President Obama made up a “to-do list” for Congress during a stop in Albany, New York yesterday that includes renewing tax incentives for the development of new domestic energy sources.
At a speech to students at the State University of New York, the president said if Congress fails to act soon, clean energy companies will see their taxes go up and they could be forced to lay off employees. “In fact, we’re already hearing from folks who produce wind turbines and solar panels and a lot of this green energy that they’re getting worried because there’s uncertainty out there,” he said. “Congress hasn’t renewed some of the tax breaks that are so important to this industry. And since I know that the other side in Congress have promised they’ll never raise taxes as long as they live, this is a good time to keep that promise when it comes to businesses that are putting Americans to work and helping break our dependence on foreign oil. So we should extend these tax credits. That’s on the “To-Do” list.”
The Advanced Ethanol Council applauds President Obama’s remarks. “The President is right to ask for an extension of existing clean energy tax incentives, including those for cellulosic and advanced ethanol technologies, which level the playing field for clean energy investments in the face of decades-old and permanent tax breaks for the fossil fuel industry. The country will not win the race to develop and deploy clean energy technologies if the U.S. tax code continues to favor incumbents over innovators. We look forward to working with the White House and Congress to ensure that America emerges as the world leader in clean energy and biofuel development.”
The 2012 CUTC agenda features cutting-edge technologies and new uses that are positioned change the corn industry. Among the session topics is Advance Biofuels, which will highlight some of the most recent research on advanced biofuels. Speakers will cover thermochemical and biochemical and biomimetic routes to the pretreatment and hydrolysis of lignocellulosics (such as corn fiber hulls, corn stover, etc.) to produce sugar and phenolic monomers that can be further upgraded to synthetic fuels, bioethanol, and/or chemicals. 
“In spite of the wettest weather of the spring, producers in the Midwest still managed to plant a significant acreage of corn and soybeans” last week, says USDA Meteorologist Brad Rippey. “Corn emergence was greatly benefited by the rain and continuing warm weather.” Nearly a third of the crop is emerged nationwide, compared to the average of 13%. Last year, just six percent was emerged by this time. 
While the industry is moving steadily toward the 15 billion gallon corn ethanol cap under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2), Glauber says right now the market is steady at about 10 percent of ethanol blended fuel and getting E15 in the marketplace is moving slowly toward reality. “But you still have the underlying economics of whether or not a gas station is going to change over equipment to be able to sell E15,” he said. “The likely thing would be so-called blender pumps, which are expensive propositions.”
