Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa is possibly the biggest supporter of ethanol in Congress, but he can always use more information to share with his colleagues who may disagree.

During the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) Fly-in this week, Golden Grains Energy chairman Dave Sovereign, who is also a farmer and a fuel retailer near Cresco, Iowa, gave the senator some hard numbers to show how higher blends of ethanol save consumers real money. “The numbers are staggering,” said Sovereign. “We’re in a community of about 4,000 people, a county of 10,000, and we showed over $200,000 in savings in fuel costs.”

Sovereign is also president of the ACE Board of Directors and was pleased with the energy of the members who went to meetings with lawmakers and their staffs on Capitol Hill this week. “We had great conversations and I think we did a lot of positive things while we were here.”

ACE-DC 23 Dave Sovereign, Golden Grain Energy (4:33)

It has been four years since the last fly-in and ACE CEO Brian Jennings said it was great to be back with members telling their stories at such a critical time for the industry. “It’s great to see so many members, whether it’s corn farmers or ethanol producers or retailers, enthusiastic about standing up and speaking out for this industry,” said Jennings. “And the timeliness of this couldn’t be better with the summer driving season coming up and certain bills that were introduced.”

Jennings says grassroots members of ACE making that connection with their members of Congress is very important. “I think this helps the Senators Grassley, Ernst and Klobuchar of the world be re-energized to fight even harder on our behalf,” he said.

ACE-DC 23 ACE CEO Brian Jennings (5:58)

Photos

2023 ACE DC Fly-in Photo Album

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