USDA COVID Aid and Infrastructure for Biofuels Coming Soon

Cindy Zimmerman

During a town hall style webinar with Farm Journal Editor Clinton Griffiths last week, USDA Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said payments for biofuels producers impacted by the pandemic could come in the very near future.

“We made the decision to put resources into the biofuel industry and I would expect and anticipate we’re going to be seeing announcements on that within the next couple of weeks,” said Vilsack on Thursday. “I think you’ll see those payments very soon.”

Vilsack also indicated more funds coming for the Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program (HBIIP). “I think you”ll see additional support for infrastructure to make higher blends more available,” he said.

When it comes to biofuels competing with electric vehicles, Vilsack said, “This drives me crazy…the reality is we’re not going to stop building cars that use gas.”

Listen:
Farm Journal webinar Sec. Vilsack - biofuels (6:00)

The secretary is scheduled to make two announcements this week. Tuesday afternoon he will announce a “new grant program that will provide assistance for farm and food workers impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.” Wednesday, September 8, Vilsack is scheduled to announce “investments in renewable energy infrastructure in rural communities across the country”

Audio, biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, USDA

ACE Urges Hearing on Next Generation Fuels Act

Cindy Zimmerman

The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) is asking for a hearing to be held on the “Next Generation Fuels Act of 2021” (H.R. 5089) to address some concerns they have about the bill which was introduced by Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL).

Specifically, ACE is requesting testimony on how the bill would remove market barriers to ethanol and improvements that should be made to the legislation to reward farmers for climate-smart practices and ethanol producers for investments to reduce the carbon intensity of their fuel.

In a letter to House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr., ACE CEO Brian Jennings says they would like to see improvements in the “low carbon octane” provision of the legislation.

“ACE strongly supports the fact that H.R. 5089 would remove many ethanol market barriers and requires the latest GREET model for lifecycle assessment but believes lifecycle analysis should be conducted at the facility level and specifically include GHG reductions made in the production of biofuel crops to ensure federal policies incent further reductions in carbon intensity and reward companies taking these steps,” according to the letter from Jennings.

During a Biofuels Summit at the Farm Progress Show last week in Decatur, Illinois, House Biofuells Caucus Co-Chair Rodney Davis (R-IL) acknowledged there were concerns with the bill. “There are some concerns that some of our fellow biofuels supporters have with the legislation as written,” said Davis. “We’re going to find out what their concerns are and then we’re going to be able to build that coalition to get this legislation moving forward.”

Rep. Davis said it’s important that everyone be on the same page. “My concern is, I don’t necessarily know if Energy and Commerce Chair Pallone is in favor of this,” he said.

Listen to Davis’ comments here:
FPS21 Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) - Next Gen Fuels Act (1:15)

ACE, Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Ethanol Report from Farm Progress Show

Cindy Zimmerman

The Renewable Fuels Association had a very visible presence at the 2021 Farm Progress Show, held August 31-September 2 in Decatur, Illinois. RFA Vice President of Industry Relations Robert White said it was a great opportunity to see and talk with farmers, but it also proved to be a time to meet with members of Congress who are working to help the industry deal with some recent challenges.

In this Ethanol Report, we hear from RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper, Reps. Cheri Bustos (D-IL), Mike Bost (R-IL), Darin LaHood (R-IL) and Rodney Davis (R-IL) with a special emphasis on the Next Generation Fuels Act introduced recently in the U.S. House by Rep. Bustos.

Ethanol Report 9-3-21 (15:46)

More audio and photos from the Farm Progress Show can be found in on AgNewsWire.

The Ethanol Report is a podcast about the latest news and information in the ethanol industry that has been sponsored by the Renewable Fuels Association since 2008.

Choose an option to subscribe

Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Ethanol Report, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

Rep. Bustos Talks Next Gen Fuels at #FPS21

Cindy Zimmerman

Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL) paid a visit to the Renewable Fuels Association exhibit at the Farm Progress Show on Wednesday and talked about her Next Generation Fuels Act introduced last week in the U.S. House. “It would require manufacturers of vehicles to make sure it could burn to start, E20, and go all the way up to E25 and E30 over the coming decade,” she said.

