ACE Conference 2026

Farm Bureau Supports Extending Biofuel Tax Incentives

Cindy Zimmerman

afbfTax incentives play a key role in the development and production of renewable energy, and the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) is urging Congress to pass two bills that would extend renewable fuel tax credits for five years.

In a statement presented for the record to a House Ways and Means Committee hearing this week on energy tax incentives, AFBF said long-term tax incentives are needed to boost renewable energy technologies and support development of the market infrastructure necessary to make these technologies more competitive.

AFBF supports legislation that would extend the biodiesel tax incentive for five years and change the biodiesel tax incentive from a blenders excise tax credit to a production excise tax credit. The general farm organization also backs the Renewable Fuels Reinvestment Act that extends the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit and the Small Ethanol Producers Tax Credit for five years through 2015. That bill also extends the Cellulosic Ethanol Production Tax Credit for three years, through 2015 and the secondary tariff on ethanol that offsets the benefit received by imported ethanol.

“Clean and renewable domestic energy will help America achieve long-term economic growth, create a cleaner environment and shield our energy supply from unreliable foreign sources,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman. “Renewable fuels are vital for rural America. They create much needed jobs and open new markets for farmers and ranchers. Tax incentives play a key role in the development and production of renewable energy.”

Biodiesel, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Farm Bureau, Farming, Government

Developing Specialized Sorghum for Energy

Cindy Zimmerman

An Illinois biotech company is working on the development of sorghum varieties specifically suited for energy production.

SorghumChromatin, Inc. CEO Daphne Preuss told the Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. this week that the company is expanding its technology development portfolio to produce fit-for-purpose sorghum as a renewable feedstock for the biofuels, green power and renewable chemicals sectors.

“Feedstock quality and compositional attributes are key drivers of efficiencies for industrial bioprocessors, and whether the process requires starch, sugar or lignocellulose, we believe sorghum makes an ideal platform for feedstock development,” said Preuss. “By applying our proven and innovative technology portfolio to this plant, we will provide energy crops and value-added products that are uniquely suited for a broad range of applications, precisely matched to the needs of bioprocessors,” she said.

Chromatin plans to build and commercialize its sorghum product portfolio to optimize sorghum for specific bioprocessors’ needs.

sorghum

Meat Producers Oppose Ethanol Tax Incentives

Cindy Zimmerman

American_Meat_Institute_LogoMajor livestock and poultry trade associations sent a letter to the House Ways and Means Committee this week asking that they allow the blenders’ tax credit and associated tariff for ethanol to expire at the end of this year. The request was made in a letter signed by industry trade associations, including the American Meat Institute, the National Turkey Federation, the National Chicken Council and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

“The blender’s tax credit, coupled with the import tariff on foreign ethanol, has distorted the corn market, increased the cost of feeding animals, and squeezed production margins — resulting in job losses and bankruptcies in rural communities across America,” the groups wrote.

cornThe ethanol industry begs to disagree and contends that the livestock industry just wants cheap feed. “Once again, corporate livestock interests are seeking to return to the days they bought corn under the price of production for the American farmer. Such practices resulted in farmers getting more income from the government than they could from the marketplace, while corporate livestock industries prospered,” responded the Renewable Fuels Association in a statement. “Ethanol is not the major driving force behind corn prices, whether they are rising or falling. Oil prices, speculation, weather, and a host of other factors have far more to do with the price of corn than ethanol production. Consider that since the peak of corn prices in 2008, oil prices have fallen by half and speculation in grain markets has eased considerably.”

Indeed, the meat producers’ letter points out that a September 2008 report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) stated that the dramatic increase in livestock production costs were attributed to higher costs for feed. The CRS report said that “the main driver was feed, which may account for 60%-70% of total livestock production costs in any given year.”

