Nationwide, year-round E15 continues to be the top issue for the ethanol industry and it was the number one topic on the executive roundtable at the Fuel Ethanol Workshop this week.

American Coalition for Ethanol CEO Brian Jennings says passage of the E15 bill in the House last month has bolstered supporters in the Senate. “On the Senate side, we’re engaging with, as you might expect, Majority Leader Thune of South Dakota, a strong supporter of this, can be very instrumental in figuring out the right path,” said Jennings. “I think the Senate feels the pressure now to do something. Now that the House has passed this, the senators that we’ve been talking to are like, okay, wow, now it’s our turn and we actually have to do this. So I think there’s a little more interest in being flexible and being open and finding a path forward.”

The panel also covered topics such as exports and the recent decision on Brazil’s trading practices, and getting rules in place for the 45Z tax credit – all topics that Jennings says will be on the agenda for the ACE’s upcoming 39th annual conference with the theme “Fueling Freedom.”

“We wanted to build off America’s 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Ethanol gives that independence and that freedom to drivers,” Jennings said. “We’re putting together the agenda right now, but you can expect that we will be talking about all of the public policy issues of the day that this panel did, from E15 to 45Z to exports, you name it, new markets. We’re going to have speakers talk about heavy-duty use for ethanol and like John Deere and other heavy-duty applications, the marine opportunity, the sustainable aviation fuel opportunity. And then just a lot of breakout sessions to help board members in terms of leadership and training and succession planning, financial health of the company, things like that.”

The ACE Conference will be held August 19-21, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Listen to an interview with Jennings from FEW:
ACE CEO Brian Jennings at FEW 12:50