Ethanol and other alternative fuel industry leaders will be on Capitol Hill Tuesday to urge Congress to an Open Fuel Standard (OFS). Representatives John Shimkus (R-IL) and Elliot Engel (D-NY) introduced the Open Fuel Standard Act in June with the support of the Open Fuel Standard Coalition. Tuesday’s event in the nation’s capitol will include an Energy Security Roundtable and …
Coaltion Wants Energy Title in New Farm Bill
A coalition of nearly 50 trade groups and organizations representing renewable energy, energy efficiency, farm, and forest interests is urging leaders of the House Agriculture and Senate Agriculture Committees to include an energy title in any new Farm Bill legislation. A $23 billion reduction in funding has been proposed to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction by the committees …
Navy Gets Electric Vehicle
The U.S. Navy took delivery of its first fully electric car this week, a brand new Chevy Volt. “This vehicle will save 280 gallons of fuel per year,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy Tom Hicks. “This builds to our goals the Secretary of the Navy has laid out for us to reduce our petroleum consumption by …
Petroleum Marketers Join Coalition for E85
The Petroleum Marketers Association of America (PMAA) has become the newest member of the Coalition for E85 to help educate policymakers about the need for 85% ethanol blended gasoline to be designated as an alternative fuel in the tax code. “If we don’t enable E85 to compete with gasoline, we could see the entire Flex Fuel industry disappear,” said Dan …
RFA Chairman on Ethanol Issues
Chuck Woodside, General Manager of farmer-owned KAAPA Ethanol in Minden, Nebraska, was just re-elected for a second year as chairman of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA). I caught up with him this week for an update on the state of the industry, how this year has been, progress on implementing EPA’s E15 waiver, challenges to the RFS2, the importance of …
Bioheat Campaign Blankets New York
A new Bioheat® advertising campaign is underway in New York City targeting oilheat customers who want a better, cleaner fuel. The message is that consumers who use oilheat to heat their homes have the power to change – without changing a thing – by choosing Bioheat®, “a home heating fuel made with biodiesel, a renewable, cleaner-burning fuel that supports American …
Biodiesel Scholarship Honors Minnesota Farmer
An annual scholarship for Minnesota high school seniors has been launched under a new name to honor the memory of a soybean farmer. This year’s scholarships are given in memory of the late father of Mike Youngerberg, senior director of field services for the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association. Reuben Youngerberg owned a farm in Blue Earth County, where he held …
Anti-Ethanol Blender Pump Amendment Pulled
An amendment offered by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) that would have stopped funding for Flex Fuel blender pumps was pulled before it came up for a vote this week. “While the withdrawal of this amendment is an important milestone, we will continue to encourage Congress to oppose any other effort that would erect new barriers to the market,” said Growth …
Reports Blame Speculators for Higher Prices
Two reports released earlier this week concluded that commodity market speculation is largely to blame for increasing prices of food and energy. The reports were issued in advance of the October 18 meeting of the Commodities Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC) which placed limits on speculation in a variety of commodities including oil, corn, gold and natural gas. One report …
USDA Plans to Cancel Ethanol Co-Product Report
In a cost-cutting measure, USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is planning to cancel the Distiller Co-Products for Feed Survey announced in March slated to be done in January 2012. The report, which was designed to better calculate the use of the ethanol co-product known as DDGS in livestock feed, is one of several that USDA plans to eliminate or …