Bustos says the bipartisan legislation first goes to the Energy and Commerce Committee and she hopes to get it passed as either a stand-alone or as part of another environmental bill.

RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper, pictured here with Rep. Bustos at the RFA exhibit, says they are very supportive of the legislation. “If we are able to get her bill passed, it would really open a new chapter of growth for the renewable fuels industry. It has virtually every regulatory fix that we need in there, it’s got an octane standard, it’s got a low carbon requirement…it would really benefit our industry in many ways.”

Interview with Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL) about Next Generation Fuels Act
FPS21 Interview with Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL) (3:37)

Interview with Geoff Cooper, President and CEO, Renewable Fuels Association
FPS21 Interview with RFA CEO Geoff Cooper (11:12)

2021 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Farm Progress Show, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

#FPS21 Features Congressional Biofuels Summit

Cindy Zimmerman

Six Republican members of Congress from Illinois, Iowa and Indiana held a Biofuels Summit at the Farm Progress Show on Wednesday to discuss the importance of ethanol and biodiesel to the region and the challenges being faced by the biofuels industry.

House Biofuels Caucus Co-chair Congressman Rodney Davis (R-IL) was joined by Mike Bost (R-IL), Darin LaHood (R-IL), Randy Feenstra (R-IA), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), and Jim Baird (R-IN) to hear from farmers and others at the show about a number of issues, including maintaining the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), keeping E15 year round, and tax issues, just to name a few.

Listen to the entire summit here:
FPS21 Congressional Biofuels Summit (1:19:42)

Biodiesel, biofuels, corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Farm Progress Show

RFA Puts Ethanol on Display at #FPS21

Cindy Zimmerman

Biofuels are getting a lot of attention at the 2021 Farm Progress Show this week in Decatur, Illinois and the Renewable Fuels Association is there for the first time as an exhibitor.

RFA Vice President of Industry Relations Robert White says they are there because the Commodity Classic where they normally exhibit to talk to farmers was a virtual event this year. “We had some money in the budget to do something with agriculture and I thought Farm Progress Show would be a perfect opportunity,” said White. “We’re across from Illinois Corn and the rest of agriculture in the state, we’re next to the media tent, we’ve had multiple ethanol plant investors and board members come by.”

Besides plenty of ethanol information, RFA has a couple of impressive ethanol-powered vehicles on display as conversation starters – an E85-powered Jeep and Polaris Ranger.

Interview with Renewable Fuels Association VP of Industry Relations, Robert White
FPS21 Interview with Robert White, RFA (2:30)

Audio, E85, Education, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Farm Progress Show, Farming, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

Listen to Ethanol’s Carbon Guru Ron Alverson

Cindy Zimmerman

When Ron Alverson talks about carbon, people listen.

The South Dakota farmer who founded Dakota Ethanol, the state’s first producer-owned ethanol production co-op, is considered to be the “carbon guru” of the industry and attendees at the 2021 American Coalition for Ethanol annual conference packed in to his breakout session on Calculating Your Carbon Intensity. Alverson believes that accurate accounting can reveal ethanol’s true low carbon intensity value, and that farmers and producers can take steps to accelerate that value beyond net zero to net negative.

ACE Past President Ron Alverson – net zero to net negative carbon

ACE 2021 Interview with Ron Alverson, past ACE president 4:26

ACE 2021 - Ron Alverson remarks 14:19

ACE, ACE Ethanol Conference, Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News

RFA Urges EPA to Help Reduce Hurricane Ida’s Fuel Price Impact

Cindy Zimmerman

With the Labor Day weekend ahead and Hurricane Ida impacting the nation’s liquid fuel supply and distribution, the Renewable Fuels Association is urging the Environmental Protection Agency to take two simple steps that can extend fuel supplies and reduce price spikes expected at the retail fuel pump.

The requested actions relate to pump labeling, underground storage tanks, and gasoline volatility regulations. Approving RFA’s request would allow many retailers who do not sell the lower-carbon E15 fuel blend today to immediately begin offering the fuel without being unduly delayed, RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper noted in a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan. EPA should also approve earlier requests to exercise enforcement discretion—if needed—to allow existing E15 retailers in conventional gasoline areas to continue selling the fuel through the remainder of the summer ozone control season.

