Domestic Fuel

The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology’s Subcommittee on Energy and Environment is holding a hearing today on “examining the science” of 15% ethanol in fuel, but the corn ethanol industry is questioning the list of witnesses, which appears to be somewhat lopsided.

“The Environmental Protection Agency has been thorough in its work on the E15 waiver request and several outside researchers have been evaluating and analyzing E15 and other blends for a number of years,” said National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) President Bart Schott. “While EPA will have someone there to testify, the remainder of those on the list of witnesses testifying have a long-standing history of being critical of corn-based ethanol at any level. This is an extremely unbalanced panel and it is easy to see why some consider this hearing to be a sham.”

Those set to testify at the hearing this afternoon include representatives from the American Petroleum Institute, Environmental Working Group, Evinrude Outboard Motors, National Chicken Council, and the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute. Only one witness, Steven Burke with the Biofuels Center of North Carolina, will be representing the ethanol industry.

“This hearing pretends to look at the science behind E15,” Schott said. “We have a hard time understanding what makes the National Chicken Council or the Environmental Working Group scientific experts on the safety and efficiency of automotive fuels in modern internal combustion engines.”

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) is also questioning the witness list for today’s hearing. “This is little more than a congressionally-sanctioned witch hunt for those with an axe to grind against farmers and ethanol producers,” said RFA President and CEO Bob Dinneen. The RFA sent a letter to committee leadership to provide the ethanol industry’s point of view as it is not represented on the panel.

The hearing will be held at 2 pm Eastern time.

At the 2011 Fuel Ethanol Workshop last week, the CEO of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) accepted an award for promoting the advancement of ethanol on behalf of the corn industry as a whole.

“It’s more of an award for the people that I work with, the farmers, our leaders, our great staff, the state groups,” said Rick Tolman after accepting the ethanol industry’s High Octane Award. “I think it reflects how committed we are to this industry, how much we have gotten engaged and involved.”

One way that NCGA has gotten involved in a big way in the promotion of ethanol recently is the commitment to the American Ethanol NASCAR program, which Tolman says has exceeded his expectations. “I think it’s one of the best things we’ve ever done,” he said. “It still has real potential to be a game changer for ethanol.”

Tolman says that NASCAR has proven to be a wonderful partner. “When they first came to us 2-3 years ago, I was impressed then that they did their homework. They knew the myths and the misinformation,” Tolman said. “They’ve been first class from day one.”

Listen to or download an interview with Rick Tolman here: Rick Tolman Interview

2011 FEW Photo Album

Our coverage of the 2011 Fuel Ethanol Workshop sponsored by the Renewable Fuels Association.

South Dakota State University (SDSU) is helping to improve the efficiency of ethanol plants.

The SDSU Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Department recently invested in small scale, corn milling and ethanol processing equipment to let ethanol plant mangers test process adjustments in order to optimize efficiency.

“This small equipment allows them to test small adjustments and see how they work without the expense or risk associated with testing adjustments in a large ethanol plant,” said Van Kelley, Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering department head. “If adjustments aren’t made correctly at a plant processing 100,000 bushels of corn per day – it ends up being an extremely expensive mistake.”

Kelly and his department recently hosted a two-day seminar for some 20 POET plant engineers and managers who got to try out the new equipment. During the hands-on training, POET engineers and process managers used the processing equipment to test many different operating parameters – moisture content, temperature and time. A new, near-infrared spectroscopy system was used to measure the moisture, fiber, protein and fat in the samples.

“This training is designed to go beyond “here’s how you operate the equipment,” and introduce the science behind the milling,’” said said Operations Engineering Manager Beau Schmaltz. The workshop was tested by POET, but designed for the entire ethanol industry.

In this photo provided by SDSU: Shane Roby, operations engineer for POET is pouring a corn sample into the roller mill that has already undergone one pass through the rollers and aspiration separation. Casey Baumiller, left, associate process engineer and Josh Karaus, quality manager are looking on. Byron Thomas, process automation engineer, seated in the background is inspecting another test sample.

Read more from SDSU here.

Pioneer was demonstrating the new mobile app for their Dynamic Pricing Platform during the just concluded 2011 International Fuel Ethanol Workshop. I spoke with Steve Crowe, Pioneer Business Manager, Biofuels about the new method of interacting with your DPP account. That’s his iPhone in the photo in front of the monitor showing the desktop version.

Steve says that smartphones have become so prevalent that they created both iPhone and Android versions of the app. You’ll need a DPP account to use the app but the app is free. He says producer feedback has been great. It allows ethanol plants a way to reach out directly to local farmers to purchase grain. No seed purchase is necessary btw. Steve Crowe Interview

2011 FEW Photo Album

Our coverage of the 2011 Fuel Ethanol Workshop is made possible by the Renewable Fuels Association.

