RFA Surpasses $200 Million in HBIIP Grant Support

Cindy Zimmerman

Over the past year, the Renewable Fuels Association has helped fuel retailers and distributors apply for more than $200 million in USDA grant funding under USDA’s Higher Blend Infrastructure Incentive Program (HBIIP) during the final application window for the program which closed September 30. The project applications facilitated by RFA represent the addition of nearly 6,300 higher-blend (E15-E85) dispensers in more than 1,150 locations across the country.

“RFA is extremely proud to partner with innovative fuel retailers and marketers on these infrastructure projects, which will bring larger volumes of low-cost, low-carbon E15 and E85 fuels to drivers across the nation,” said RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “RFA’s market development team, and especially Cassie Mullen, has worked tirelessly to assist fuel retailers—both large and small—in utilizing this important federal grant program focused on expanding the market for American-made renewable fuels and boosting demand for our nation’s farmers. The HBIIP program is not only an investment in the future of agriculture, it is also an investment in our country’s energy security and environmental quality.”

Since 2020, eight rounds of HBIIP funding have been offered, and RFA has helped 223 companies write and submit grant applications for projects totaling $513 million (when the companies’ own matching funds are included). These projects are located across more than 30 states, and to date 100 percent of the applications assisted by RFA have been funded by USDA.

One of the companies assisted by RFA is Harms Oil, a distributor serving the Midwest. “We’d like to extend our thanks and gratitude to Cassie and her team at RFA for all their assistance throughout the grant process,” said Mike Burgers, marketing manager for Harms Oil, which supplies fuel to retailers across the Midwest. “With their expertise and insight, they’ve enabled many of our retail sites to expand their ethanol offerings to better serve their communities. We are beyond grateful to partner with the Renewable Fuels Association and look forward to working with them on future projects.”

Sens. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), are asking USDA to use the Commodity Credit Corporation to extend the HBIIP program.

E15, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA, USDA

Ethanol Groups Urge Book and Claim for CSA

Cindy Zimmerman

USDA received testimony Tuesday at a public consultation on climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and biofuel feedstocks urging federal agencies to embrace book-and-claim supply chain management approaches to decouple CSA carbon credits.

Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper said in his testimony that innovative supply chain management solutions are needed to fully realize the benefits of CSA practices in the 45Z program.

“If 45Z and other regulations require that physical commodities grown using CSA practices be rigidly tracked through the supply chain and delivered to biofuel production facilities, this could severely limit the adoption of such practices, and it could cause significant distortions in grain flows and pricing,” he said. “Decoupling CSA attributes from the physical feedstock and allowing the biofuel producer to use book-and-claim accounting would encourage widespread adoption of CSA practices by growers and broad incorporation of CSA emissions improvements into biofuel lifecycle CI values.”

Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) Policy Director Nathan Hohnstein made similar comments to USDA, stating that decoupling would allow farmers to have maximum participation potential.

“As many have pointed out, there are massive benefits to a book and claim model including spurring widespread adoption of CSA by farmers and allowing biofuel producers to source feedstock efficiently, all while easing the enforcement burden of tracking individual kernels or grains by federal regulators…” stated Hohnstein during the session today. “Such a process would not only lower expenses and risk of inaccurate credits thereby benefiting farmers and increasing adoption of CSA practices.”

aviation biofuels, biofuels, corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Farming, IRFA Renewable Fuels Summit, SAF, USDA

Summit Next Gen Reports Progress on SAF Facility

Cindy Zimmerman

Summit Next Gen recently closed on its site for the development of a planned ethanol-to-jet sustainable aviation fuel (“SAF”) production platform that will be the largest in the world.

The 60-acre site is located on the Houston Ship Channel to leverage existing and planned marine, pipeline, rail and other logistics infrastructure to source ethanol feedstock for the facility and deliver produced SAF to major demand markets.

“Summit Next Gen’s ongoing success represents a continuation of our strategy to leverage our deep roots in the agricultural and ethanol industries to drive substantial value creation for all of our stakeholders, including the many communities in which we live, invest and operate,” said Bruce Rastetter, Founder and Executive Chairman of Summit Agricultural Group. “The completion of this project and commencement of operations will facilitate the creation of the first at-scale ETJ SAF production facility providing critical new markets for our agricultural and ethanol feedstock partners and helping to bridge the supply shortage of SAF globally, as demand for continued decarbonization efforts for the aviation industry exponentially increase.”

In June 2024, Robert Halpin was named Chief Executive Officer for Summit Next Gen, having previously spent over a decade in various executive roles at Crestwood Equity Partners, a publicly traded energy midstream infrastructure company, most recently serving as President.

aviation biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, SAF

ACE Supports Continuation of USDA HBIIP Funds

Cindy Zimmerman

The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) has assisted fuel retailers and helped raise awareness of USDA’s Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program (HBIIP) over the past year through its flexfuelforward.com website, targeted digital advertising campaign and presence at multiple trade shows.