What the letter does not point out, however, is that the same report gave a number of reasons for the higher feed costs, including strong economic growth in developing countries, weather-related crop shortfalls (mostly in other countries and not corn), surging U.S. corn exports, higher demand for feed from livestock producers, increased corn production costs mainly to higher energy-related (fertilizer and fuel) costs, and actions by a number of foreign governments to insulate their own markets from high commodity prices. Government biofuels policy was noted as a contributing factor as well, although it was also noted that ethanol by-products can be fed by livestock producers to help offset higher feed corn prices, which makes the overall impact on feed prices difficult to assess.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, livestock feed, RFA

Purdue Report Disputes Indirect Land Use Findings

Cindy Zimmerman

purdueA recently completed state-of-the-art analysis from Purdue University concludes that the California Air Resources Board (ARB) overestimated the indirect land use change (ILUC) impact of grain-based ethanol by a factor of two in developing its Low Carbon Fuels Standard (LCFS) one year ago.

Renewable Fuels Association LogoThe Renewable Fuels Association sent a letter sent this week to ARB Chair Mary Nichols pointing out this dramatic conclusion and reminded her of the board’s promise to review and incorporate new science as it becomes available. In the letter, RFA President Bob Dinneen wrote:

“New research conducted and published by Purdue University using the Global Trade Analysis Project model (GTAP) concludes that land use change emissions potentially associated with corn ethanol expansion are likely less than half of the level estimated by the California Air Resources Board (ARB) staff for the LCFS. While we continue to have grave concerns about including highly uncertain and prescriptive indirect emissions penalties in the LCFS (for instance, we do not believe ARB has the authority to account for ILUC consistent with the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution), we write to point out the new Purdue findings because we believe ARB has committed itself to consider and respond to critical developments like these.”

Read a pdf of the Purdue report here.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Indirect Land Use, RFA

POET Meets the Press

Cindy Zimmerman

poet pressPOET CEO Jeff Broin was surrounded by the media Wednesday after President Obama made a visit to a POET ethanol plant in Macon, Missouri. It gave him an opportunity to address some of the criticism of ethanol regarding its impact on the environment.

“Today ethanol is 59 percent lower in lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline and so it is far more environmentally friendly,” Broin responded to a reporter’s question. He talked about indirect land use change, cellulosic ethanol, increasing efficiency of ethanol plants and the ability of cars to run efficiently on higher blends of ethanol. “I personally own a flex-fuel vehicle that gets the same mileage on E30 as it gets on regular gasoline,” Broin said.

Although he admitted not having enough time with President Obama to talk extensively about issues facing the industry, Broin said he believes the president supports biofuels. “I think the president has been a true champion for biofuels,” said Broin. “He was when he was in Illinois, he seems to still be extremely supportive, the secretary of agriculture is very supportive and I think that we’ll continue to see the president be very supportive of biofuels.”

Ethanol, POET

Tennessee Holds Ethanol Workshop

The Tennessee Department of Agriculture hosted a workshop yesterday to educate retailers on issues relating to ethanol. “Meeting the Demands of Fuel Standards with Ethanol Fuel” was attended by nearly 80 participants who included fuel suppliers, retailers, terminal operators and fleet managers.

Topics covered during the workshop included: issues and solutions to E10 and E85 field problems, E85 dispensers and Underwriters Laboratory approval update, electronic monitoring of water levels, underground storage tanks, renewable fuels standard, and grant opportunities for E85.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) is now accepting applications for funding through their BIOTENN Green Island Biofuel Corridor Program to establish biofuel refueling sites no more than 100 miles apart along Tennessee’s interstates and major highways. Up to $45,000 is being offered by this program to install E85 infrastructure. The Green Island grant program requires a 20% match that cannot come from state or federal funds. This is a reimbursement program and the station owner must demonstrate that eligible expenditures have been paid before reimbursing grant recipients for a new pump installation or conversion to E85.

The Growth Energy Market Development team also presented at the event explaining their ethanol infrastructure grant program where $2,500 is available on top of the TDOT funding.

The workshop was sponsored by the Tennessee Fuel and Convenience Store Association, the Tennessee Petroleum Council in partnership with: Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Tennessee Department of Transportation, and East Tennessee Clean Fuels.

E85, Ethanol, News

Video Of President Obama Speech at POET Biorefining

Chuck Zimmerman

You might have already listened to President Obama speaking yesterday in Macon, MO at POET Biorefining plant but now you can watch him. He may not have mentioned corn or corn ethanol but as you can see from his backdrop here, it was prominently displayed.

