RFA Weighs in With CARB on Imported UCO Feedstock

Cindy Zimmerman

The Renewable Fuels Association provided comments this week in response to a request for information from the California Air Resources Board, urging them to do more to ensure the integrity of imported used cooking oil (UCO) and tallow for biomass-based diesel production under the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard.

According to CARB data on fuel consumption in California, usage of biomass-based diesel (BBD) produced from UCO doubled from 2019 to 2023, while usage of BBD produced from tallow tripled, RFA noted, and some in the marketplace believe these feedstocks may be of questionable origin and content.

“Many biofuel market participants and other observers have expressed concerns about the legitimacy of imported ‘waste’ feedstocks and have questioned whether some volumes of UCO in particular may contain palm oil and/or other incorrectly labeled fats, oils, and greases,” wrote RFA Chief Economist Scott Richman. “These concerns have been heightened in recent months as Indonesia and Malaysia, which jointly account for nearly 85% of world palm oil production, have emerged alongside China as leading origins of UCO imported into the U.S.”

Biodiesel, biofuels, biomass, feedstocks, Low Carbon Fuel Standard, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

USGC Names Ethanol Export Development Director

Cindy Zimmerman

The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) has named Alicia Koch as its new director of global ethanol export development. Koch will be based in the Council’s Washington, D.C. headquarters and oversee the development and execution of the Council’s global ethanol program including program implementation, public affairs and strategic partnerships.

Koch previously served as executive director at Pivot Clean Energy Co., a nonprofit biofuels industry coalition and spent more than nine years across a variety of roles at POET, the world’s largest biofuels producer.

“Alicia’s wealth of experience in the U.S. ethanol industry will be an outstanding benefit to the Council’s ethanol market development efforts, especially at a key time when additional biofuel applications like sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and clean cooking are becoming more prevalent,” said Ryan LeGrand, USGC president and CEO.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Exports, USGC

Summit Carbon Has a Good Month

Cindy Zimmerman

Summit Carbon Solutions has continued to move forward with its CO2 pipeline project this month, racking up a few wins after the South Dakota referendum loss on election day.

First, the North Dakota Public Service Commission granted the project a Route Permit, which was secured after the company implemented changes to the proposed pipeline route incorporating feedback from local landowners and community leaders. Summit Carbon has now secured more than 82% of the easements for the North Dakota route.

Two weeks after losing the South Dakota referendum, Summit Carbon Solutions submitted its permit application to the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission (PUC), reflecting “extensive engagement with South Dakotans to create a pipeline route shaped by direct stakeholder feedback, supporting agriculture and advancing energy innovation.” The application includes major reroutes in Spink, Brown, McPherson, and Lincoln Counties, along with numerous micro-adjustments, resulting from more than a year of working with landowners to find “mutually agreeable solutions.”

Perhaps the biggest win was last Friday when the Iowa Supreme Court upheld Summit Carbon Solutions’ ability to conduct land surveys under Iowa Code section 479B.15, allowing the project to continue “while respecting landowner rights and maintaining compliance with the law.” The court also determined that “liquefied carbon dioxide” is a technical term within the special expertise of the Iowa Utilities Commission (IUC).

Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) Executive Director Monte Shaw called the court ruling a victory for state law and common-sense. “A permit application requires a survey. So if you don’t allow temporary survey access then you empower just one landowner to derail a multistate infrastructure project. Iowa law is clear and this unanimous decision highlights what a frivolous lawsuit this was.”

Carbon, carbon capture, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Iowa RFA

Ag Secretary Nominee Ready to Make Ag Great Again

Cindy Zimmerman

After a fake news rumor late Friday naming a former U.S. Senator from Georgia, President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday nominated Texas native Brooke Rollins, president and chief executive officer of the America First Policy Institute, to become the 33rd U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.

“As our next Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke will spearhead the effort to protect American Farmers, who are truly the backbone of our Country,” said Trump in a statement, adding that her “commitment to support the American Farmer, defense of American Food Self-Sufficiency, and the restoration of Agriculture-dependent American Small Towns is second to none.”

Rollins served in Trump’s previous administration as acting director of the Domestic Policy Council and oversaw the White House Office of American Innovation. She has a degree in agricultural development from Texas A&M University and a law degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

Rollins thanked Trump on X, saying it will be the honor of her life “to fight for America’s farmers and our Nation’s agricultural communities…WHO’S READY TO MAKE AGRICULTURE GREAT AGAIN?” She also shared congrats from her high school ag teacher and photos of herself in FFA.

Rollins has played an active role in the Trump 2024 presidential campaign and in work with the transition team. The day before she was nominated, Rollins sat down with talk show host Charlie Kirk to discuss the nomination of Florida’s Pam Bondi as Attorney General. She commented on this Trump presidency being an “inflection point in American history” and the team that he is assembling for his administration.