The work allowed many prospective E15 and flex fuels retailers find information about applying for and obtaining part of the $450 million in competitive grants, $90 million per quarter for the past five quarters starting in July 2023 and ending September 30.

ACE Chief Marketing Officer Ron Lamberty will be attending the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) show next week in Las Vegas, Nevada — the world’s largest annual gathering of convenience and fuel marketing professionals. “As the latest and largest application window of the USDA HBIIP closes, ACE’s market development efforts will refocus on helping retailers understand the market advantage and profit potential of higher ethanol blends,” Lamberty added. “E10 went nationwide in short order after we educated retailers on the ‘ethanol math,’ including the fuel tax credit for blending ethanol and gasoline. If we can resolve the year-round policy for E15, it should expand just as quickly.”

Lamberty thanked USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack for his leadership and support of the HBIIP program, and
USDA HBIIP Manager Jeff Carpenter, who was presented with the ACE Paul Dana Marketing Vision award for his leadership at the recent ACE annual meeting. “We encourage the Secretary to continue investing in HBIIP to expand access to higher biofuel blends,” said Lamberty.

Carpenter gave a presentation on HBIIP at the ACE Conference and participated in a panel discussion with Lamberty and Randy Gard, Bosselman Enterprises.
ACE 24 Higher Blends Infrastructure panel and awards 57:34

2024 ACE Annual Conference Photo Album

ACE, ACE Ethanol Conference, Audio, E15, Ethanol, Ethanol News, USDA

Iowa Awards $4 Million in E15 Grants

Cindy Zimmerman

The Iowa Renewable Fuels Infrastructure Program (RFIP) last week awarded over $4 million in grants to add E15 (15% ethanol fuel) to 86 retail sites throughout the state.

Under Iowa’s E15 Access Standard adopted in 2022, retailers have until January 1, 2026 to offer E15 for sale to Iowa motorists. Earlier this year, the Iowa Legislature streamlined E15 requirements and increased the RFIP grant size.

“The move to E15 as the ‘new normal’ continues to accelerate,” said Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) Executive Director Monte Shaw. “This is great news for consumers who can save 15-25 cents per gallon with E15 and for Iowa farmers who need expended ethanol markets to bolster prices. We’re also seeing more locations simply swap out E10 for E15. That’s a trend that we believe will continue. Today’s grants were the first under the new rules and we saw a very robust response.”

New legislation, signed into law in May 2024, allows retailers to install fuel dispensers compatible with the fuel being offered, in this case E15, instead of the more strict and expensive E85 standard during the transition period through December 31, 2025. Starting January 1, 2026 through June 30, 2030, new dispensers must be compatible with E40 blends. Beginning July 1, 2030, the dispenser requirement reverts back to E85 compatibility.

“There is no reason for retailers to miss the 2026 deadline for offering E15,” stated Shaw. “Rules have been streamlined. Grant sizes and funding have increased. Year-round E15 has been approved in Iowa. Every Iowa motorist deserves the cost-saving option of E15.”

In addition to E15 grants, $1.75 million was also awarded to 49 retail fuel sites to add biodiesel blends of at least a B11 blend (11% biodiesel) during the summer and at least a B5 blend during the winter months.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Iowa RFA

House Bill Introduced For Year-Round E15

Cindy Zimmerman

Reps. Adrian Smith (R-NE) and Angie Craig (D-MN), together with Reps. Dusty Johnson (R-SD), Nikki Budzinski (D-IL), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), and Sharice Davids (D-KS), have introduced the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act which would extend the Reid vapor pressure (RVP) volatility waiver to enable the year-round, nationwide sale of ethanol blends up to 15 percent. The bill is a companion to the Senate bill introduced by Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE).

“This bipartisan legislation would finally bring nationwide consistency and stability to the marketplace and eliminate the need for last-minute emergency waivers. Ethanol producers, oil refiners, fuel retailers, equipment manufacturers, farmers, and consumers have all rallied behind this commonsense approach,” said Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) President and CEO Geoff Cooper.

American Coalition for Ethanol CEO Brian Jennings said, “We’re grateful to bipartisan leaders in the House for introducing this critically important legislation which would once and for all ensure nationwide and permanent E15 availability.”

The bill would supersede a regulation allowing eight Midwest states to offer year-round E15 starting in 2025.

ACE, E15, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

Senators Launch Sustainable Aviation Caucus

Cindy Zimmerman

U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-KS), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), John Boozman (R-AR) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) have launched the Senate Sustainable Aviation Caucus to promote the longevity of the aviation industry and the renewable fuels industry.

“As the aviation industry strives for lower emissions and cleaner energy sources, the development and utilization of sustainable aviation fuel will be a critical element,” said Sen. Moran. “To help spur development, I am launching the Senate Sustainable Aviation Caucus. The caucus will work together to find ways to promote technologically innovative solutions to create a sustainable aviation industry and increase our nation’s competitiveness in the domestic production of sustainable aviation fuel.”

