Chuck Woodside, General Manager of farmer-owned KAAPA Ethanol in Minden, Nebraska, was just re-elected for a second year as chairman of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA).

I caught up with him this week for an update on the state of the industry, how this year has been, progress on implementing EPA’s E15 waiver, challenges to the RFS2, the importance of exports and distillers grains, and more.

Woodside thinks 2011 has been a positive year for ethanol production, despite the policy challenges the industry continues to face, and he is optimistic about the future, even as they expect the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) to expire at the end of the year for good. “There will be some transition, but I think the industry is confident we can compete with gasoline without the tax credit,” he said. “The VEETC was an incredibly successful program and we think there’s opportunities to build on that investment that the taxpayers made in our industry.”

Listen to Chuck Woodside’s comments in this edition of “The Ethanol Report”: RFA Chairman Chuck Woodside