“I’m not sure that either one of us could have ever hoped for this sort of team of Game changers, of transformational figures all coming together to meet the moment to live in this miracle that we find ourselves in, the opportunity to really govern and take our country back is remarkable,” she said to Kirk. “We’re living in the middle of history.”

Brooke Rollins on Charlie Kirk Show (1:28)

Audio, USDA

Sen. Moran Meets With SAF Coalition

Cindy Zimmerman

Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) visited with members of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Coalition in Washington D.C. this week, where he discussed the need for greater legislative efforts to support the production and deployment of SAF in the 119th Congress.

“Sustainable aviation fuel is a practical and smart way to fuel our airplanes,” said Senator Jerry Moran. “SAF offers a three-fold benefit: provides a cleaner energy supply for the aviation industry, diversifies our American energy industry, and provides new markets for our farmers. Extending and enhancing incentives for SAF production will bolster and grow this industry – supporting rural economies while boosting our domestic energy production and security.”

Earlier this year, Senator Moran introduced the Farm to Fly Act of 2024, which would promote SAF and provide the aviation industry with alternative fuel resources. The bill would utilize current USDA programs to support the development of SAF, clarify federal definitions for SAF and enable greater collaboration between USDA and the private sector.

Senator Moran is currently Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation’s subcommittee on Aviation Safety, Operations and Innovation, potentially to be Chairman next session.

aviation biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, SAF

Implementation Plan for SAF Challenge Released

Cindy Zimmerman

The U.S. Departments of Energy, Transportation, and Agriculture have released the Implementation Framework for the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Grand Challenge Roadmap.

The SAF Grand Challenge was launched in 2021 as a government-wide strategy for identifying new technologies to produce SAF on a commercial
scale with the overall goal to produce three billion gallons per year of domestic SAF by 2030. The SAF Grand Challenge Roadmap, released in 2022, identified six action areas and associated activities, including Feedstock Innovation, Conversion Technology Innovation, Building Supply Chains, Policy and Valuation Analysis, Enabling End Use, and Communicating Progress and Building Support.

In September 2024, the Metrics Dashboard Fact Sheet was introduced showing that annual SAF domestic production and imports have grown from 5 million gallons in 2021 to 52 million gallons through the first six months of 2024.

This new implementation “framework provides SAF stakeholders with an understanding of what capabilities and programs federal agencies currently have in place to implement the roadmap actions.”

The Implementation Framework also identifies gaps in current programs and existing barriers to achieving SAF Grand Challenge near-term goals. Many of these gaps need support from the public and SAF industry partners to meet these goals.

Among the gaps identified are creating certainty in government policy to support build-out of SAF supply chains, expanding data and analysis and improving models for transparent and credible SAF supply chain analysis, expanding purpose-grown feedstocks, tapping the potential of waste and residual feedstocks, and using existing ethanol and petroleum industry infrastructure to rapidly scale up and deploy.

aviation biofuels, biofuels, Energy, Ethanol, Ethanol News, feedstocks, USDA

RFA Receives Ethanol Safety Training Grants

Cindy Zimmerman

The Renewable Fuels Association has once again received grants to extend its award-winning ethanol safety training programs into 2025, with the new round of grants bringing the total funds received by RFA for safety training to more than $1 million since 2010.

The grants for 2025 include:

  • $15,000 from the Federal Railroad Administration for three seminars and four webinars;
  • Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) Community Safety Grant for $25,000 to design an interactive online training course;
  • PHMSA ALERT Grant of more than $40,000 for training in partnership with the Industrial Steel Drum Institute, to cover two multi-day seminars and four webinars.

“Safety is a priority for RFA and the renewable fuels industry, and it is our mission to provide the best resources available to ethanol plant personnel and the emergency response community,” said Missy Ruff, RFA’s director of safety and technical programs. “Our goal is to ensure a safe environment for our nation’s ethanol facilities and the communities where they operate. We’re grateful for the support these grants provide to ensure emergency responders have the resources they need to properly respond to any ethanol emergencies. We simply wouldn’t be able to provide these safety resources and training without the generous support of FRA and PHMSA.”

The grants were awarded in collaboration with TRANSCAER, a national initiative focused on helping communities prepare for and respond to possible hazardous material transportation incidents.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA, safety

ACE CEO Sees More Questions than Answers on 45Z

Cindy Zimmerman

ACE CEO Brian Jennings is interviewed for Agri-Pulse Newsmakers at NAFB

The biofuels industry has been waiting for the 45Z Clean Fuel Production Credit for a long time now, and the wait is likely to get even longer with a new administration taking over.

Will the Biden Administration try to rush rules out before the inauguration? Will Congress extend the tax credits 45Z was supposed to replace before the end of the year? Will 45Z be extended for longer than the three years it is scheduled for?

