Congressional staff and other federal and state decision makers were able to go on a virtual tour of the U.S. ethanol industry last week, courtesy of the Renewable Fuels Association. The event included a series of educational videos and discussions with farmers, ethanol producers and one of the country’s top fuel retailers.
Since 2009, RFA has co-sponsored the Iowa RFA Science & Sustainability Tour, which brings Washington, DC policymakers to Iowa for a hands-on experience with today’s renewable fuels industry. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, this year’s tour was canceled.
“Each summer, we join IRFA in providing the opportunity for congressional, agency staff and others to get an inside look at the ethanol industry right in our nation’s Heartland,” said RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “Unfortunately, this year we were not able to host the event in ethanol country, so we did the next best thing: We took the experience right to them, virtually. This gave congressional and agency staff the opportunity to hear from important ethanol industry stakeholders not just in the Midwest, but also in places like California and New York. We hope the event helped our audience understand the geographic diversity of our industry—and how we are all working together to bring clean, green, homegrown fuels to consumers everywhere.”
Learn more about what the tour included from RFA.
The coalition of farm and ethanol groups behind the case against Small Refinery Exemptions under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) that was decided in January is still waiting for EPA to implement the court decision or even communicate the intention to do so after eight months.
During a 
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson puts ethanol second only to the hog industry in priority to get some kind of assistance to mitigate losses this year due to coronavirus restrictions.
Bob Scott, who served as the ACE Board President from 1999 to 2009 representing Poet Ethanol Products, was recognized with ACE’s most prestigious honor, the Merle Anderson Award, named after the organization’s founder. ACE CEO Brian Jennings and Senior Vice President Ron Lamberty presented Scott with the award.
Jan tenBensel, Nebraska farmer and chair of the Nebraska Ethanol Board, received this year’s Grassroots Award for his unyielding and humble advocacy, notably his work with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to produce thousands of gallons of hand sanitizer for donation to help address the shortage during the health pandemic. ACE Board members Roger Berry, NEB Administrator, and Scott McPheeters of KAAPA Ethanol presented tenBensel with the award.
USDA Undersecretary Steve Censky gave one of his last addresses in his current role to the 
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce this week introduced the Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act, which contains provisions requiring more transparency and accountability in EPA’s process for evaluating small refinery exemption requests under the Renewable Fuel Standard. The provisions are based on the Renewable Fuel Standard Integrity Act, introduced last year by 
“In recent years, the Environmental Protection Agency has granted dozens of small refinery exemptions, waiving billions of gallons of biofuel from RFS blending requirements,” said Rep. Peterson. “The provisions of my bill will require EPA to pull back the curtain and show the American people how they justify granting these waivers that have greatly impacted profitability for biofuels producers and farmers across the country.”