Jan tenBensel at 2024 ACE DC Fly-in
“The importance of advocacy is that everybody can do it,” said tenBensel during the recent American Coalition for Ethanol DC Fly-in. “Call your Senator or your Congressman, send letters,” he said. “But advocacy doesn’t have to be just in Washington. It can be in your hometown – talk to your retailer, your local gas station, your local co-op about adding E15, E30, E85.”
Listen to this interview with tenBensel.
Jan tenBensel, Nebraska 7:53
With ongoing challenges to America’s energy security and summer just around the corner, advocates for agriculture and renewable fuels are urging the Environmental Protection Agency to authorize the summer sale of gasoline blended with up to 15 percent ethanol before May 1.
The Renewable Fuels Association, Growth Energy, National Corn Growers Association, American Farm Bureau Federation, National Farmers Union, and National Sorghum Producers sent a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan to act swiftly on an emergency waiver for E15 sales.
“New and ongoing conflicts across the globe continue to pose risks to the United States’ transportation energy supply. In addition to the conflict in Ukraine, now extending into its third year, the recent unrest and volatility in the Middle East present additional challenges to American energy security. In particular, attacks on shipping in the Red Sea have already had a disruptive effect on the transit of fuel in the region, raising the specter of constrained supply and increased gasoline prices at home,” the groups wrote.
Last month, EPA approved the long-delayed petition from eight Midwest governors allowing summertime sales of E15, but not until 2025, leaving this summer in limbo. When asked about it at Commodity Classic on March 1, EPA Administrator Regan said, “The record speaks for itself in terms of what we did in 2022 and 2023,” Regan said in response to a reporter question. “So I will approach this year the way I have in previous years.”
EPA Office of Agriculture and Rural Affairs director Rod Snyder elaborated further to ethanol supporters in Washington DC. “If you look at both 2022 and 2023, the market impacts from the war in Ukraine as well as other various global factors were really creating supply pressures that allowed us to justify those emergency waivers for two years in a row. It is too early for me to speculate exactly what we can or should do for 2024, but I want to reassure you that we are already talking with the Department of Energy about market conditions and how they compare to the prior years,” said Snyder.
Last week, U.S. Reps. Randy Feenstra (R-IA) and Darin LaHood (R-IL) led two letters to the Biden administration – one to President Biden and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai urging greater action in developing new markets for biofuels exports, and a second to Tai and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack specifically requesting work toward a full repeal of the Brazilian tariff on American ethanol.
The National Corn Growers Association strongly supports the action. “Opening new markets and reducing barriers to existing markets for biofuels is crucial to growing demand for corn growers,” said Minnesota farmer and NCGA President Harold Wolle. “We are highly appreciative of Reps. Feenstra and LaHood for standing up for farmers, and we hope it will provide a roadmap for USTR as it works to address some high stakes trade issues like the current ethanol tariff in Brazil.”
The Chief Agricultural Negotiator for the U.S. Trade Representative, Doug McKalip, said at last month’s National Ethanol Conference that he had been in discussions with the Brazilian secretary of agriculture to get the 18% tariff on U.S. ethanol eliminated and open that market back up for the industry. “The secretary promised to me that he would go back, meet with the Brazilian CAMEX (Chamber of Foreign Trade), and put together a proposal for us on how they might change their direction.”
McKalip also said he hoped to meet with Brazilian officials again at the WTO Ministerial meeting earlier this month. “This is a serious situation…it’s not a situation that we can stand, and not a situation that we can allow to continue.”
NEC24 USTR Ambassador Doug McKalip - remarks 21:00
EPA Administrator Michael Regan recently responded to recommendations from the agency’s Farm, Ranch, and Rural Communities Federal Advisory Committee (FRRCC) on how EPA can best support the agriculture sector’s climate mitigation and adaptation goals.
FRRCC consists of representatives appointed by the agency that provide independent policy advice and information on a range of environmental issues that are of importance to agriculture and rural communities and among the results of their recommendations to EPA is the recent creation of EPA’s Office of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, headed by the agency’s agricultural advisor Rod Snyder.
One of the 30 members of the FRRCC is Iowa cattle producer Bill Couser, who was selected out of more than 560 applicants. “We basically get three or four challenges every year and our job is to come together with a white paper to help EPA improve its methods of reaching out to rural America,” said Couser in a recent interview.
Couser says he was pleased to be able to host both Administrator Regan and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack together on his ranch shortly after both were appointed to the current administration. “It’s the first time in my career that I saw the heads of those two offices in the same room together. We always met with the staff,” Couser said. “We finally have a seat at the table.”
Listen to this interview with Couser from the recent American Coalition for Ethanol DC Fly-in.
Bill Couser, Iowa 5:34
It has now been almost three weeks since Biden administration officials failed to meet a March 1 deadline to adopt the U.S. Department of Energy’s GREET model for the calculation of SAF tax credits (40B) under the Inflation Reduction Act, and groups representing farmers and ethanol producers who would benefit are getting impatient.
A letter was sent this week to Treasury Department Secretary Janet Yellen by 26 organizations across 13 states, including the Renewable Fuels Association, Clean Fuels Alliance America, National Corn Growers Association, and various state corn grower groups.
“We are disappointed that the administration did not fulfill its commitment to release a modified GREET model by March 1, but we appreciate the importance of getting the modeling right. At the same time, we caution against contradictory changes to GREET that would stack unwarranted penalties on agricultural feedstocks, cut rural America out of a promising green energy market, and undermine any realistic path to achieving U.S. SAF goals.”
There has been nothing more said by officials since Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told attendees at the Commodity Classic on March 1 that they were “going to take a few more weeks – and I mean weeks, not months – to make sure that the guidance is correct.” Vilsack has made several appearances in the past few weeks but has not mentioned anything further.
In this interview, South Dakota farmer Ron Alverson with Dakota Ethanol gives a good explanation of the GREET model and the importance of including climate smart agriculture (CSA) practices and making sure land use change is evaluated correctly.
Ron Alverson, South Dakota 7:58
The Environmental Protection Agency released its final rule implementing new emissions standards for light and medium-duty vehicles that seeks to accelerate adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) by requiring approximately two-thirds of annual sales of new light-duty vehicles be EVs by the year 2032.
Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) President and CEO Geoff Cooper says the new standards effectively disregard the carbon benefits of ethanol and force automakers to produce more battery electric vehicles based on the false premise that they are ‘zero-emission vehicles,’ “At the same time, the regulation would strongly discourage manufacturers from pursuing other technologies—like flex fuel vehicles and engines optimized to operate on high-octane, low-carbon ethanol—that could achieve superior environmental performance at a lower cost to American consumers,” said Cooper.
“Under the language of this rule, EVs are considered zero emissions,” explained Nebraska Ethanol Board executive director Reid Wagner. “This methodology is inherently flawed, especially when considering electricity used to power an EV may come from a multitude of sources from coal-fired power plants to wind farms.”
National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) President Harold Wolle said, “We are deeply concerned and disappointed that EPA has chosen to force a one-size-fits-all solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ignore the readily available solution that biofuels like ethanol bring to the table.”
U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE) was fired up about the decision to “force EVs on automakers and the public” and spoke about the “dirty truth behind this supposedly ‘clean’ technology” on the Senate floor this week in advance of the EPA’s announcement.
Sen. Fischer 2-19-24 22:34
“President Biden should abandon this attempt to appease climate activists and allow the market to take its course. More practical, market-driven changes—like allowing the year-round sale of E15 ethanol—would help achieve environmental goals for America’s vehicle fleet,” said Fischer about the EPA standards.
Sen. Fischer spoke last week at the American Coalition for Ethanol DC Fly-in about her Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act to allow year round E15 sales.
Sen. Fischer interview 3:47
The Renewable Fuels Association’s flex fuel plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (FFPHEV) worked hard in 2023, so just ahead of the 2024 National Ethanol Conference in California last month, RFA’s Robert White decided to take it along on a family vacation as he drove from Kansas City to San Diego.
White, who serves as RFA Senior Vice President for Industry Relations and Market Development, shared his family vacation travel log on the RFA Blog, starting off with “a full charge and a full tank of E85 fresh off of a Super Bowl victory by our Kansas City Chiefs.”
White details what happened on their first night stop and charge at a Holiday Inn Express:
I awoke to a surprise on my phone. What started off as free charging somehow changed in the middle of the night. I was notified in the middle of the night that once charging was complete the charge would be five dollars an hour if I didn’t move the vehicle! I had the only electric vehicle at this hotel and was not expecting this at all. It was still too early to sneak out to unplug the car without waking up my family. I decided that a well-rested family is probably worth more than a few five-dollar bills. But once the family finally stirred, I was on the hook for $32 in “non-movement” charges. The car was ready to go on 29 miles of charge. Wow! That means for electricity it would cost $1.10/mile. There were plenty of options for E85 in the area, and we filled for just over $2/gallon. That translates to just $.05/mile. Using E85 would save us over $1/mile.
