Biodiesel Board Welcomes East Coast Policy Director

Cindy Zimmerman

The National Biodiesel Board has created a new Director of State Regulatory Affairs position and announced the appointment of Steve Dodge to fill it. Dodge is a longtime energy industry veteran who will focus primarily on advancing state and regional policy efforts for biodiesel, renewable diesel, and Bioheat® home heating oil on the east coast.

With more than two decades of experience guiding and managing outreach, communication, and lobbying efforts for the American Petroleum Institute, most recently as Executive Director of the Massachusetts/New England Petroleum Council, Dodge is well positioned to take the lead on NBB efforts focused on this important market.

NBB’s state governmental affairs efforts are led by Floyd Vergara from the organization’s Sacramento, California office. Dodge’s addition on the East Coast compliments the program along with a contract lobbying and support team positioned across the country.

Biodiesel, NBB

Kansas Biofuels Head Offers Post Election Views

Cindy Zimmerman

The president and CEO of Renew Kansas Biofuels Association gave his post-election analysis during the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City’s November 12 webinar.

Ron Seeber, who is also president and CEO for the Kansas Grain and Feed Association and Kansas Ag Retailers Association, summed up results for races on both the state and federal level. “Kansas is still very much a red state,” said Seeber, noting the win by Republican Roger Marshall to take the place of Sen. Pat Roberts. “The state kind of went from red to redder.”

Seeber was asked what his perspective was on biofuels under a Biden administration, including low carbon fuel standards in the Midwest. “A lot of it will have to do with who is appointed as head of the EPA under a Biden administration, what their overall energy policy is going to be, and whether there’s a place for biofuels in that policy,” said Seeber, noting that a move toward more electric vehicles rather than biofuels would be problematic.

Listen to Seeber’s comments:
KC AgBiz webinar - Ron Seeber (10:42)

Audio, biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Biodiesel Ready to Meet USDA Ag Innovation Goals

Cindy Zimmerman

Biodiesel is ready now to meet the goals of the Agriculture Innovation Agenda. That was the message that the National Biodiesel Board gave to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in comments last week on “’ready to go’ technologies, practices, and management approaches to benefit farmers, consumers, and the environment.”

NBB Vice President of Federal Affairs Kurt Kovarik wrote in his comments, “Biodiesel is ‘ready to go’ and adoptable. The reliability and dense energy storage capacity of liquid fuel simply cannot be replaced for many vital sectors. Diesel fuel powers the heavy-duty trucks, trains, vessels, and aircraft essential to our economy. Diesel also powers agriculture and construction equipment vital to providing human necessities. Diesel powers most equipment needed for public safety such as ambulances, firetrucks, the military, snow removal, and emergency backup for electrical generation. While we expect that numerous strategies can reduce the total volume of liquid fuel consumed for transportation, we will need liquid fuel for certain purposes for at least several decades.”

USDA’s Ag Innovation Agenda (AIA) is an effort to align the agency’s resources, programs, and research to provide farmers with the tools they need and to position American agriculture as a leader in the effort to meet the food, fiber, fuel, feed, and climate demands of the future. Specifically, USDA will stimulate innovation so that American agriculture can achieve the goal of increasing U.S. agricultural production by 40 percent while cutting the environmental footprint of U.S. agriculture in half by 2050.

USDA issued a request for information on its Agriculture Innovation Agenda back in September and the deadline for comments was last week.

Biodiesel, NBB, USDA

USDA Lowers Forecast for Corn and Soybeans

Cindy Zimmerman

The November World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates from USDA show lower forecasts for domestic production of both corn and soybeans.

This month’s 2020/21 U.S. corn outlook is for lower production, reduced feed and residual use, larger exports, and smaller ending stocks. Corn production is forecast at 14.507 billion bushels, down 215 million with a reduction in yield to 175.8 bushels per acre. Corn exports are raised 325 million bushels to 2.650 billion, which if realized would be record high. Projected feed and residual use is lowered 75 million bushels based on a smaller crop and higher expected prices. With supply falling and use increasing, corn ending stocks for 2020/21 are down 465 million bushels to 1.7 billion, which if realized would be the lowest since 2013/14. The corn price is raised 40 cents to $4.00 per bushel. Corn use for ethanol was left unchanged at 5.05 million bushels.

The U.S. soybean outlook for 2020/21 is for lower production and ending stocks. Soybean production is forecast at 4.17 billion bushels, down 98 million on lower yields. Lower yields are reported for several major producing states, including Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, and Nebraska. With reduced production, soybean ending stocks are projected at 190 million bushels, down 100 million from last month. If realized, soybean ending stocks would be at the lowest level in the past seven years.

corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Soybeans, USDA

RFA Congratulates President-Elect Biden

Cindy Zimmerman

RFA LogoThe Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) is congratulating President-Elect Joe Biden on his victory, as projected by the Associated Press and others.

RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper says they look forward to working with the Biden administration on issues important to the ethanol industry. “Mr. Biden made it clear as he was campaigning that he would put a stop to the abuse at EPA of the small refinery exemption program on day one,” said Cooper. “We’ve got a promise, we have a pledge from Mr. Biden that he will put a stop to these exemptions.”

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler confirmed last week that the agency will delay action on dozens of outstanding SRE petitions until after the Supreme Court rules on an appeal from refining companies over EPA’s waiver policy, which will be December 14. “That’s incredibly frustrating for us because we’ve been at this for 10 months now,” since the court decision in January, said Cooper.

At the same time, EPA has not released a proposed 2021 Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO), which means it will likely not get done until next year now. “It could be as late as May before we see a final rule,” said Cooper. “So we’re right back in the mess that we were in several years ago when EPA missed its deadlines.”

RFA also congratulates the House and Senate members who won their races and Cooper says the ethanol industry has plenty of allies on the Democrat side in Congress who will have the ear of the new president.

Listen to comments from Cooper on a Biden presidency.
RFA CEO Geoff Cooper comments on Biden presidency (4:07)

Audio, EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA, RFS

Ethanol Report 11-6-20

Cindy Zimmerman

While some of the 2020 election results have yet to be decided, Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) president and CEO Geoff Cooper says the ethanol industry will be ready to work with whoever ultimately wins the White House.

In this edition of the Ethanol Report podcast, Cooper discusses how ethanol has support from both candidates and bipartisan support in Congress, as well as the latest developments with the EPA and small refinery waivers.

Ethanol Report 11-6-20 (17:21)

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, RFA

EPA Delay on Waivers Comes as a Surprise

Cindy Zimmerman

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler has confirmed that the agency will delay action on dozens of outstanding Small Refinery Exemption petitions until after the Supreme Court rules on an appeal from refining companies over EPA’s waiver policy.

That means it would be December 14 before EPA would decide on whether to approve or reject the pending waiver requests. The high court is considering whether to hear the case brought by three small refiners in September and the EPA says it needs more time to provide a full government response to the petition.

Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper says they were surprised to hear of EPA’s decision on the appeal. “EPA decided not to get involved in earlier efforts for a rehearing of that properly decided opinion, so it’s unclear why EPA would want to weigh in now. If EPA decides to take a position on the request for further judicial review, we hope it’s to convey such review is unnecessary and falls far short of the established standards for Supreme Court’s involvement.”

Cooper says EPA can and should adopt the Tenth Circuit decision nationwide and immediately reject the 17 remaining ‘gap year’ waiver petitions and apply the decision to the 35 pending requests for 2019 and 2020 compliance exemptions. “It’s time to quiet the waters of the RFS program. Enough is enough.”

EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

Syngenta’s Thatcher Provides Post-Election Insight

Cindy Zimmerman

Mary Kay Thatcher, Senior Manager of Federal Government and Industry Relations for Syngenta, provided her perspective on the “churn of the election” during the company’s media summit this week. She does expect the presidential outcome to drag on for a while, but during her presentation, Thatcher used the assumption of a Biden presidency for her outlook.

In the biofuels space, Thatcher said the industry may need to look toward more Democrat champions, since a President Biden might not be as receptive to Republicans like Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley in Iowa.

Here is the full presentation, which refers to slides and includes media questions at the end.
Syngenta Media Summit presentation on election impacts (50:27)

In this interview, Thatcher comments on how the rural vote went, what to expect for House and Senate Agriculture Committee leadership, and how a Biden presidency might impact biofuels, regulation, and trade issues.
Post election interview with Mary Kay Thatcher, Syngenta (10:25)

Audio, biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Syngenta

MN Governor’s Biofuels Council Recommends LCFS

Cindy Zimmerman

The Minnesota Governor’s Council on Biofuels this week released its consensus report on the steps needed to grow Minnesota’s biofuels industry and get the state back on track to meet renewable energy goals, including a plan for the adoption of a Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS).

In the report to Gov. Tim Walz, the council recommends “a low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS)/clean-fuels policy (CFP) that builds on the vision, principles, and considerations of the white paper A Clean Fuels Policy for the Midwest (2020) from the Midwestern Clean Fuels Policy Initiative.”

The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) was a founding member of the Midwestern Clean Fuels Policy Initiative and released CEO Brian Jennings says they are pleased that Minnesota is building on its recommendations. “The white paper we released in January with the Great Plains Institute and other clean fuel stakeholders was designed for this specific purpose; to encourage Midwest governors and legislators to consider new clean fuel policies which will expand economic activity, increase ethanol demand, and cut greenhouse gas emissions.”

Members of the council include biofuels and farmer leaders from around the state, including Renewable Fuels Association chair Jeanne McCaherty with Guardian Energy, and John Christianson of Christianson PLLP who was recognized for his contributions to the report as a member of the Council’s Executive Committee.

The report also includes recommendations for increasing infrastructure for higher blends of ethanol and biodiesel, and for use of biofuels in state fleet vehicles.

Read the full report.

ACE, Biodiesel, biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Low Carbon Fuel Standard, RFA

RFA Comments on Colorado GHG Reduction Plan

Cindy Zimmerman

In September, Colorado released a public comment draft of its Greenhouse Gas Pollution Reduction Roadmap which details proposed steps the state can take toward meeting the near-term goals of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution 26% by 2025 and 50% by 2030 from 2005 levels.

Noting that transportation is one of the largest sources of GHG pollution, the Colorado plan suggests:
Transitioning to close to 100% electric cars on the road by 2050 and 100% market share for new vehicle sales of zero emissions trucks and buses by 2050; and
Adopting lower carbon fuels including advanced biofuels, renewable natural gas and hydrogen for hard to electrify sectors such as aviation and some heavy trucks

In comments on the plan submitted Friday, Renewable Fuels Association Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Kelly Davis, told the Colorado Energy Office that the internal combustion engine is “far from dead – the fuel just needs to be changed” with a low-carbon or clean fuel standard that can help Colorado slash greenhouse gas pollution.

“A properly designed, fuel neutral, LCFS or Clean Fuel Standard encourages GHG reductions via market forces,” Davis wrote. “LCFS/CFS programs are already in effect in California, Oregon and British Columbia, and have been discussed in other parts of the U.S., including Washington, New York and the upper Midwest. A science-based standard can drive technological innovation, stimulate investment in clean energy, reduce climate change emissions from the transportation sector, and decrease fossil fuel consumption.”

Davis also noted these programs “enable an increasingly diverse fuel supply, thus creating competition, encouraging innovation and developing greater market opportunities while improving air quality.”

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Low Carbon Fuel Standard, RFA