Sen. Ernst Urges President to Stop Gap Year Waivers

Cindy Zimmerman

During a briefing on storm damage in Iowa Tuesday, President Donald Trump heard from Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) about issues facing the ethanol industry, particularly the threat of the Environmental Protection Agency granting retroactive small refinery exemptions for previous years.

“Our farmers would love to know that with these gap year waivers that the oil refineries are submitting to the EPA, that we just dispense of those,” Sen. Ernst told the president. “Obviously with the crop damage that would be a great step forward.”

Sen. Ernst was one of several Iowa officials who met with the president about crop damage from the devastating derecho that torn through the state August 10 with hurricane force winds. Early estimates indicate almost $4 billion in damage from loss of crops and building such as grain bins.

Ernst explained the impact COVID has had on the ethanol industry and said farmers would come back stronger than ever, but they just need the EPA to follow the intent of the law with the Renewable Fuel Standard. “We’ll speak to them,” said Trump. “I’ll do it myself.”

Listen to the conversation here:
Sen. Ernst talks ethanol with Pres. Trump 1:39

Audio, Biodiesel, Ethanol, Ethanol News

RFA Welcomes President Trump to Ethanol Country

Cindy Zimmerman


When President Trump visited Mankato, Minnesota yesterday he was welcomed by a full-page ad in the Mankato Free Press along with a banner on the front page of the local newspaper with the message “Mr. President, welcome to ethanol country. We need your support.”

The front-page banner and full-page ad were sponsored by the Renewable Fuels Association to remind the president that Minnesota, like much of the American Midwest critical to his reelection, is ethanol country. There are nine ethanol plants within a 50-mile radius of Mankato and 50 plants within 150 miles. As the ad points out, “more than one-quarter of the nation’s ethanol is produced within a two-hour drive of Mankato.” Those facilities support close to 100,000 jobs and represent more than a quarter of America’s ethanol production.

The ad urges President Trump to tell EPA to stop handing out waivers to big oil companies that exempt them from the requirements of the Renewable Fuel Standard.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA, RFS

Mustard Family Plant Could Make Biofuel

Cindy Zimmerman

Scientists at USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) are studying a plant in the mustard family as a source for making butanol. It’s scientific name is Lesquerella, but it is often called Fendler’s bladderpod and Yellow Top, a plant native to the U.S. Southwest.

Butanol is a cleaner-burning alternative to gasoline that was produced worldwide until after World War II, when making this fuel from petroleum sources proved more efficient than fermenting it from corn and molasses.

Now, using the latest advances in fermentation and product-recovery technology, a team at ARS’ National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, Illinois, hopes to rekindle the production of butanol as a biobased fuel, among other groups.

Towards that end, they’ve conducted research to expand the list of butanol feedstocks that can be used—from fiber-rich crop residues like wheat straw, sweet sorghum bagasse and corn stover, to food wastes and processing byproducts like dried distillers grains and solubles and “presscake” (the crushed remains of lesquerella seed whose oil has been extracted).

Read more from ARS

biofuels, USDA

Groups Say Proposed Rule Would Penalize Ethanol Blends

Cindy Zimmerman

The Urban Air Initiative (UAI), a coalition of state corn grower organizations, and the American Coalition for Ethanol, and the Clean Fuels Development Coalition filed comments last week opposing a proposed EPA rule they say would penalize ethanol for its lower carbon profile.

In a notice of proposed rulemaking, EPA is proposing to penalize the current Tier 3 test fuel that all automakers will use to meet carbon dioxide emission standards because it contains 10% ethanol. This Tier 3 test fuel lowers carbon dioxide emissions compared to the prior E0 test fuel from 1975. The EPA is creating this new penalty against ethanol by manipulating test procedures to inflate the tailpipe CO2 emissions of vehicles certified using E10. Since the penalty would presumably increase with higher ethanol volumes, this rule would be a major disincentive for automakers to transition to higher ethanol blends.