“Unfortunately, there’s more questions than answers,” said American Coalition for Ethanol CEO Brian Jennings during an interview at the NAFB Convention last week. “The tax credit supposed to kick in in 2025 on January 1st and so it will likely be the the Trump treasury that decides the rules for this. Now usually when a new president comes in, they put a sort of a freeze on any pending rulemaking. So there could be further delay in knowing what the rules are, but we also look forward to working with the Trump administration to make sure there’s common sense and flexibility for agriculture practices to make sure that this tax credit works for everyone.”

Jennings says they are working with Congress to renew or extend those tax credits that are set to expire at the end of 2024, including the Second Generation Biofuel Producer Tax Credit, and further extend the life of 45Z beyond its current 2027 sunset period. “And so we’re going to be working with Republican champions in Congress to try and get 45Z extended so there’s longer term tax certainty for biofuel producers,” said Jennings, who was also featured in this week’s Agri-Pulse Newsmakers program recorded at NAFB.

NAFB24 Brian Jennings, ACE (6:21)

2024 NAFB Convention Trade Talk photos

ACE, Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, NAFB

Congress Urged to Extend Biodiesel Tax Credit

Cindy Zimmerman

Clean Fuels America CEO Donnell Rehagen

Clean Fuels Alliance America joined soybean growers and oilseed processors in a letter sent last week to House and Senate leaders requesting a one-year extension of the current Biodiesel and Renewable Diesel Tax Incentive, which was supposed to be replaced by the new §45Z Clean Fuel Production Credit by the end of this year.

Lacking guidance from the U.S. Treasury, the one-year extension of existing policy is needed to provide certainty and stability to stakeholders in the biodiesel and renewable diesel industry.

“Due to the significant uncertainty created by this lack of guidance, American clean fuel producers and their partners in agriculture and fuel marketing are facing tremendous confusion in the marketplace,” the groups write. “It is therefore critical that Congress provide a temporary, short-term extension of the existing 40A blenders credit to allow the necessary transition and a smooth integration of the new credit into business plans.”

The future of the 45Z tax credit and the continuation in general of the Inflation Reduction Act will largely be in hands of the new Trump administration. Clean Fuels American CEO Donnell Rehagen says they are looking forward to working with them.

“We’ve experienced a Trump administration before,” said Rehagen. “We saw considerable growth in our industry during those times but it wasn’t without its challenges. Obviously there’s a lot of competing interests in any administration. But that’s been a long time ago. And I think there’s been a lot of developments in the country. Consumers are much more focused on cleaner fuels in the climate and certainly than they were eight or ten years ago.”

During an interview at the NAFB Convention last week, Rehagen also commented on President-elect Trump’s pick for EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin of New York. “I mean, he’s not been a huge fan of the Renewable Fuel Standard, but as I said, it’s been a long time ago that those efforts to reform the RFS were taking place,” said Rehagen. “So we’re gonna go into this with our eyes wide open, our ears wide open as well, and have a great conversation with him and we’ll kick things off well.”

NAFB24 Donnell Rehagen, Clean Fuels

2024 NAFB Convention Trade Talk photos

Audio, Biodiesel, Clean Fuels Alliance, Soybeans

RFA Watching Trump Administration Choices

Cindy Zimmerman

RFA president and CEO Geoff Cooper

President-elect Donald Trump continues to announce choices for administration positions at record speed and the Renewable Fuels Association is generally pleased so far.

“We’re excited about the opportunity to sit down with the new leadership in the incoming Trump administration, to make our case and remind them of why ethanol should be part of their energy strategy and and energy policy moving forward,” said Cooper during the NAFB Convention last week in Kansas City.

RFA welcomed the news that North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, in addition to being named as Interior Secretary, will chair the new National Energy Council, believing he understands the importance of an all-of-the-above energy strategy that includes renewable fuels, carbon capture and sequestration, and other innovative approaches.

Cooper expressed little concern about EPA Administrator choice Lee Zeldin’s previous opposition to the Renewable Fuel Standard as a congressman from New York. “Not a real deep track record on on ethanol and renewable fuels issues,” said Cooper. “He did sign his name onto some legislation that would have repealed the RFS, but that was a different time…And so we’re looking forward to sitting down with Mr. Zeldin and getting him up to speed on what’s happening in the ethanol industry.”

RFA has yet to comment on the latest Trump announcement Saturday tapping oil executive Chris Wright for Energy Secretary, but Cooper says they are anxious to see who will be nominated for Agriculture Secretary since current Secretary Tom Vilsack has been a strong proponent for biofuels.

Meanwhile, RFA is extremely excited about the election of Sen. John Thune (R-SD) as Senate Majority Leader.

“Having Senator Thune as the Majority Leader in the Senate is a huge deal for us,” said Cooper. “He’s been a tremendous supporter. Over the last 20 years, he’s kind of been at the forefront of every ethanol-related policy issue that’s gone through the Senate, so that’s good news.”

NAFB24 Geoff Cooper, RFA (5:29)

2024 NAFB Convention Trade Talk photos

Audio, biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, NAFB, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA