Corn and Ethanol Groups Challenge EPA to Correct Study

Cindy Zimmerman

A coalition including the Urban Air Initiative (UAI), 10 state corn grower organizations and the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) are pressuring the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to correct its recent “Anti-Backsliding” study. The coalition says the study is based on faulty modeling data that fails to recognize the role of ethanol in reducing pollution.

The study is required under the Clean Air Act and the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to ensure the influx of renewable fuels into the nation’s gasoline pool is not adding to poor air quality. EPA claims there are in fact adverse emission impacts resulting from ethanol blends, contrary to numerous studies refuting that finding.

The basis of the agency’s work is a modeling system called the Motor Vehicle Emissions Simulator (MOVES) that states must use to meet emission standards. The coalition argues that because the emissions generated by the MOVES model are unsound, the anti-backsliding study’s air quality conclusions are also unsound.

Read more

ACE, corn, EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News

RFA Comments on EPA Anti-Backsliding Measure

Cindy Zimmerman

The Renewable Fuels Association supports for the EPA’s proposal to determine that no additional measures are necessary to mitigate “potential adverse air quality impacts” associated with the Renewable Fuel Standard. At the same time, RFA’s comments on the Proposed Anti-Backsliding Determination for Renewable Fuels and Air Quality challenged the flawed air quality modeling and analysis conducted by EPA to inform the proposed determination.

“We agree that no additional ‘fuel control measures’ are necessary, but we reach this conclusion for a different reason than EPA,” wrote RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “We believe no additional measures are necessary because the scientific evidence demonstrates that increasing the concentration of ethanol in gasoline generally improves air quality and does not cause ‘adverse air quality impacts.’”

Earlier this year, EPA completed an “anti-backsliding study” to determine whether the RFS would adversely impact air quality. After considering the results of the study, the Clean Air Act requires EPA to either promulgate new regulations to mitigate any adverse impacts on air quality or to determine that no such measures are necessary.

Read more from RFA.

EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

Video Spotlights Ethanol’s Important Co-Products

Cindy Zimmerman

A new educational video from the Renewable Fuels Association and Kansas Corn spotlights all of the important co-products that come from ethanol production.

Those products include distillers grains for livestock feed, distillers oil used to make biodiesel, and captured carbon dioxide for the food and beverage industries.

With fuel ethanol demand experiencing a significant reduction during the COVID-19 pandemic, which kept many people at home and off the roads, numerous news stories arose over the hit these other products were taking as well. The need to educate consumers and others about ethanol co-products led to this video project, so the public and policymakers alike would understand how the ethanol industry makes more than ethanol and serves so many markets.

The video will benefit the Kansas Corn STEM program which provides K-12 teachers with lessons and materials to teach science with topics like growing corn, ethanol production, biotechnology benefits, and water and soil conservation.

At just under five minutes, the video is ideal for community meetings and briefings with policymakers, as well as to supplement education curricula, such as the Kansas program mentioned above and RFA’s Ethanol in the Classroom program.

Distillers Grains, Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

Groups Challenge EPA on SAFE Rule

Cindy Zimmerman

A coalition of agriculture and biofuels groups are challenging the Trump administration’s recent fuel efficiency rulemaking, on that grounds that it downplays the harm from reduced emission standards, ignores the efficiency and health benefits of higher ethanol blends, and fails to realize the promise of increased octane in gasoline.

The rule in question, known as the Safer Affordable Fuel Efficiency Vehicle Rule (SAFER), was finalized on April 30, 2020, reversing an Obama-era rule that called for significant improvements in vehicle efficiency. Issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), it established a 1.5 percent increase in efficiency each year for light-duty vehicles, far short of the 5 percent increase in the existing rule. In the notice of proposed rulemaking, EPA requested information on octane levels and how they could be increased in accordance with the Clean Air Act, but ultimately failed to address these concerns in the final rule.

The legal challenge is being led by National Farmers Union (NFU), and includes the Governors Biofuel Coalition, the Clean Fuels Development Coalition, the Environment and Energy Study Institute, several NFU state and regional divisions, Glacial Lakes Energy, Siouxland Ethanol, and the Urban Air Initiative. Previously, the group filed comments focused on octane and related issues. In response to EPA’s failure to credibly consider and advance mid-level ethanol fuel blends as an alternative to conventional fuels, the groups filed a petition for review in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, NFU

Ethanol Production Coming Back

Cindy Zimmerman

U.S. ethanol production is slowly clawing its way upward to more normal levels after reaching record lows in April.

According to EIA data analyzed by the Renewable Fuels Association for the week ending June 26, ethanol production rose 0.8%, or 7,000 barrels per day (b/d), to 900,000 b/d—equivalent to 37.80 million gallons daily. Production remains tempered due to COVID-19 disruptions, coming in 16.7% below the same week in 2019. The four-week average ethanol production rate rose 4.1% to 868,000 b/d, equivalent to an annualized rate of 13.31 billion gallons.

Ethanol stocks diminished for the tenth consecutive week, down 4.1% to 20.2 million barrels and 11.7% below year-ago volumes. Inventories tightened across all regions and are at their lowest level since the first week of 2017.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

Ethanol Exports Decline in May

Cindy Zimmerman

Exports of U.S. ethanol declined 32 percent in May to the smallest monthly volume in four years, according to Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) analyst Ann Lewis.

Most of the drop was due to Brazil, which imported just 1.7 million gallons of U.S. ethanol, down from almost 24 million. Exports to India were down six percent in May, but it was the top global market for U.S. ethanol at 14.9 million gallons.

Shipments picked up to Canada as 14.5 mg crossed the border (+34%), although tracking at a volume roughly half of recent norms. Export sales slowed to Mexico (9.0 mg, -35% from a surge in April) and South Korea (4.9 mg, -61%), but lifted to the Netherlands (6.7 mg), United Kingdom (4.2 mg), and Nigeria (3.1 mg). An annualized export pace of 1.57 billion gallons would be implied by prorating year-to-date sales, but seasonal factors and the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic could result in 2020 exports being below this level.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Exports, RFA

ACE Launches Video Series on USDA HBIIP

Cindy Zimmerman

The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) has launched a series of short fuel marketer-focused videos, along with a broader digital advertising campaign, to help fuel retailers understand and navigate the application process for USDA’s Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program (HBIIP).

The series on flexfuelforward.com is hosted by ACE Senior Vice President Ron Lamberty, a former convenience store owner who breaks down the application process with Tony Crooks and Kelly Bogle of the USDA office running the HBIIP program, to create content tailored for retailers and giving them the best chance at being awarded a grant.

“The HBIIP application can look pretty daunting to busy operators of single c-stores and small chains that don’t have departments or staff to handle this sort of thing. Retailers need to know they can complete the application process themselves, with a little help from us when they need it.” Lamberty said. “The goal of this video series is to break the HBIIP application into bite-sized pieces, so marketers can finish it off a little at a time.”

All thie month,leading up to the August 13 application deadline, retailers will be directed to the HBIIP resources through paid advertising on social media and in print and online convenience store industry publications and websites. Following the HBIIP push, the campaign focus will turn to E15 station conversions.

ACE, Retailers, USDA

ACE Disappointed With EPA Lack of Action

Cindy Zimmerman

American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) CEO Brian Jennings says he is disappointed in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to issue an interim final rule by July 1 to increase the Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO) for 2020 to ensure that the full 20.09 billion gallons required by the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) are used due to the unanticipated drop in ethanol blending as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

This was one of three immediate steps Jennings outlined in an April 3 letter to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler that also urged the Agency to restore the 500 million gallons of remanded volume as ordered by the DC District Court in 2017 and nationally apply the Tenth Circuit Court precedent regarding small refinery exemptions by denying most of the pending waivers for the 2019 RFS compliance year. The Agency not only has the authority to take these steps but must take them to avoid being in violation of the RFS statute which specifically instructs EPA to set the total RVO at a level that ‘ensures the requirements’ of the statutory obligations are met.

“Nearly three months have passed on our requests and it appears the only action EPA has taken is to entertain 52 ‘new’ retroactive waiver requests for refiners,” said Jennings. “We can add this to the list of letdowns coming from the Agency with so many opportunities at its disposal to get the RFS back on track.”

ACE, EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News

House Members Oppose “Gap Year” Waivers

Cindy Zimmerman

The Congressional Biofuels Caucus has added its voice to the many calling for EPA to deny the 52 so-called “gap year” Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Small Refinery Exemption (SRE) petitions received last month.

Co-Chairmen Rodney Davis (R-IL), Collin Peterson (D-MN), Dave Loebsack (D-IA) and Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-KS), and more than two dozen other members of the bipartisan Caucus sent a letter to President Donald Trump this week urging him to “respect the Congressional intent of the RFS and the 10th Circuit Court’s recent ruling.”

The purpose of the petitions for retroactive SREs is geared toward waiving RFS requirements dating back to 2011 in an attempt to circumvent the recent 10th Circuit Court ruling which determined that only existing SREs could be extended, and that they must be tied to economic harm caused specifically by the RFS.

“The Trump Administration has now heard from Members of the House, Senators and Governors on this important issue for rural America,” said Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) president and CEO Geoff Cooper. “Even the Environmental Protection Agency itself has noted there are significant ‘issues’ with these waivers, and we urge a speedy denial of these attempts by the oil industry to circumvent federal law and the recent court decision limiting waivers to extensions of ones previously received.”

National Biodiesel Board VP of Federal Affairs Kurt Kovarik adds, “EPA’s continued delay in rejecting these petitions will only exacerbate the economic challenges facing biodiesel and renewable diesel producers as well as soybean farmers during the national economic emergency.”

Related audio –
EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler gives update on retroactive SRE requests 7/1
EPA Admin Wheeler comments (:51)

Reps. Collin Peterson (D-MN), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Dave Loebsack (D-IA), Rodney Davis (R-IL), Cindy Axne (D-IA), as well as National Sorghum Producers CEO Tim Lust, National Corn Growers CEO Jon Doggett, and Renewable Fuels Association CEO Geoff Cooper comment on challenges facing ethanol industry during recent Biofuels Caucus Town Hall.

Ethanol Report 6-25-20 (22:08)

Audio, Biodiesel, EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

EPA Administrator Gives Update on Retroactive SREs

Cindy Zimmerman

EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said Wednesday that the agency will not be making an announcement on proposed 2021 Renewable Volume Obligations this week.

“There’s nothing coming out tomorrow on that,” Wheeler said during a press call to talk about environmental provisions under the USMCA. Since Friday is a federal holiday, that would mean it would be at least next week before the proposal might be released. Last year it was announced on July 5.

Wheeler also gave an update on the status of the 52 requests for retroactive waivers from blending obligations in previous years. “We have sent those applications over to the Department of Energy for their review, which is the first step in the process,” said Wheeler. “We’ve not gotten the recommendations back yet.”

Wheeler says there are a “number of issues” when it comes to considering the retroactive year waivers. “Some of these petitions go back to 2012, RINS from that year are no longer active…so there’s questions about whether they can show economic harm and what the remedy would be.”

EPA Admin Wheeler comments (:51)

Audio, Biodiesel, biofuels, EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News