“EPA’s anti-ethanol bias is not limited to how it has badly mismanaged the Renewable Fuel Standard, it extends to the Agency’s proposal to artificially inflate CO2 emissions from vehicles being tested on E10 blends for ‘Tier 3 Test Fuel Procedures,’” said ACE CEO Brian Jennings.

State corn grower groups from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Texas and Wisconsin were also among the commenters.

UAI and others have been asking the EPA for years to recognize that test fuels need to represent what is actually being used in the market, and that fuels and vehicle must be viewed as an integrated system.

ACE, corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Urban Air Initiative

Ethanol Report 8-14-20

Cindy Zimmerman

In this episode of The Ethanol Report, we cover a number of different topics on the ethanol front.

First, we head to South Dakota for the 80th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, where the Renewable Fuels Association once again provided free fuel and ethanol education for bikers, with the new addition of ethanol-based hand sanitizer as a giveaway. RFA’s Robert White, former RFA chairman Mick Henderson, and Minnesota farmer brothers Austin and Evan Ludowese were there.

We celebrate the 15th anniversary of President George W. Bush signing the Energy Policy Act of 2005 creating the Renewable Fuel Standard with comments from RFA president and CEO Geoff Cooper, current RFA chairman Neil Koehler with Pacific Ethanol, past RFA chair Randy Doyal of Al-Corn Clean Fuel, and RFA chief economist Scott Richman.

Finally, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler provides an update on gap-year small refinery waiver requests and Renewable Volume Obligations for 2021.

Ethanol Report 8-14-20 (19:11)

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.

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Audio, EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Ethanol Report, RFA, RFS, Sturgis

Young Minnesota Farmers Promote Ethanol at Sturgis

Cindy Zimmerman

Austin and Evan Ludowese from south central Minnesota have been proud to help promote the good news about ethanol at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally since 2015.

Austin, who was an intern with the Renewable Fuels Association in 2015, says a lot has changed since then. “I think you have more people who understand what ethanol is and are more willing to put it in their bikes at ten percent levels,” he said.

Both brothers are helping out at the RFA Sturgis promotion this week and have been impressed to see people snapping up the ethanol-based hand sanitizer giveaway. “I was shocked,” said Evan. “That was leaving the tables faster than the t-shirts or the coozies or any of the little jeeps.”

RFA VP of Industry Affairs Robert White interviewed Austin and Evan about their experience at Sturgis this year.
Interview with Austin and Evan Ludowese, MN farmers

RFA at 80th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Photos

Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Motorcycle, RFA, Sturgis

EPA Reviewing RFS Gap Year Waiver Requests

Cindy Zimmerman

During a visit to Wisconsin this week, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler was once again questioned about the status of so-called “gap year” waiver requests from refineries asking for relief from their Renewable Fuel Standard obligations from previous years.

Because the petitions go back as much as eight years, Wheeler said he is not sure how long it will take to review them. “One question that I personally have is how can you prove an economic harm in 2012 if you’re still in existence today?”

Wheeler says determining Renewable Volume Obligations (RVO) under the RFS for 2021 is also proving to be challenging due to the economic impact of COVID-19. “People are still not driving as much as previous years, we take that into account when we set the RVO,” said Wheeler. “We’re still going through all the data to try to figure out what the impact COVID is going to have on the RVO.”

The administrator added that EPA has been proud to be able to meet the deadline for the RVO proposal the previous three years of the administration but “it does not look like we’re going to be on time this year.”

Listen to Wheeler’s comments here:
EPA Admin Andrew Wheeler 8-11-20

Audio, Biodiesel, EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News

President Considering Reciprocal Tariffs on Brazil Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

President Donald Trump was asked about efforts to lower or eliminate Brazil’s tariffs on U.S. ethanol during a press conference this week.

“I think that as far as Brazil is concerned, if they do tariffs, we have to have an equalization of tariffs,” President Trump responded. “It’s called reciprocal tariffs and you may be seeing something on that very soon.”

Pres. Trump on Brazil ethanol tariffs

According to the Renewable Fuels Association, Brazil’s existing tariff rate quota (TRQ) is set to expire at the end of August, and some Brazilian industry and government officials have suggested that all U.S. ethanol should be subject to a tariff of at least 20 percent beginning in September.

RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper wrote a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer this week to follow up on the president’s comments. “While we would strongly prefer a return to the free and fair two-way ethanol trade relationship that we enjoyed with Brazil between 2012 and late 2017, it has become clear that the Brazilian ethanol industry (and some of the nation’s political leaders) no longer share our desire for free and open markets. Regarding ethanol trade, Brazil has chosen a path of protectionism and obstruction; unfortunately, at this point, it appears we have no choice but to respond in kind.”

Cooper noted that U.S. fuel ethanol exports to Brazil have fallen dramatically under the country’s TRQ and 20 percent over-quota tariff. Brazil’s protectionist policies caused 2019 U.S. ethanol exports to Brazil to fall 33 percent compared to 2018, and shipments continue to slide in 2020. By some estimates, Brazil’s trade barriers have already resulted in the loss of demand for nearly 350 million gallons of U.S. ethanol valued at nearly $400 million since late 2017.

Meanwhile, Cooper said, U.S. imports of duty-free Brazilian ethanol are surging; year-to-date U.S. imports of Brazilian ethanol are at a seven-year high and nearly triple the five-year average volume for the same period.

Brazil, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Exports, RFA, Trade

Ethanol Hand Sanitizer in Big Demand at Sturgis

Cindy Zimmerman

The atmosphere is a little different this year for the 2020 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally at the Buffalo Chip Campground, but ethanol is still in big demand – especially hand sanitizer.

Former Renewable Fuels Association Chairman Mick Henderson with Commonwealth Agri-Energy in Kentucky says the hand sanitizer gives them a whole new discussion point with motorcycle riders as they fill up their bikes with E10 during RFA Free Fuel Happy Hours. “A hand sanitizer that you can put in your fuel?” said Henderson. “And you just get this wide eyed look!”

The hand sanitizer RFA is providing at Sturgis was made by Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy (SIRE) and Henderson says his plant in Kentucky is making its own product as well. Sanitizer is made from a non-fuel high grade of alcohol and has helped some producers weather the dramatic downturn in production this year caused by COVID-19 restrictions.

Listen to RFA’s Robert White interview Henderson at Sturgis: Interview with Mick Henderson, Commonwealth Agri-Energy

Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Motorcycle, RFA, Sturgis

House Members Urge Direct Aid For Biofuels Producers

Cindy Zimmerman

Members of the Congressional Biofuels Caucus spearheaded a letter Friday to House leadership requesting additional resources for the biofuels sector in the next piece of coronavirus relief legislation.

Representatives Collin C. Peterson (D-MN), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Dave Loebsack, (D-IA) and Rodney Davis (R-IL), co-chairs of the Congressional Biofuels Caucus, led the letter with 31 members of Congress to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy.

“Biofuels production is a major piece of the rural economy in our districts, and we urge you to explicitly include much-needed assistance for the sector in the next piece of coronavirus relief legislation. For example, language requiring the Secretary to provide a per-gallon payment to producers for renewable fuels produced during the COVID-19 pandemic. This mandate from Congress is necessary to ensure that the United States Department of Agriculture has the statutory authority they deem necessary to provide aid to the biofuels sector, and to guarantee assistance for the farmers and plant workers.”

The House passed Heroes Act includes language to provide a per-gallon payment to biofuels producers for fuel produced during the COVID-19 emergency. The bipartisan Biofuels Caucus supports the inclusion of this language in the next Coronavirus relief bill. After the Senate failed to find a way forward last week on the next coronavirus economic relief package, President Trump signed an executive order over the weekend taking action on economic relief and it is not clear yet what steps Senate leadership will take this week.

Read the letter here.

Biodiesel, biofuels, corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News