“As the ethanol industry continues to recover from COVID-related market disruptions, a substantial amount of fuel ethanol production capacity (i.e., nearly 200,000 barrels per day) is either sitting idle today or producing industrial and/or other non-fuel grades of ethanol,” Cooper wrote. “With immediate action to grant the requested regulatory relief, some of this capacity could be quickly activated or reoriented to help alleviate impending fuel shortages resulting from Hurricane Ida. For many reasons, utilizing domestically produced low-carbon fuel to help offset the supply shortage is preferable to importing more petroleum products from OPEC+ nations, as is currently being planned.”

Read the letter.

EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

B100 Pilot Truck to be Showcased at Farm Progress Show

Cindy Zimmerman

One of five trucks used in last year’s cooperative B100 pilot program will be on display at the 2021 Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois this week, according to the National Biodiesel Board (NBB).

The pilot, conducted by ADM, the Illinois Soybean Association (ISA), Optimus Technologies, American Lung Association (ALA), National Biodiesel Board (NBB) and Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council was designed to demonstrate the feasibility of commercial implementation of Optimus Technologies’ Vector System, which enables conventional diesel vehicles to operate on 100% biodiesel (B100). Five of ADM’s Class 8 over-the-road trucks, equipped with The Vector System, were used in daily fleet operations. These vehicles successfully traveled hundreds of thousands of miles on B100, even in the coldest temperatures of a central Illinois and Missouri winter.

“We’re all looking for ways to enhance the sustainability of our transportation system, and last year’s pilot program was an important step in proving the viability of significantly wider use of low-carbon biodiesel in truck fleets,” said Scott Fenwick, NBB technical director. “We’re collecting and analyzing the data from the past year and look forward to discussing the details soon. That said, one thing that was clear is that the five trucks in the program worked well in a variety of conditions, including record-low temperatures over the winter.”

The cab will be displayed outside ADM’s exhibit at the corner of Seventh Progress Street and Central Progress Avenue.

Read more from NBB.

Biodiesel, NBB, Soybean, Soybeans, Trucks

ACE Unveils Hybrid Electric FFV Project

Cindy Zimmerman

The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) unveiled a new hybrid electric flex-fuel vehicle demonstration project at its conference last week to show how the combination can bring us closer to net zero.

“EPA assigns vehicles a carbon intensity (CI) score based on how many grams of CO2 per mile are emitted by operating that vehicle,” said ACE Senior Vice President Ron Lamberty. “While scores exist for hybrids, plug-in electrics, plug-in hybrids, flex-fuel and standard vehicles, one combination that is not represented, and hasn’t even been attempted in the U.S., is the one that makes the most sense to me: a hybrid electric flex fuel vehicle.”

So, Lamberty bought a Hybrid Electric Ford Fusion and drove it to California in early August to meet with E85 wholesaler Pearson Fuels and the owners of eFLexFuel Technology to install their flex fuel conversion kit on the vehicle. He drove the now Hybrid Electric Flex Fuel Ford Fusion, he nicknamed “HEFF,” back to South Dakota to start a three-year demonstration project. The front-wheel-drive midsize sedan starts up on electricity and is powered by a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder engine capable of using up to E85 matched to an electric motor for a combined 188 horsepower.

According to Lamberty, from a total greenhouse gas reduction standpoint, it makes sense for a hybrid to use the cleanest liquid fuel available when charging and not running on electricity, and that’s E85. Lamberty calculated a hybrid electric vehicle running on low-CI E85 could obtain a total GHG score as low as 20 to 25 grams of CO2 per mile, which is lower than current EPA total GHG emissions calculations for PHEVs or full EVs. Yet no major automakers offer a flex-fuel hybrid vehicle.

Learn more in this interview and stay tuned for updates!

ACE Senior VP Ron Lamberty – E85 and hybrid electric vehicles
ACE 2021 Interview with Ron Lamberty, ACE 9:27

ACE, ACE Ethanol Conference, Audio, E85, Electric Vehicles, Ethanol, Ethanol News