who were signatories of the draft that went around to congressional offices, said the letter came from Flores’ staff.
“Congressman Welch signed on to Congressman Flores’ bipartisan letter to Administrator McCarthy regarding the RFS because it is consistent with his view that the corn ethanol mandate is a well-intentioned flop that is bad for consumers, bad for small engines, bad for farmers, and bad for the environment,” his spokeswoman said in an e-mail.
The EPA has a deadline of the end of this month to set the ethanol mandates.
Read the original story: Oil Lobby Had Hand in House Lawmakers’ Anti-Ethanol Note to EPA
Nov 9, 2015
By Jim Lane
In Hungary, Clean Fuels Development Coalition Executive Director Douglas Durante said as a way for ethanol to find value beyond limitations of government imposed limits, both in the EU and the U.S., the focus should be on providing clean, low carbon octane to help meet health, climate, and efficiency goals.
In the wake of continuing revelations regarding the Volkswagen emissions problems, Durante said this should lead air quality officials around the world to look again at the often erroneous assumptions and calculations used in determining emissions. Further, a better understanding of the importance of looking at fuels and vehicles as an integrated system would tell a far more positive story than what many current, and outdated models would indicate.
“Despite the lies and the misinformation spread by the petroleum industry, ethanol is a superior fuel and additive to anything out of the oil barrel. Gasoline is a mix of hundreds of different chemicals and hydrocarbons, the worst of which are the toxic, often carcinogenic aromatics”, said Durante. “In the Unites States, EPA is actually required to reduce these harmful components and if we were allowed to splash blend additional volumes of ethanol we would be able to improve fuel quality and protect public health,” he said.
Durante also told the delegates at the F.O. Licht ethanol conference that despite the challenges facing the biofuels industry in regard to political and public support, solutions exist that can easily surmount the imaginary blend wall. “The auto industry continually recognizes the value of ethanol in reducing carbon emissions while providing the octane they need. Positive discussions among the ethanol, agriculture and auto industries as well as the Departments of Energy and Agriculture are focusing on blends of 25, 30 and even 40% in the next decade.”
He said hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested in refueling infrastructure and the industry is working to provide consumers with choice by creating access to the market.
"With vehicles that can use ethanol, and the ability to distribute the fuel, the potential is nearly unlimited for both first and 2nd generation fuels. The opposition to these programs is all about lost market share to the petroluem industry which admittedly funds the opposition we see in all of our countries," said Durante. "Working together we can tell the real story and how biofuels provide a wealth of environmental, energy, and economic benefits."
Nov 5, 2015
By Ann Bailey
It would behoove congressional candidates in the Midwest to support the renewable fuel standard (RFS), according to results from a National Farmers Union poll.
The NFU announced Thursday that poll results of more than 4,000 respondents in six Midwestern congressional districts showed rural voters were more likely to vote for candidates who support the RFS. Given the results of the poll, conducted Oct. 5-7 in congressional districts in Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and South Dakota, Pres. Barack Obama it’s important not only for the good of the environment, but also for Democratic candidates that he get the RFS back on track, Johnson said.
The Obama administration will set the volume obligations for the RFS in the next several weeks. The poll showed support for the RFS outweighed opposition in five of the six congressional districts polled.
“We want the President to understand that this is not only the right policy for the environment but also will do damage to his party,” he said. “Almost all of us in agriculture have been strong supporters of the RFS. If the President make the wrong decision he is likely going to do an awful lot of damage to his candidates.”
In addition, not supporting the RFS would give leverage to the claims of organizations that accuse Obama of being a hypocrite because he is a proponent of legislation that protects the environment, but doesn’t support the RFS.
Support of the RFS likely won’t be a magic elixir for candidates, but it “is a real good multi-vitamin,” said Ryan Fitzpatrick, Third Way Clean Energy Program deputy director. Third Way provided an analysis of the poll, titled “Strong RFS support offers low-risk opportunity for Democrats to connect with voters they need to retake majority.”
“If you are going to have a real tough race, why don’t you take the multi-vitamin?” Fitzpatrick said.
