Ethanol Report on Current Issues

Cindy Zimmerman

The Renewable Fuels Association has been working on a couple of issues this summer that are important to the future of the ethanol industry.

In this edition of The Ethanol Report podcast, RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper provides an update on the Midwest governor’s petition for E15, the Flex Fuel Fairness act, EPA’s proposed tailpipe emissions standards, and defining Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).

Ethanol Report 8-9-23 26:19

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

Iowa and Nebraska Sue EPA Over E15 Waiver Delay

Cindy Zimmerman

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers joined together Monday to sue the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to to meet a statutory deadline in response to petitions from their governors and six others to reduce evaporative emissions and allow year-round sales of E15.

“The Biden Administration has dragged its feet long enough,” said Attorney General Bird. “Hardworking Iowans deserve a cheaper, cleaner option at the gas pump. But despite the Governors’ request, the EPA has refused to allow Iowans to buy the fuel they want. Well, Iowans are done waiting. We’re taking President Biden and the EPA to court to make E15 available year-round.”

“The Biden Administration knows that increasing access to E15 will help consumers obtain some relief from the rising cost of gasoline, provide support for our farmers, and strengthen US energy security during a turbulent time,” said Attorney General Hilgers. “Earlier this year the administration recognized as much when it issued a temporary waiver. There is no reason that waiver shouldn’t be made permanent.”

The governors of eight Midwestern states petitioned EPA back in April 2022 to make the regulatory change and even though the Clean Air Act requiring the EPA to comply within 90 days, it has now been over a year. EPA proposed regulations in March to require fuel suppliers in these states to slightly reduce the volatility of gasoline beginning on May 1, 2024, which would reduce the potential for evaporative emissions and facilitate year-round sales of E15 blends.

Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper, who sent a letter to EPA last week on the issue, said they are hopeful that the action taken by Iowa and Nebraska will help break the logjam and cause EPA to complete the process as soon as possible to provide a long term solution to allow E15 sales year round. “We greatly appreciate the emergency action taken by EPA the past two summers to extend fuel supplies, avert shortages, and keep pump prices lower by allowing continued E15 sales during the summer,” Cooper said. “However, a permanent solution that provides stability and clarity to the marketplace is needed. Finalizing and implementing the governors’ petition as soon as possible will provide the certainty the marketplace is looking for.”

American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) CEO Brian Jennings said, “EPA has been dragging its feet this entire rulemaking process, and we applaud Iowa Attorney General Bird and Nebraska Attorney General Hilgers for taking action to hold EPA accountable. We join them in imploring EPA finalize the plan developed by several Midwestern states so that E15 will be available next summer.”

ACE, E15, EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

ND Rejects Summit Carbon Pipeline Permit

Cindy Zimmerman

The North Dakota Public Service Commission issued a unanimous decision on Friday to reject the Summit Carbon Solutions permit application for a carbon pipeline route in the state of North Dakota, ruling that the company “has not provided sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the location, construction, operation and maintenance of the project will produce minimum adverse impacts upon the welfare of the citizens of North Dakota.”

Summit filed requested to construct approximately 320 miles of carbon dioxide pipeline in the state, originating at facilities in Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, and Minnesota, crossing through North Dakota, to then be injected for permanent sequestration northwest of Bismarck.

The PSC said concerns were raised by the State Historical Preservation Office about the pipeline which were not addressed, and the U.S. Geological Survey noted 14 areas of potential geological instability within the project corridor.

Summit Carbon Solutions said in a statement that it respects the decision by the PSC. “We will revisit our proposal and reapply for our permit. We’re committed to understanding and incorporating the considerations outlined in the decision. We are confident that our project supports state policies designed to boost key economic sectors: agriculture, ethanol, and energy.”

PSC held five public hearings around the state which included hours of testimony and public comment during which concerns from landowners and citizens regarding eminent domain, safety, the policy of permanent CO2 sequestration and storage, setback distances, potential harm to drain tile systems, impacts on property values, and the ability to obtain liability insurance due to the project were raised.

Carbon, Ethanol, Ethanol News

NREL 2022 BQ-9000 Biodiesel Properties Assessment

Cindy Zimmerman

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently released its Assessment of BQ-9000 Biodiesel Properties for 2022 with more data collected than ever before. The annual report is produced under the direction of Clean Fuels Alliance America to document the quality of biodiesel from U.S. and Canadian-based producers that participate in the industry’s voluntary quality assurance program, BQ-9000.

