Baseball Teams Hit Home Run with Biodiesel

Cindy Zimmerman

Sports fans nationwide celebrated sustainable practices over the weekend on October 6 – Green Sports Day. The annual event recognizes the efforts that athletes, supporters, and organizations make to reduce their environmental footprint and baseball fans are already seeing a difference with cleaner air thanks to biodiesel.

The Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, and the San Diego Padres are among many teams whose stadiums are recycling used cooking oil into clean burning biodiesel. During the Royal’s recent championship season, the stadium totaled more than 61 tons of food waste, recycling more than 4,500 gallons of oil. The Brewers home stadium, Miller Park, recycled 6,347 gallons of cooking oil last year alone.

The Green Sports Alliance inspires professional sports leagues, college conferences, sports governing bodies, colleges, teams, venues, their partners and millions of fans to embrace renewable energy, healthy food, recycling, water efficiency, safer chemicals and other environmentally preferable practices. Alliance members represent nearly 600 sports teams and venues from 15 sports leagues in 14 countries.

Biodiesel, NBB

Congressman Discusses Biofuels at Syngenta Seeds

Cindy Zimmerman

Republican Congressman Jason Lewis of Minnesota recently toured the Syngenta Seeds facility and participated in a discussion on the future of biofuels.

Rep. Lewis toured the Syngenta Seeds Stanton, Minnesota, R&D facility and North America Seedcare Institute. “During my visit I also had the chance to discuss a variety of the business’ initiatives, including Syngenta’s work to partner with Randolph’s Agriculture Education classroom to help students learn more about the agricultural trade,” said Lewis.

Established in 1971, the Syngenta Seeds Stanton R&D facility is home to a biofuels lab that helps ethanol plants adopt Enogen® corn enzyme technology, as well as plant breeding research for Enogen corn hybrids. “Syngenta is committed to the success of the U.S. ethanol industry and to helping ethanol plants adopt the best enzyme strategy,” said Jeff Oestmann, head, Biofuels Operations – Enogen at Syngenta. “We are proud to have made a significant investment to bring this game-changing technology to market.”

Enogen corn is an in-seed innovation available exclusively from Syngenta and features the first biotech corn output trait designed specifically to enhance ethanol production.

Enogen, enzymes, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Syngenta

Ethanol Report on the New RFA

Cindy Zimmerman

The Renewable Fuels Association entered a new chapter at the annual October membership meeting in Kansas City, as Geoff Cooper officially became RFA’s new President and CEO and Bob Dinneen began his new role as Senior Strategic Advisor, according to the succession plan announced in July.

In this edition of the Ethanol Report, we hear from both about their new roles and other changes at RFA.

Ethanol Report on the New RFA

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Ethanol, Ethanol News, Ethanol Report, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

RFA Welcomes Four New Members

Cindy Zimmerman

The Renewable Fuels Association welcomed four new members this week – Ringneck Energy, Wisconsin Agri-Business Association, Nebraska Ethanol Board, and Advanced Fuel Dynamics.

Producer member Ringneck Energy, based in Onida, S.D., is in the process of beginning production at its 80-million gallon per year ethanol plant. The biorefinery will use an estimated 28 million bushels of corn and also produce an estimated 224,000 tons of distillers grains. The facility will employ about 40 people.

Associate member Wisconsin Agri-Business Association, based in Madison, is the voice of agribusiness in the state of Wisconsin. The trade association provides communications, training programs, legislative and regulatory affairs, promotion, and support to the agribusiness companies that do business in the state.

Associate member Nebraska Ethanol Board, based in Lincoln, helps to establish procedures and processes necessary to the manufacturing and marketing of ethanol fuel in the state through: sponsoring R&D of industrial and commercial uses for ethanol and its coproducts; promoting state and national air quality improvement programs and influencing legislation that encourages the use of renewable fuels; and promoting the use of renewable ethanol as a partial replacement for imported oils to ensure the energy security of the country, among other efforts.

Associate member Advanced Fuel Dynamics, based in Troy, Texas, manufacturers patent-pending, plug-and-play technology that makes existing gasoline-powered vehicles, motorcycles and recreational off-road vehicles flex fuel vehicles, increasing their performance, reducing fuel cost and reducing pollution by running E85 at the pump.