Read White’s entire blog post here
White shared some of his experiences and the data he has developed from using the FFPHEV over the past year during the National Ethanol Conference panel on “Ethanol and Electricity: The Best of Both Worlds.”
White says when people in the industry ask him how to convince people not to buy EVs he has a simple answer. “Let them drive one. That’s how you convince the world that it’s a problem.”
Joining him on the panel were Brian West, Chief Automotive Engineer, West Energy and Environment and Tom Leone, Principal Engineer, Southwest Research Institute.
Listen to them here:
NEC24 Ethanol and Electricity panel 37:53
2024 National Ethanol Conference Preview Activities Photo Album
Tim Obitts, Alder Renewables; Alan Weber, MARC-IV; Alex Menotti, LanzaJet
Alder Renewables CEO Tim Obitts says agriculture holds the key to the future for SAF. “You are above ground oil wells,” said Obitts. His company’s technology can utilize a range of sustainable woody residues, agricultural byproducts, and next-generation energy crops like miscanthus to produce SAF.
Alan Weber has been involved in the biodiesel industry for over 30 years and as founding partner of MARC-IV he is excited about innovative new oilseeds like pennycress, camelina, and brasica carinata. “Each of them very unique in how they fit in a grower’s rotation but also similar in that they help to improve soil health and the second in that those crops are being grown on acres otherwise not in production.”
LanzaJet VP of Government Affairs Alex Menotti says getting the GREET model updated to include climate smart agriculture practices is only half the battle right now for getting corn ethanol to qualify for SAF. “The other half is EPA updating their own rules to recognize the climate benefits of corn ethanol and do things like enable CCS (carbon capture and storage) which is a key enabler for alcohol-to-jet,” said Menotti, who also noted that the top legislative priority for the industry right now is getting the IRA tax credits extended.
Listen to some of their discussion here:
Agri-Pulse Summit SAF Panel One 31:11
Kevin Welsh, Airlines for America; Gene Gebolys, World Energy; Amelia DeLuca, Delta Air Lines; and Dr. Patrick Gruber, Gevo
World Energy has been in advanced biofuels for over 25 years and is now on the forefront of SAF. “Ultimately, biofuels want to fly and the reason is, that’s where you can get the best value,” said CEO Gene Gebolys. “As we work to establish this market, it won’t be a SAF market, it will be a decarbonization market.”
The GREET model remains key to making it work. “If we’re getting paid for carbon abatement and it’s a virtual attribute, how the heck do you measure it? That’s where the GREET model comes in,” said Gevo CEO Dr. Patrick Gruber. “We like real data, real science, measured, reported, verified. That’s what we have to get to.”
The Ag and Food Policy Summit was a function of Agri-Pulse Communications.
Listen to the panel:
Agri-Pulse Summit SAF Panel Two 29:26
The clean fuels industry is celebrating National Biodiesel Day today on March 18, the birthday of diesel engine inventor Rudolf Diesel. The engine was originally designed to operate on peanut oil, as Diesel was a visionary who recognized the potential of vegetable oils as a renewable fuel source.
Clean Fuels Alliance America COO Doug Whitehead says Diesel’s pioneering spirit continues to inspire advancements in the modern-day clean fuels industry. “Demand is better than ever, as organizations continue to seek the lowest cost option to decarbonize using domestically produced feedstocks,” he said.
Emerging markets are increasing demand for clean fuels driving innovation in feedstock development. Winter cover crops and other annual oilseeds, such as pennycress and Brassica carinata, are being explored as alternative feedstocks to help meet rising demand. As new markets such as rail, marine and home heating oil continue toward decarbonization, low carbon fuels including biodiesel, renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel will play a crucial role in reducing carbon emissions now, rather than waiting for future technology.
Happy Biodiesel Day!
The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) wrapped up its annual DC Fly-in last week, with dozens of members bringing their message to Capitol Hill when it comes to important topics for the industry.
CEO Brian Jennings was especially pleased members were able to hear from Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE), sponsor of the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act of 2023. “Probably the most important piece of legislation for our industry pending in Congress right now,” said Jennings. “The fact that we could meet with the primary author of the bill, she could help explain to us the roadblocks she sees in the path of her legislation, and then we could have our members go to Capitol Hill…that’s what this event is all about.”
Even though it is a presidential election year and nothing much may even get done, Jennings says it’s still important to show up. “There was also some feedback that maybe in the lame duck we could move something like an E15 bill,” he said. “If we fail to do the work between now and November we won’t have an opportunity to move anything in the lame duck.”
Wrap up with Brian Jennings, ACE 4:39