Corn Growers Oppose Texas Ethanol Request

Cindy Zimmerman

The National Corn Growers Association is voicing strong opposition to Texas Governor Rick Perry’s request for a waiver from the Renewable Fuels Standard.

“If granted, the waiver request made by Gov. Perry today will hurt, not help, U.S. consumers by increasing fuel costs and sending a signal to farmers to plant less grain,” said NCGA President Ron Litterer. “A waiver from the RFS would undoubtedly result in higher gasoline prices and it seems very improbable that grain prices or food prices would be reduced.”

NCGANCGA points to a study released this week by the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development at Iowa State University which found that, “the growth in ethanol production has caused retail gasoline prices to be $0.29 to $0.40 per gallon lower than would otherwise have been the case.”

Given record global demand for corn, a waiver from the RFS would have little or no effect on grain prices for livestock and poultry feeders, Litterer said. Speculative investment in commodity futures markets, record demand for U.S. grain exports, heightened U.S. and global feed demand, and weaker than expected grain crops in Asia and Australia are among the other factors that must also be considered when looking at current grain prices.

corn, Ethanol, Food prices, News

Ethanol Group Challenges Texas Request

Cindy Zimmerman

The governor of Texas is asking the federal government to cut “skyrocketing” food prices by waiving half of the renewable fuel standard for ethanol made from grain.

Governor Rick Perry said in a statement that such a waiver was “the best, quickest way” to ease rising food costs before lasting damage was done.

RFAThe Renewable Fuels Association criticized the governor’s action, saying that reducing the use of ethanol will not appreciably reduce grain prices for livestock producers and food processors in Texas.

“But eliminating 4.5 billion gallons of fuel from the marketplace – as the 50% waiver of the Renewable Fuels Standard sought by Governor Perry would do – will increase gasoline and diesel prices even more. While this may benefit Texas oil companies, it will certainly hurt consumers in Texas and the rest of the country.”

RFA says that Governor Perry is ignoring the conclusions of a Texas A&M report he himself requested. According to the findings of that study, “relaxing the RFS does not result in significantly lower corn prices.” The Texas A&M report also stated that, “The underlying force driving changes in the agricultural industry, along with the economy as a whole, is overall higher energy costs, evidenced by $100 per barrel oil.”

According to RFA President Bob Dinneen, “Tampering, adjusting or removing the requirements will not have the impact on grain prices that Governor Perry seeks, nor will it bring the food price reductions he claims. The skyrocketing price of oil, surging global demand for grains and meat, poor harvests around the globe, and a weakened US dollar are the real factors determining world grain and food prices.”

Ethanol, Food prices, News

CNBC Focuses on Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

Ethanol’s role in higher food prices was the focus of CNBC’s Street Signs program on Friday.

One segment featured Ethanol Promotion and Information Council director of operations Robert White, along with Sean McBride of the Grocery Manufacturer’s Association and New York Times columnist Roger Cohen.

CNBC Street SignsWhite and Cohen were in the position of defending biofuels. Leading in with a story that the Texas governor is calling for waiving half of the Renewable Fuels Standard to help cut food prices, White noted that there have been multiple studies, “including one from the great state of Texas this past month that clearly state that it’s energy prices, in particular petroleum prices, that are driving up food prices – three times as much as anything that commodity prices could do – ethanol just being one of those components of the corn market.”

Cohen, who has a column today about the issue, noted that there are many issues driving food prices up and he is “worried about this hysterical scapegoating of ethanol and all biofuels.”

“My fear is that we are going to throw out the baby with the bathwater,” Cohen said.

The reporter questioned why the ethanol industry needs subsidies to be competitive and White made the point that the main subsidy is a blenders credit to encourage oil companies to use ethanol, while the tariff on ethanol imports is to offset that credit meant to encourage domestic production of the fuel.

GMA’s McBride admitted that there are other factors driving food prices but claimed that as much as a third of the food price increases were due to “our food to fuel mandates that were passed in 2007.” Cohen disputed that figure. “For every theory, there is an institute putting out a report backing it up,” he said.