“Each of these companies and organizations brings a unique perspective to the RFA, but they all share a passion for renewable fuels and agriculture,” said RFA Vice President of Industry Relations Robert White. “We look forward to working with these new members for years to come on advocacy, technical and regulatory, market development, and consumer awareness efforts that will expand opportunities for American-made ethanol.”

Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

Growth Energy Launches TV Ad for Year Round E15

Cindy Zimmerman

Growth Energy released a new television ad this week stressing the vital role ethanol plays in rural America’s economy and asking Congress to support making E15 year-round a reality. The latest ad campaign begins this week and will appear on televisions in Washington, D.C. and select markets across the heartland.

“The drive to give consumers cleaner, more affordable options at the pump gains momentum every day,” said Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor. “We’re making sure that President Trump and rural champions in Congress have the support they need to get this over the finish line. Farm families are hurting and there’s no time to delay a fix that could deliver two billion bushels of additional demand for U.S. corn while holding down prices at the pump.”

The ad is the latest in Growth Energy’s ongoing E15Now campaign. Watch it below.


E15, Ethanol, Growth Energy, Video

RFA Implements Restructuring With New CEO

Cindy Zimmerman

At the Renewable Fuels Association annual membership meeting this week in Kansas City, Geoff Cooper officially became RFA’s new President and CEO and Bob Dinneen began his new role as Senior Strategic Advisor, according to the succession plan announced in July.

Cooper joined RFA in 2008 as the organization’s Director of Research and Analysis and since that time has led RFA’s regulatory activities, while also overseeing the association’s research and technical initiatives, supporting public and media relations efforts, assisting with legislative initiatives, and managing the Renewable Fuels Foundation.

As part of RFA’s restructuring, the association also announced the following additional staffing changes:

– Jessica Bennett, who joined the RFA staff in January 2018, has been promoted to lead Government Affairs, with the new title, Vice President of Government & External Affairs.
– Connor Hamburg will join RFA later this month as the new Director of Government Affairs. After working for several members of Congress, Hamburg was most recently Manager of Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs for the National Corn Growers Association.
– Jackie Pohlman has been hired as RFA’s new Manager of Member Relations. Pohlman comes to the RFA from the National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center (NCERC) at Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville, where she led client relations.

In addition, RFA elected Neil Koehler, co-founder and CEO of Pacific Ethanol, as chairman of the RFA board of directors, Jeanne McCaherty of Guardian Energy LLC as the board’s Vice Chair, and Charles Wilson of Trenton Agri Products LLC as the board Treasurer.

Koehler succeeds Mick Henderson, general manager of Commonwealth Agri-Energy LLC, as RFA chairman. He has served on the RFA Board of Directors since 1992, and received RFA’s prestigious Industry Award in 2017. Sacramento-based Pacific Ethanol operates nine biorefineries in Nebraska, Illinois, Idaho, California and Oregon with a combined operating capacity of 605 million gallons per year.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

Growth Energy Introduces Unleaded 88 Website

Cindy Zimmerman

Growth Energy has announced the launch of a new consumer-facing website for Unleaded 88 fuel: Unl88.com. Unleaded 88 is the unified brand identify for E15 – a fuel blended with 15 percent ethanol – and is approved by the Environmental Protection Agency for cars model year 2001 and newer.

“The website is designed to highlight the benefits of this biofuel blend in a clear, concise way to better communicate Unleaded 88’s engine smart and earth kind attributes,” said Growth Energy Vice President of Market Development Mike O’Brien. “Unifying the identity of E15 under Unleaded 88 provides a consistent and recognizable fuel brand and by the end of the 2018, consumers will be able to find Unleaded 88 labeled pumps at supporting retail locations across the nation, whether they’re filling up at a station in Minnesota or Pennsylvania.”

UNL88.com is an easy to navigate hub for consumers looking for more information on Unleaded 88 and its’ benefits. The website showcases the value Unleaded 88 provides – whether consumers are looking for a fuel that’s good for their engines, their wallets, or the environment – in a simple and straightforward way. Born out of a request from convenience store retailers for a unified brand identity for E15, Unleaded 88 has made its debut across the country and will be the consistent labeling at more than 80 percent of today’s E15 stations.

E15, Ethanol, Growth Energy

Crappie Masters National Championship Winners

Cindy Zimmerman

The winners of the 2018 Crappie Masters National Championship at Truman Lake in Clinton, MO last week were two 21-year-old Missouri natives, Matthew Rogers and Baylor Mead.

For the second consecutive year, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) sponsored the national fishing tournament, which highlights the use of 10 percent ethanol (E10) in all boat motors.

The team, Matthew Rogers and Baylor Mead, won the 2018 championship with 14 fish weighing a total of 21.19 pounds using E10 in their boat, which earned them an extra $2000 on top of their $30,000.00 top prize along with an additional $2,100.00 for the 2.11 pound big fish.

2018 Male/Female team Crappie Masters National Champions Jack and Holly Linton with RFA’s Robert White

The 2018 Crappie Masters Male/Female National Champions were the Green Machine team of Jackie and Holly Linton who eventually settled into 5th place in the tournament. The team took RFA Vice President of Industry Relations Robert White out on the water for the youth/media/sponsor fish off last week, and they are staunch supporters of ethanol and using E10 fuel in their boat. “It’s approved for all boat motors out there and all of the manufacturers are on board,” said Holly. “People use it and don’t even know they use it. But there’s a lot of misconceptions out there and we just need to let people know about that.”

In this interview, the Lintons also talk about how they got involved with Crappie Masters – even after a disastrous first outing! Interview with Crappie Masters fishing team Jack and Holly Linton


Audio, Boats, corn, crappie masters, Ethanol, Ethanol News, NCGA, Video

President Trump Hints at Iowa Announcement

Cindy Zimmerman

During a press conference to announce the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement (USMCA) Monday, President Trump dropped hints about a big announcement to be made in Iowa soon – but the word has already been circulating since last week.

As soon as he started the press conference, Trump thanked Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) for being there, saying he would be in Iowa “very soon” and that they were doing something “very important” in the state. He also mentioned “working on some other deals” that are going to make farmers “very happy.”

Media outlets began reporting last week that Trump is planning to visit Council Bluffs on October 9 and announce a deal to allow the year-round sales of 15% ethanol (E15) during a campaign event. The announcement is also expected to include restrictions on the trading of Renewable Identification Numbers (RINS).

The National Farmers Union came out with a press release last week urging the President to follow through on his promises by allowing year-round use of E15, ahead of “an expected Trump Administration announcement on changes to the nation’s biofuel policies.”

NFU President Roger Johnson said that while an E15 waiver is a step in the right direction, “such an announcement must be accompanied by a provision that makes up for the billions of gallons of lost demand as a result of hardship waivers, as well as a commitment not to further erode demand through continued use of waivers.”

The American Petroleum Institute went into high gear on Friday as word of the potential announcement spread, holding a telephone press conference with reporters and calling the idea of allowing an E15 waiver “a flawed, anti-consumer policy.” API Downstream Group Director Frank Macchiarola also said restrictions on RINs trading would only make “the RFS’ RIN requirements even more burdensome for refiners.”

E15, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Biodiesel Tax Incentive Extension Gets Bipartisan Support

Cindy Zimmerman

Rep. David Young (R-IA) and Rep. Dave Loebsack (D-IA) led a bipartisan group of more than 40 other members of Congress from California to Connecticut who voiced their strong support for a multi-year extension of the biodiesel tax incentive in a letter to House leadership last week.

The letter notes that the biodiesel tax incentive was retroactively renewed for 2017 in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, passed in March this year. Unfortunately, the incentive was not extended to 2018 and is currently expired.

“Biodiesel and renewable diesel producers are putting investments on hold in the face of the uncertainty created by the off-again, on-again nature of tax incentive eligibility. A multi-year extension of the biodiesel and renewable diesel incentives will provide the industry the certainty it needs to continue to generate the economic and environmental public benefits,” the Congressmembers state in the letter.

The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) thanked the representatives for their support.

“Right now, soybean farmers are harvesting a record crop but facing extreme uncertainty about the price they’ll receive and whether they’ll have access to markets,” said Kurt Kovarik, NBB’s Vice President of Federal Affairs. “Biodiesel adds value to every bushel of soybeans and provides a market for the growing surplus of soy oil. A multiyear extension of the biodiesel tax incentive would give farmers a welcome bit of certainty this year.

Kovarik added that a multi-year extension of the tax incentive would also allow biodiesel producers, blenders and retailers the opportunity to plan and expand the market for biodiesel.

Biodiesel, NBB