Alison Graab, Executive Director of The SAF Coalition, thanked the senators for launching the caucus. “The formation of the caucus is a positive step towards strengthening national energy security, driving economic growth, and generating quality jobs across the country through the development and deployment of SAF. We look forward to working with the caucus and other SAF advocates to enhance incentives that expand SAF production and support our nation’s energy needs.”

aviation biofuels, biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, SAF

USGC Helping Canada Move to Higher Ethanol Blends

Cindy Zimmerman

Amin Asadollahi, Natural Resources Canada; Christopher Malone, Indigo Ag: Stephanie Larson, USGC; and Helena Jette, Indiana Corn and Soybean

The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) held meetings with stakeholders in Ottawa, Ontario and Quebec City, Quebec this week to discuss how the U.S. industry can further support Canada’s ongoing transition to higher ethanol blending rates.

While there is a nationwide mandate to blend gasoline with five percent ethanol (E5) in Canada, many provinces voluntarily set higher blend rates within their jurisdictions. Ontario and Quebec will both require E11 and E12 blends, respectively, by next year and the Canadian government recently announced plans to develop sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) facilities, creating significant additional demand for U.S. producers to meet.

“Canada is the top export market for U.S. ethanol, purchasing 590 million gallons during the 2022/2023 marketing year (MY) and already surpassing that figure during the first 11 months of MY 2023/2024 (598 million gallons) as U.S. producers benefit from a near 100 percent market share of ethanol imports in Canada. And there is still room to grow as the country continues its commitment to reduce carbon emissions,” said USGC Regional Ethanol Manager Stephanie Larson.

Joining Larson on the mission were Helena Jette, director of market development and biofuels for the Indiana Corn Growers Association, Indiana Corn Marketing Council and Indiana Soybean Alliance, and Christopher Malone, vice president of market development for Indigo Ag.

“Canada has the potential to become the first billion-gallon market for U.S. ethanol as the country continues to develop progressive policies in the transportation sector, and maintaining connections with key Canadian policymakers and stakeholders through these meetings will be crucial to maintaining the privileged position enjoyed by U.S. ethanol in the Canadian market,” Larson said.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Exports, USGC

RFA Elects New Leadership

Cindy Zimmerman

The Renewable Fuels Association elected new officers and board members at its annual membership meeting this week in Milwaukee.

Jeff Oestmann, CEO of Aztalan Bio, near Johnson Creek, Wisc., was elected chair. Oestmann’s long career in ethanol and agriculture includes leadership roles at Granite Falls Energy, Syngenta, and East Kansas Agri-Energy.

“It’s a true honor to step into the role of chairman of the Renewable Fuels Association during such an exciting and transformative time for our industry,” Oestmann said. “Technology is unlocking new ways to harness the power of grains, enabling us to make strides toward greater sustainability. But as we push the boundaries of what renewable fuels can accomplish, we must also stand together to face the challenges ahead. The strength of our community has never been more important. Our industry is navigating new economic, regulatory, and environmental terrain, and by working together, we can meet these challenges head-on.”

Others newly elected to RFA board of directors leadership are Derek Peine, CEO of Western Plains Energy in Oakley, Kan., as vice chairman; Tim Winters, president and CEO of Western New York Energy, as Board Secretary; and David Zimmerman, CEO of Big River Resources, as Board Treasurer.

Elected to leadership of the Renewable Fuels Foundation for 2025 were Chairman Neal Kemmet, Ace Ethanol; Vice Chairman Wayne Garrett, Chief Ethanol Fuels; and Treasurer Eric Baukol, Redfield Energy. The foundation is dedicated to meeting the education, research and strategic planning needs of the U.S. fuel ethanol industry.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Renewable Fuels Association, RFS

Broad Coalition Urges President to Avert Port Strike

Cindy Zimmerman

A broad coalition of organizations representing agriculture, biofuels, food and transportation is asking the White House to avoid a potential port operations disruption that could negatively impact the food supply chain.

The labor agreement between the International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance expires on September 30th and the groups say that if they are unable to come to an agreement, the impact on the ag supply chain will not only slow or shutdown operations, but also potentially lower farmgate prices. “To prevent a disruption to port operations along the East and Gulf Coasts, we request for your administration to act before a lockout or strike occurs to prevent damage to U.S. agriculture and the economy,” the groups wrote in a letter to President Biden. “Approximately 40 percent of U.S. containerized agricultural exports move through East and Gulf Coast ports, and we believe the time has come for the U.S. government to intervene and ensure port operations do not stop.”

Over 55 organizations signed on to the letter, including the Renewable Fuels Association. A potential strike would impact three dozen ports, including New York and New Jersey, Houston and Savannah, Georgia.

biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA