After a long, cold winter many families are ready to hit the road and go somewhere warm and fun for summer vacation, but the Energy Information Administration is already warning drivers that they are likely to see the highest gasoline prices in four years. The good news is that ethanol is helping to offset higher prices at the pump, according …
RFA Urges CARB to Use More Ethanol
The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) is urging the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to allow greater market access for ethanol blended fuel to help the state reach its climate policy objectives. According to comments submitted by RFA, ethanol has played a key role in the success of California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) and could do more if certain regulatory …
Ethanol Report on Pruitt and the RFS
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Scott Pruitt has been “unapologetic” under questioning this week about granting dozens of small refinery hardship exemptions, and Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen believes he will continue to do so unchecked. In this edition of the Ethanol Report, Dinneen talks about how the exemptions have effectively cut the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) …
EPA Data Shows Waivers Have Lowered RFS Obligations
An analysis of EPA data by the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) shows that small refinery exemptions for 2016 and 2017 have cost at least 1.6 billion gallons of biofuels in lost blending obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The volume of lost blending obligations for these two years is 10 times the collective volume of lost volume from 2013-2015. …
Ethanol Blend Rate Drops
The latest Energy Information Administration data analyzed by the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) shows ethanol production is lower but still averaging a little over a million barrels a day, while the ethanol blend rate dropped to its lowest point since the beginning of this year. “Although ethanol demand was the most robust in 16 weeks, ethanol content in gasoline supplied …
E15 Now Available in St. Louis Metro Area
The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) announced this week that E15 (15% ethanol, 85% gasoline) has debuted in the St. Louis area and will be available throughout the year. Home Service Oil Co. now offers both E15 and E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline) at the Express Mart location in Pevely, Mo., just off Interstate 55 south of St. Louis. The company, …
Japan to Allow Use of U.S. Ethanol for Oxygenate
Ethanol market development organizations cheered the news out of Japan today that the government’s new biofuel policy will allow imports of the oxygenate ETBE made from U.S. corn-based ethanol. A release from the U.S. Grains Council (USGC), the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), and Growth Energy says Japan will now allow U.S. ethanol to meet up to 44 percent of a …
Ethanol Report on Demand Destruction
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has yet to reveal just how many small refiner exemptions have been granted from blending obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and how many are still pending but the reduction in ethanol blending over recent months and a sharp drop in the price for Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) indicate the impact they are having. …
Evidence Shows Waivers Reducing Ethanol Demand
Evidence is mounting that the Environmental Protection Agency’s granting of numerous “small refiner exemptions” from blending obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard is indeed working to destroy demand for both ethanol and corn. Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) Executive Vice President Geoff Cooper lays out the evidence in a column on the E-Blog detailing the reduction in ethanol blending over recent …
House Hearing to Focus on High Octane Fuels
The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment will be holding a hearing this morning on “High Octane Fuels and High Efficiency Vehicles: Challenges and Opportunities.” The hearing will take a look at the potential for high octane fuels and the vehicles designed for them to further the goals of the Renewable Fuel Standard and Corporate Average Fuel Economy/Greenhouse Gas …