Read the original story here : Poll : Rural Americans Support Candidates Who Support The RFS
November 2, 2015
By Syngenta
Iowa Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum visited the site of the first commercial cellulosic ethanol production in the state of Iowa at Quad County Corn Processors (QCCP) Oct. 30.
QCCP recently passed the two-million gallon milestone for cellulosic ethanol production using trademarked Cellerate-process technology. Cellerate is a collaboration between Syngenta and Cellulosic Ethanol Technologies LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of QCCP.
Santorum met with QCCP and Syngenta representatives, including QCCP CEO Delayne Johnson, to discuss renewable fuels policy and see first-hand the innovative process technology that has enabled QCCP to become a leader in cellulosic ethanol production. Cellulosic ethanol is seen as a major contributor to meeting renewable fuel standard (RFS) targets.
"One of the things that's helped rural small towns and farmers, particularly in Iowa, is the Renewable Fuel Standard,” Santorum said.
Increased demand for ethanol has helped revive many rural communities by providing thousands of new, good-paying jobs. In 2013 alone, the ethanol industry created and supported nearly 400,000 new jobs across the country, while contributing more than $44 billion to the Gross Domestic Product and generating more than $4.5 billion in federal tax revenues.
Santorum also called for investment in flex fuel infrastructure to increase access to biofuels – which he believes would provide consumers with increased access to the fuel marketplace and allow greater market competition.
During 2014, QCCP achieved EPA certification to generate D3 renewable identification numbers (RINs) for cellulosic ethanol. According to Johnson, the generation of D3 RINs helps fulfill advanced and cellulosic requirements set forth by the RFS. QCCP is among the first companies to issue D3 RINs, which has also enabled the company to expand sales into racing and advanced biofuels markets.
“We are excited to have achieved our goal of producing 2 million gallons per year of cellulosic ethanol, and are on target to continue, or increase, this production level going forward,” Johnson said. “We’re now focusing on growing alliances and relationships within the industry.”
In 2014, Syngenta announced an agreement with Cellulosic Ethanol Technologies to license Cellerate process technology to ethanol plants. “Ethanol plants can integrate Cellerate process technology into their existing production process,” said Chris Tingle, head of Marketing for trademarked Enogen at Syngenta. “We believe that not only will Cellerate process technology help make advanced and cellulosic ethanol a reality, but the combination of Cellerate and Enogen could represent the next leap forward for ethanol production.”
Read the original story: Presidential Candidate, Former Senator Visits Quad County
Nov 3, 2015
By Holly Jessen
Sixteen members of the Congressional Black Caucus sent a letter to the U.S. EPA Nov. 2, showing their support for the renewable fuel standard (RFS).
“As you finalize the proposed rules under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), we respectfully urge you to not reduce the biofuels volume requirement,” a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said. “The RFS program has helped the environment, our economy, and has increased our confidence in renewable fuels. Renewable fuels like cellulosic and advanced biofuels have reduced greenhouse gas and carbon emission to an equivalent of removing more than 124 million cars from the roads. The result of this reduction is an increase in air quality. Poor air quality particularly affects those in urban areas and communities of color.”
The letter pointed to many positives of the RFS, including greenhouse gas reductions, providing an incentive for investments into biofuel production and technology and job creation. Reducing the biofuels volume numbers “could have a chilling effect on innovation” and therefore have an effect on jobs. “With unemployment at an average of 10 percent in minority communities, it is important that we do not obstruct an entire industry that has created 842,000 American jobs and has the potential to create more,” the letter said.
They also poked holes in the EPA argument that lack of infrastructure is a reason to lower the biofuel volume requirements suggested by Congress. “We know that the oil industry largely controls that infrastructure,” the letter said. If we accept the argument that infrastructure is a limiting factor in setting blending targets, we remove all incentive for the oil industry to invest in biofuel.”
Read the original story here : Black Caucus Members Back RFS In Letter To EPA
Read the letter from the Black Caucus Members To The EPA here
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
More...
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
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