Listen to the CNBC segment here.
[audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/epic/cnbc-epic.mp3]

Ethanol, News

Nebraska Ethanol Plans E85 Workshops

Cindy Zimmerman

NE EthanolThe Nebraska Ethanol Board, the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition and the Clean Fuels Development Coalition are holding a series of E85 Direct Marketing Workshops next month.

NEVCThe aim of the workshops is to promote direct marketing relationships between ethanol producers and fuel retailers and reduce costs for all parties involved. Ethanol plants, petroleum equipment suppliers, petroleum marketers and auto dealers are encouraged to attend these free workshops. Presentations will address E85 handling and storage, regulations and safety procedures, applying for the ethanol blender tax credit, and direct marketing of E85 from ethanol plant to retailer.

The workshops will take place on May 6 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Norfolk at Northeast Community College, Utility Line Building; May 7 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Kearney at the UNK Student Center Cedar Room; and May 8 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Omaha at the Steamfitters and Plumbers Union No. 464.

Registration and other information is available on the “Events” page at www.ne-ethanol.org.

The project is funded in part by a grant from the Nebraska Department of Economic Development administered by the Nebraska Rural Development Commission.

E85, Ethanol, News

Ohio Energy Bill Uses Renewables to Cut Usage, Rates

John Davis

An energy bill that will use a mix of regulated and market-based electricity rates starting in 2009 to prevent spikes in power bills and encourage a 22 percent reduction in power usage by 2025 has made it through the Ohio State Senate.

This article from Reuters says the state’s governor has promised to sign the measure that uses renewable energy to help meet those goals:

Ohio has also taken a mixed approach to renewable energy targets. By 2025, at least 25 percent of electricity delivered in Ohio must be generated from “advanced energy” sources. Of that 25 percent goal, at least half has to come from renewable sources like wind and solar, and no more than half from “clean coal” and improved nuclear plants.

The measure also looks to rein in rates charged to consumers.

Government, Solar, Wind

Alabama Town Considers Biodiesel to Save Money

John Davis

ftpayne.jpgAs oil prices rise, so does the price of diesel fuel. Truckers, construction companies and municipalities are feeling the pinch of $4-plus-a-gallon diesel fuel, and one town in Alabama has figured out that a less expensive… and greener… solution is biodiesel.

This story from the Fort Payne (AL) Times-Journal says the city’s council is looking at the less expensive biodiesel as a way to also help the city’s wastewater treatment plant:

“Our initial problem came up in a council meeting that cooking oil and grease was getting into our sewer system,” [Councilman Richard] Pridmore said. “We are thinking people are pouring the cooking oil and grease down their sinks with hot water. Of course, there is no way for these people to recycle this. There is really no good place to be putting these things.”

The two problems of rising diesel costs and unwanted items in the sewer prompted Pridmore to speak with state Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, who had initiated a campaign statewide to increase biodiesel production.

At a council work session Tuesday, Pridmore brought an initial plan to the table. The plan includes going to restaurants to ask them to allow the city to pump out their grease tanks, which is already required of businesses to do. The city would pump the grease for possibly half the cost of having it done privately in exchange for the restaurant’s cooking oil – the main ingredient in biodiesel.

“If we pump it regularly, the grease can’t get into our sewer system,” Pridmore said. “It gets to our wastewater treatment plant, and that’s where most of our problem lies.”

Once the cooking oil is collected, it would be turned into biodiesel at a reactor the city could buy for about $22,000, Pridmore said.

The biodiesel could then be used in city vehicles, which are currently using about 5,000 gallons of regular diesel each month.

Pridmore believes they can make the biodiesel for just $1 per gallon. That means the city could end up saving about $400 a month.

And you have to believe that more cities will be striking more deals to make their own biodiesel.

Biodiesel

VeraSun Honors VE85 Retailers

Cindy Zimmerman

VeraSun Energy has announced recipients of its 2007 VE85™ Awards, recognizing five independent fuel marketers for retail sales, promotion and education of VeraSun’s branded E85 for use in flexible fuel vehicles.

