The chairman of the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) is encouraged about the future for the ethanol industry, despite the continued challenges. Ron Alverson of Dakota Ethanol says a lot has happened in the 10 years since the first Renewable Fuel Standard became law. “There were three legs of support for the RFS. It was cheap corn, high priced and …
#ACE15 Annual Celebrates Ethanol Ingenuity
The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) is meeting this week in Omaha, Nebraska to celebrate the people, ingenuity and advancements of the ethanol industry. ACE Executive Vice President Brian Jennings talked about the success of the industry, despite the roadblocks that have come up over the past decade since passage of the first Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). “In the face …
EIA: Outage Increased Midwest Gas Prices
New data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) confirms that the unplanned outage earlier this month of a 240,000-barrels-per-day unit at a refinery in Whiting, Indiana, caused gas prices to spike throughout the Midwest. The outage occurred on August 8 and EIA notes that regular gasoline prices in the Midwest increased by 32 cents a gallon within the following week, …
Ethanol Industry Asks Walker to Clarify RFS Stance
America’s Renewable Future (ARF) is asking Governor Walker to clarify his position on the Renewable Fuel Standard after his remarks at the Iowa State Fair on the Des Moines Register Soapbox. Walker called for ethanol mandates to be phased out; yet acknowledge that the industry created around the RFS must stay in place. Click here to read about his speech. …
ICM Completes Cellulose Ethanol Performance Runs
ICM Inc. has successfully completed two 1,000-hour performance runs of its patent-pending Generation 2.0 Co-Located Cellulose Ethanol process at the company’s pilot plant in St. Joseph, Missouri. The runs were designed to prove performance of the co-located technology design for the conversion of cellulosic biomass feedstocks, including energy crops such as switchgrass and energy sorghum, agricultural crop residues, and forestry …
Republican Candidates: ‘We Can Fix America’
The battle cry of the presidential Republican candidates is to fix America through debt elimination, military strength and cooperation. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and Senator from South Carolina Lindsey Graham took the stage during the Des Moines Register’s Soapbox and spoke to thousands of people at the Iowa State Fair. While the crowd is supposed to …
Republicans Carson, Pataki on the Soapbox
Republican presidential hopefuls Dr. Ben Carson and former New York Governor George Pataki took the Des Moines Register Soapbox during the Iowa State Fair this weekend with a common message of reducing America’s debt. Dr. Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, focused much of his remarks on personal stories yet engaged the crowd with lessons learned. For example, he said, “The person …
RFA to EPA: Provide Consumers Relief at Pump
In light of a refinery shutdown of the BP plant in Whiting, Indiana that produces 240,000-barrels-per-day, the Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen is asking the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide consumers relief at the pump. Late last week, gas prices jumped an average of 80 cents per gallon overnight in several states including Illinois, Michigan Indiana, …
API Releases “Flawed Study”
A new published study from the University of Michigan and funded by the American Petroleum Institute (API) finds that when using annual basis carbon (ABC) accounting, corn-ethanol is not better than its petroleum counterpart. ABC accounting uses spatially and temporally explicit analysis of the direct greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) exchanges between the atmosphere and a physical vehicle-fuel system. LCA is …
Dems Webb & O’Malley Take the Soapbox
Democratic hopeful presidential candidates Jim Webb and Martin O’Malley both appeared on the Des Moines Register’s Presidential Soapbox yesterday afternoon speaking to hundreds of Iowans attending the Iowa State Fair. They have some fundamental issues in common, including both the need for better education and to bring the American dream, aka the economy, back to Americans. While Webb’s plans to …