The deadline to apply for USDA’s Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program (HBIIP) is less than a month away, and the Renewable Fuels Association reminds retailers and other interested parties to move quickly to complete the registration and application process before August 13. Among the important tools available to interested retailers are: 1) application assistance from grant-writing experts; 2) equipment compatibility …
Ethanol Report 7-15-20
U.S. ethanol production is slowly clawing its way upward to more normal levels after reaching record lows in April, but it remains significantly lower than a year ago and the industry is hoping Congress will soon get a new stimulus bill passed to provide some aid. Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency is not making decisions on important ethanol issues, such …
July WASDE Lowers Corn Production
USDA’s July World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) for the 2020/21 U.S. corn outlook is for sharply lower supplies, reduced feed and residual use, increased food, seed, and industrial use, and lower ending stocks. For 2020/21, corn production is forecast 995 million bushels lower based on reduced planted and harvested areas from the June 30 Acreage report. Corn beginning …
Corn and Ethanol Groups Challenge EPA to Correct Study
A coalition including the Urban Air Initiative (UAI), 10 state corn grower organizations and the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) are pressuring the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to correct its recent “Anti-Backsliding” study. The coalition says the study is based on faulty modeling data that fails to recognize the role of ethanol in reducing pollution. The study is required under …
RFA Comments on EPA Anti-Backsliding Measure
The Renewable Fuels Association supports for the EPA’s proposal to determine that no additional measures are necessary to mitigate “potential adverse air quality impacts” associated with the Renewable Fuel Standard. At the same time, RFA’s comments on the Proposed Anti-Backsliding Determination for Renewable Fuels and Air Quality challenged the flawed air quality modeling and analysis conducted by EPA to inform …
Video Spotlights Ethanol’s Important Co-Products
A new educational video from the Renewable Fuels Association and Kansas Corn spotlights all of the important co-products that come from ethanol production. Those products include distillers grains for livestock feed, distillers oil used to make biodiesel, and captured carbon dioxide for the food and beverage industries. With fuel ethanol demand experiencing a significant reduction during the COVID-19 pandemic, which …
Groups Challenge EPA on SAFE Rule
A coalition of agriculture and biofuels groups are challenging the Trump administration’s recent fuel efficiency rulemaking, on that grounds that it downplays the harm from reduced emission standards, ignores the efficiency and health benefits of higher ethanol blends, and fails to realize the promise of increased octane in gasoline. The rule in question, known as the Safer Affordable Fuel Efficiency …
Ethanol Production Coming Back
U.S. ethanol production is slowly clawing its way upward to more normal levels after reaching record lows in April. According to EIA data analyzed by the Renewable Fuels Association for the week ending June 26, ethanol production rose 0.8%, or 7,000 barrels per day (b/d), to 900,000 b/d—equivalent to 37.80 million gallons daily. Production remains tempered due to COVID-19 disruptions, …
Ethanol Exports Decline in May
Exports of U.S. ethanol declined 32 percent in May to the smallest monthly volume in four years, according to Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) analyst Ann Lewis. Most of the drop was due to Brazil, which imported just 1.7 million gallons of U.S. ethanol, down from almost 24 million. Exports to India were down six percent in May, but it was …
ACE Disappointed With EPA Lack of Action
American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) CEO Brian Jennings says he is disappointed in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to issue an interim final rule by July 1 to increase the Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO) for 2020 to ensure that the full 20.09 billion gallons required by the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) are used due to the unanticipated drop …