Clean Fuels Technical Director Scott Fenwick said the annual assessment is used by entities such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to validate biodiesel quality while supporting the clean fuels industry. “The results of this assessment have led to the improvement of biodiesel spec ASTM D6751-23,” said Fenwick. “These improvements have allowed major fleets to switch to biodiesel to meet carbon reduction goals and will likely lead to higher blend approvals for some OEMs in the future.”

The data collected for 2022 suggests a higher level of quality of BQ-9000 biodiesel for users that blend with petroleum diesel across the U.S., meaning biodiesel production well exceeds the current ASTM specification limits.

Read the report.

Biodiesel, Clean Fuels Alliance

Northwest Advanced Bio-Fuels Awards SAF Project

Cindy Zimmerman

Northwest Advanced Bio-Fuels has selected IHI Power Services Corp. to provide services, management and plant operations and maintenance (O&M) for development of a 2nd generation cellulosic renewable bio-jet fuel production facility in the Pacific Northwest.

Located in the Columbia River Corridor, this advanced facility will produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) using woody biomass as the primary feedstock source. IPSC brings experience serving organic matter-based biodiesel, sustainable aviation fuel, ethanol and renewable natural gas power generation facilities. Additionally, the company provides an array of pre- and post-development services that will be vital throughout the duration of the NWABF SAF project.

aviation biofuels, biofuels, Ethanol, SAF

Herbicide Tolerant Camelina Supports Large Acre Production

Cindy Zimmerman

Yield10 Bioscience announces positive results in the first field test of stacked herbicide tolerance (“HT”) traits in Camelina, which will help support grower adoption for the biofuel feedstock market by enabling weed control and increased access to acreage previously treated with Group 2 herbicides. Yield10 is executing a program to develop and commercialize spring and winter Camelina varieties with stacked herbicide traits to achieve large acreage adoption of the crop in North America.

Drone photo of a portion of Yield10 Bioscience’s field planted with stacked HT Camelina demonstrating tolerance to an over-the-top herbicide application as well as tolerance to soil residual Group 2 herbicides

In the second quarter of 2023, Yield10 researchers initiated the first field tests of candidate E3902 spring Camelina lines deployed with stacked HT traits intended to provide the plants with tolerance to the application of an over-the-top broadleaf herbicide for weed control as well as tolerance to soil residues of Group 2 herbicides, specifically including tolerance to both imidazolinones (“IMI”) and sulfonylureas (“SU”). Preliminary results of these field tests indicate that these Camelina lines demonstrate tolerance to both target herbicide chemistries. By comparison, significant injury was observed to control E3902 Camelina plants following application of an over-the-top herbicide and exposure to increasing concentrations of IMI or SU soil residues. Group 2 herbicides are commonly used to manage weeds in cereal and other crop rotations and can persist in the soil for months following use. Yield10 intends to harvest the plants and collect seed yield and oil yield data in the weeks ahead with the goal of selecting lead and back-up stacked HT spring E3902 Camelina lines for commercial development and seed scale-up.

In addition to its program for spring Camelina, Yield10 researchers have also developed candidate stacked HT traits in a winter Camelina variety, and the first field tests of these stacked HT Camelina lines are planned for the fall of 2023. In the second quarter of 2023, Yield10 filed a request for Regulatory Status Review (RSR) with USDA-APHIS Biotechnology Regulatory Services (BRS) for stacked herbicide tolerant Camelina under the SECURE Rule, and a response from the agency is pending.

Read more from Yield10

biofuels, feedstocks

RFA Urges EPA to Finalize Midwest Governors’ E15 Petition

Cindy Zimmerman

Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper sent a letter this week to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan urging the agency to quickly finalize its regulations accepting the petition of eight Midwest governors that would allow year round sales of E15 fuel blend in their states, noting that the statutory deadline for approving the petition was over a year ago.

“Three months have passed since EPA’s public comment period ended, and more than a year has passed since EPA’s statutory deadline to promulgate a final rule approving the Governors’ petition,” Cooper wrote. “And yet, despite strong public support for EPA’s proposal, the agency still has not finalized the rule or publicly provided a schedule for doing so. With the summer 2024 ozone control season just nine months away, we urge EPA to publish the final rule approving the Governors’ petition as soon as possible.”

RFA’s letter included an analysis of real-world retail gasoline price data that shows virtually no difference between retail prices for lower-volatility gasoline and conventional gasoline in adjacent markets where the two different types of gasoline were being sold during the summer 2022 ozone control season. In fact, Cooper wrote, in several of the markets examined, lower-volatility gasoline was less expensive than higher-volatility conventional gasoline.