Ethanol, POET, Video

Biodiesel to Fuel Lake Erie Ferry Service

John Davis

A Lake Erie ferry service will be greening up its fleet by running one of its passenger vessels on a blend of biodiesel.

Biodiesel Magazine reports that Miller Boat Line will be running its ferry, the William Market, on a 10 to 20 percent blend of a not-so-typical type of biodiesel:

The fuel, G2 Diesel, is made from reacting soybean oil and ethanol—not fossil-derived methanol as most biodiesel transesterification processes use.

G2 Diesel is produced by 11 Good Energy Inc., a Delaware corporation formed in May 2007. In November 2009, the company opened a 16.5 MMgy facility in Magnolia, Ohio.

Miller Boat Line describes itself as the most value-friendly way to travel to Put-in-Bay and the only way to bring vehicles to the island. Scott Market, vice president of Miller Boat Line, said the company has become the only environmentally-friendly option for tourists.

“As a family-owned business, we think about our kids with everything we do and we thought it was time to do something to protect the environment for future generations,” Market said. “This allows us to shrink our carbon footprint.”

The company says it hopes one day to use the G2 Diesel in all four of its vessels.

Biodiesel

Cape Wind Green Light Big for Offshore Wind Industry

John Davis

A wind energy project off the Massachusetts has gotten the federal government’s OK to move forward … and it’s seen as a major victory for the offshore wind energy industry in this country.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will allow the 130-turbine Cape Wind project, the nation’s first offshore wind farm, to be built. This story from CNN says the ruling will have a major impact for other offshore wind projects:

“The United States is leading a clean energy revolution that is reshaping our future,” Salazar told reporters in Boston. “Cape Wind is an opening of a new chapter in that future, and we are all part of that history.”

“Cape Wind will be the nation’s first offshore wind farm, supplying clean power to homes and businesses in Massachusetts, plus creating good jobs here in America,” he said. “This will be the first of many projects up and down the Atlantic coast.”

The Cape Wind project has been in the works for nine years, tied up while people, such as the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, argued the turbines … miles offshore … would ruin the view from their mansions.

But don’t expect this decision to be the final word on the wind farm. The opposition is vowing to continue the fight, and those millionaires and billionaires have some mighty deep pockets.

Government, Wind

Making the Case for Biodiesel to Obama in 90 Seconds

John Davis

Just 90 seconds … a short minute and a half … that’s the amount of time that a biodiesel advocate had to make the case for the green fuel to the President of the United States.

When Pres. Obama made the trip to Iowa yesterday to talk about wind turbines, Brad Albin, Vice President at Renewable Energy Group and Secretary of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, pressed upon the President the urgency of the need for the reinstatement and retroactivity of the biodiesel tax credit:

“I shook his hand and told him that we’re losing jobs as we stand here, which seemed to get his attention,” explained Albin, who had been sitting in the second row. “I told him about plants idling and that more than 90 percent of manufacturing staff at U.S. biodiesel plants have been laid off as a result of the tax credit lapse.”

Obama acknowledged his biodiesel tax credit updates are coming through USDA Secretary Vilsack. The President continued to listen as I explained that for 20 years Americans have worked to meet the challenge of increasing energy independence; that farmers and families have invested billions, and now companies are bankrupt or bleeding to death.

“Just like some in the ethanol industry, our fear is that major, multi-national petroleum companies are just waiting to scoop up the biodiesel industry’s capacity, returning cents on the dollar to farmer investors,” Albin said to the President.

Albin further explained that the five month lapse of the tax credit could not have come at a worse time as the Renewable Fuels Standard goes into effect July 1, 2010.

“We’re going to die without this tax credit,” Albin added even after the President’s assurances. The President responded: we won’t let you die.

Albin said he continued to press his case and asked as he walked away if Obama would commit to the tax credit being in place by the end of May. He says the President turned back to him and said, “I’m the President and I promise I’ll do whatever I can.” Let’s see what that means.

Biodiesel, Government