Saying that the American Coalition for Ethanol’s (ACE) DC Fly-In will be the best ever may be a bit premature but not if I can help it. The fifth annual event will happen on Wednesday, March 13 and Thursday, March 14, 2013 in Washington, D.C. where ACE members and other ethanol supports will descend on the Hill and tell the great local stories of ethanol.

I spoke with Brian Jennings, Executive Vice President for ACE to get the update on this year’s event. There is no fee to be involved and Jennings said they need as many people involved that they can. Last year they had about 60 participants from a dozens or more states and met with 200 congressional delegates in two days.

The reason ACE does this is because they feel that it is important to show the story rather than just tell it. While Jennings believes that facts are on the industry’s side, he said that sometimes you need to wrap up the story in a better wrapper. What they’ve found is that real people can put a human face on why the RFS is important or why we need E15. So when a banker from a small town or a farmer who happens to be a board member for an ethanol plant goes to talk to members of Congress why his or her daily life ethanol has provided benefits and why it’s important, that tends to resonate a lot more effectively than it would if it were a paid lobbyist trying to make the case.

Jenning said ACE knows that 2013 is a pivotal year in trying to keep the RFS so they will focus on this as well as some other issues. They will also be sure to meet with the “freshman” congressman to make sure they start their term understanding the benefits of ethanol.

We here at energy.agwired.com have a mission. To have at least one person from each state participate in this year’s fly-in. We’ve created a “watch” logo and will be bringing you updates on state representation and we’ll be calling out those states without a participate. So let’s work together to make this event phenomenal. To register visit www.ethanol.org, or contact Shannon Gustafson at (605) 334-3381 ext. 16 or via email.

Listen to my interview with Brian here: Best DC Fly-In Ever!

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