RFA is asking EPA to finalize the rule before the end of this summer.

EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

Peanut Farmers Interested in SAF

Cindy Zimmerman

Finding new uses for peanuts is becoming a priority for the industry and there was a lot of interest at the Southern Peanut Growers Conference this year in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

“Peanut oil is very suitable for conversion into a jet fuel…to be able to get into that market would be a further use for peanuts and peanut oil in the future,” said Dr. Marshall Lamb, USDA-ARS National Peanut Research Lab.

2023 SPGC - Marshall Lamb, National Peanut Research Lab (2:54)

Also at the conference this year was Nuseed Carinata, which is contracting with farmers to plant a cover crop in the off season that is being utilized for SAF already.

“Our crop is rotated in with peanuts,” said Michelle Howard, Carinata commercial program manager. “You can plant carinata in the early November to mid November time frame and then harvest in April to May…It’s a cover crop that is profitable as well.” Howard says this is the second year they are contracting with growers.

Farmers harvest the carinata and Nuseed buys it from them. “It’s crushed and blended into biodiesel…the oil we produce is actually owned by BP and BP is using it for aviation fuel.”

2023 SPGC - Michelle Howard, Nuseed (2:11)

Audio, aviation biofuels, feedstocks, SAF

Ricketts Promotes Flex Fuel Fairness in Nebraska

Cindy Zimmerman

A bill just introduced in the Senate would level the playing field for vehicles running on low-carbon liquid fuels like ethanol by properly recognizing the emissions benefits associated with using E85 flex fuels (which contain 51-83 percent ethanol).

U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE) introduced the bipartisan Flex Fuel Fairness Act last week along with Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). Ricketts participated in a roundtable Monday in Lincoln with members of the Nebraska Ethanol Board and other biofuels stakeholders, including the Renewable Fuels Association, which had its Flex Fuel PHEV project car on display.

“This legislation helps unlock the potential of renewable fuels and puts more tools in the toolbox for automakers who must comply with increasingly stringent vehicle emissions standards. By leveling the playing field for the production of all clean vehicle technologies, this bill allows low-carbon liquid fuels like ethanol to work alongside clean electricity, electric vehicles, and other technologies to reduce emissions from transportation,” said RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper.

The legislation is designed to create more equitable incentives and market signals for the production of a broader portfolio of clean vehicle technologies. Under current EPA emissions regulations, battery electric vehicles (EVs) benefit from an assumption that there are zero carbon emissions associated with operating the vehicle. EPA announced plans to make the “zero emissions” assumption permanent for EVs in its recent proposed rule for 2027-2032 emissions standards. In essence, EPA’s regulations assume a battery EV will always operate on zero-carbon electricity over its entire lifetime.

To create an equitable incentive for the continued production of FFVs, today’s legislation creates a similar assumption that FFVs always operate on E85—a fuel that reduces lifecycle GHG emissions by 31 percent compared to gasoline. Thus, for the purposes of demonstrating compliance with vehicle emissions standards, the legislation allows automakers to use an emissions value for an FFV that is 31 percent lower than the emissions value for the corresponding non-FFV model.

Read more from RFA.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Flex Fuel Vehicles, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

Bill Aims To Define Sustainable Aviation Fuel

Cindy Zimmerman

Representatives Mike Flood (R-NE) and Nikki Budzinski (D-IL) this week introduced the Sustainable Aviation Fuels Accuracy Act of 2023, a bipartisan bill to bring integrity to the standards required to meet the definition of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The legislation enjoys broad support among SAF stakeholders, including farm and biofuels organizations. “Recognizing the importance of using the most robust and accurate lifecycle GHG model, this legislation would ensure America’s farmers and renewable fuel producers are able to contribute to the future growth of domestic SAF production,” said Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “We thank Reps. Flood and Budzinski for working together on this important legislation that is critical to the advancement of SAF production and use.”

The bill specifies that the Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory’s GREET model is an allowable methodology for determining SAF lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions. A companion Senate bill was introduced in June. RFA has long argued that the Argonne GREET model is scientifically superior to other lifecycle GHG methodologies, including the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) model. RFA remains concerned that the ICAO model relies on outdated and inaccurate information that could result in severely constraining the supply of qualifying feedstocks for SAF.

The legislation has a Senate companion bill led by U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Chuck Grassley (R-IA).

aviation biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA, SAF