VeraSunGas City, Ltd. earned the VE85™ Retailer of the Year Award, VeraSun’s most prestigious award for 2007. The independent petroleum marketer is located in Frankfort, Ill., and owns and operates stations in northeast Illinois, northwest Indiana, Florida and Arizona. Currently, Gas City has 34 fueling locations in Illinois and Indiana offering VE85™. In addition to the Retailer of the Year Award, the company also received the Driving Change Award and the Fueling Growth Award for three of its Illinois VE85™ fueling locations in Schaumberg, Shorewood and Romeoville. Gas City’s Executive Vice President William Shireman was awarded the 2007 Ambassador of the Year Award.

The Fueling Growth Award was also given to Brookings BP in Brookings, S.D.; GROWMARK’s Fast Stop in Waterloo, Ill., and JD Streett’s Lowells Service Station in Collinsville, Ill. Three stores owned and operated by Sheetz, Inc., were recognized with the Driving Change Award. Two of those fueling locations are located in Pittsburgh, while the third location is in Monroeville, Pa.

E85, Ethanol, News

Ethanol Podcast on Efficiency and Food Prices

Cindy Zimmerman

RFA PodcastThe latest “Ethanol Report” podcast from the Renewable Fuels Association features comments from RFA President Bob Dinneen on the new report from Argonne National Laboratory about the increased efficiency of U.S. ethanol plants, as well as how higher oil prices are the real cause of food price inflation.

You can subscribe to “The Ethanol Report” by following this link.

Or you can listen to it on-line here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/rfa/ethanol-report-4-21-08.mp3]

Audio, Ethanol, RFA

Americans Worried About Energy Issues

Cindy Zimmerman

A new poll shows that when it comes to energy, Americans are most worried about dependence on foreign oil.

Renewable Fuels NowThe survey, commissioned by Renewable Fuels Now and conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates Inc., polled 1200 voters earlier this year about a number of issues facing Americans.

The top three concerns were the war in Iraq, health insurance and energy. Almost half rated imports one of their two biggest energy concerns. A distant second is the lack of viable alternatives to fossil fuels.

When asked what is the best way to solve America’s energy problems, 51 percent said the answer is to invest in renewable energy sources; 28 percent call for energy efficiency and conservation policies; and only 17 percent favor more drilling and mining for domestic fossil fuels. Eighty percent of the voters in the survey say government should give more incentives to encourage the development of renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. Seventy-six percent want government to require more renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel to be blended into fuel for cars and trucks.

“These numbers show Americans are worried about how they’re going to fill their gas tanks and heat their homes in the future — and they should be,” said Toni Nuernberg, executive director of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council, a member of the Renewable Fuels Now Coalition. “Using more ethanol and other renewable fuels means we’re going to be less dependent on oil from unstable parts of the world.”

Biodiesel, Energy, EPIC, Ethanol, News

Oklahoma to Grow Switchgrass for Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

The state of Oklahoma is getting into the switchgrass business for cellulosic ethanol production.

SwitchgrassThe Oklahoma Bioenergy Center has secured land for more than 1,000 acres – the “world’s largest stand of switchgrass” – of production-scale demonstration fields. Planting will take place within the next 45 days.

The land is located near Guymon in the state’s panhandle. This switchgrass field will be the first of its size anywhere in the world focused on biomass production. Additional acreage of sorghum and switchgrass will be planted near Chickasha and Maysville in central Oklahoma.

AbengoaA cellulosic biorefinery currently being constructed by Abengoa Bioenergy in Hugoton, Kan., will be less than 35 miles from Guymon, and the switchgrass fields in the panhandle will provide material to this biorefinery. The Abengoa Bioenergy facility is expected to be operational in 2010.

“The value of the Oklahoma Bioenergy Center to the cellulosic ethanol industry cannot be overstated,” said Gerson Santos-Leon, executive vice president, Abengoa Bioenergy New Technologies. “The early and aggressive establishment of 1,000 acres of switchgrass will provide researchers, scientists, agricultural producers and industry — not only in Oklahoma but across the nation — with important information that will help establish the emerging cellulosic ethanol industry.”

Cellulosic, Ethanol, News