I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about the ethanol industry that gets me jazzed up about biofuels and my latest spark: the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) 26th Annual Ethanol Conference that kicked off tonight in Des Moines, Iowa. The opening reception was abuzz with the latest news and contagious optimism about the industry, despite Big Oil’s efforts to block E15 and other higher blends of ethanol.
To get a preview of the event, I chatted with ACE’s Ron Lamberty, better known as the “fuel guy,” because Ron not only works with fuel retailers and the petroleum industry in his role as senior vice president, but he also owns several fuel retail stations. So if anyone knows how safe and beneficial ethanol is to consumers, it’s Ron.
Lamberty noted that the ethanol industry is battling against a competitor that really doesn’t want to compete and doesn’t feel any need to tell the truth. “We’re battling against all this misinformation,” he said, but truth is on our side and we’ve got to keep getting it out any way we can.”
He said that things are going well for the ethanol industry and they just need to ride out this full-scale assault. He believes that once consumers get a chance to buy more of the industry’s fuels, they will see they are a good thing and he doesn’t think any amount of advertising can stop the movement of ethanol.
This year’s conference theme is “Unite and Ignite” and Lamberty says the theme is near and dear to him. He said, “You’ve heard the saying, it’s not you, it’s me, well in this case we’re saying its not ACE, it’s you. We truly want our members to go out and do these things.” He said ACE has learned through doing their fly-in, that it’s a lot more effective to have people who work in the industry every day tell their story.
Lamberty says the industry needs to fight back and people need choice. “And when people have choice, they will choose us.”
Listen to my full interview with Ron Lamberty who discusses not only the importance of this year’s theme, but also the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and the truth about RINs (Renewable Identification Number). ACE Unite & Ignite Kicks off with a Bang