The CEO of the Indy Racing League is Randy Bernard, seen shaking hands with Iowa Corn Growers CEO, Craig Floss, during last weekend’s Iowa Corn Indy 250 activities. I spoke with Randy who says that the League has been working to create a lot more buzz and excitement this year. Judging by the sell out crowd for the Iowa race, things must be working.

I asked him to comment on the relationship with Pioneer and the Iowa Corn Growers. He said, “The fact that we’ve got a great title sponsor here with Iowa Corn Growers and that we run ethanol . . . this is the type of sponsor that we love to be working with because ethanol is a very important part of our business and next year we’re going to E85 to show pump relevancy.”

You can listen to my interview with Randy here: Randy Bernard Interview

2011 Iowa Corn Indy 250 Photo Album

The new planted acreage report from USDA shows more corn than most anyone expected, given the wet spring weather that delayed planting in many areas. According to USDA, corn planted area for this year is now estimated at 92.3 million acres, up 5 percent from last year. That’s more than growers expected to plant back in March and the second highest planted acreage in the United States since 1944.

“In light of the weather, many people seemed to be thinking that less corn would be planted,” said Lance Honig with USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. “In reality, what we saw was especially in some of those areas not impacted by weather, they really planted a lot more corn than they thought they might.”

Renewable Fuels Association VP of Research and Analysis Geoff Cooper said that, based on USDA’s latest projections of average corn yield (158.7 bushels/acre) and harvested acres (84.9 million), it would mean a 2011 harvest of 13.47 billion bushels – nearly 300 million more bushels of corn than USDA was projecting in its most recent supply/demand estimates. “The takeaway from this report is that U.S. farmers continue to apply the most efficient and effective technologies to produce record or near-record crops year in and year out,” he said.

Of course, it is still early in the season, and American Farm Bureau Federation crops economist Todd Davis says a lot can happen to the corn crop from now until harvest. “We have a lot of hurdles to jump to reach a harvest of 13.47 billion bushels of corn this year,” Davis said. “The weather throughout the Corn Belt will have to cooperate in July and August for farmers to get strong yields and we would have to harvest the 84.8 million acres projected in the June 30 acreage survey.”

USDA also released the June 1 corn stocks estimate today, which was also higher than expectations but still down 15% from last year at 3.67 billion bushels.

At the beginning of this morning’s opening session of the Fuel Ethanol Workshop, Rick Tolman, CEO, National Corn Growers Association, was presented the High Octane Award by Tom Bryan, BBI International. I will post Rick’s comments later this morning after this plenary session.

Our morning session includes a conversation between NASCAR CEO Brian France and Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis. That’s taking place now. I will also have that posted later today as well.

Post Update: Here are Rick’s comments from this morning’s award presentation. Rick Tolman Award Remarks

2011 FEW Photo Album

Our coverage of the 2011 Fuel Ethanol Workshop is being made possible by the Renewable Fuels Association.

In an American corn ethanol fueled race at Iowa Speedway, Marco Andretti wins the 2011 Iowa Corn Indy 250. Here he is in Victory Lane with leaders of the Iowa Corn Growers.

Following Victory Lane Marco and his Dad, Michael Andretti, held the winners press conference. I asked him his thoughts on racing in front of 2,500 corn growers and using fuel they grew. I had just interviewed him two days ago at a local ethanol promotion. He says, “I think it’s great we can be green and still have performance. We’re thankful to have their support. I love this place. Iowa’s great.” Marco Andretti Ethanol Remark

You can listen to the full press conference here: Marco/Michael Andretti Press Conference

2011 Iowa Corn Indy 250 Photo Album

The fifth running of the Iowa Corn Indy 250 is underway and has been an exciting race so far. Here’s the green flag being waved by Iowa Corn Growers Association President Dean Taylor.

Once again this year Mindy Larson Poldberg, Director of Govt. Relations for the Iowa Corn Growers sang the National Anthem during the pre-race activities. I’ve recorded that for you and just updated my photo album. Hope you enjoy them. I’ll have the winner later this evening. National Anthem

2011 Iowa Corn Indy 250 Photo Album

Here’s what the hood of the Iowa Corn Indy 250 official pace car looks like. It’s proudly displaying the Pioneer logo as the presenting sponsor.

Todd says the relationship with the Iowa Corn Growers in sponsoring the Iowa Corn Indy 250 has been very beneficial. As he puts it, “It’s a great event for the state of Iowa. It’s great for agriculture.” All of the cars racing this evening will be running on 100% corn ethanol showing how well the fuel performs in an engine. Pioneer brings in a lot of their customers for the event. In fact, I’ve heard that there will be approximately 2,500 farmers at the race track today. I’ll be out on location this afternoon in advance of tonight’s race. Let’s hope the weather improves. Todd Frazier Interview

2011 Iowa Corn Indy 250 Photo Album

After practice runs for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 Indy Car driver Danica Patrick held a press conference.

I asked her for a comment on having Iowa corn growers supporting this race again and what she thinks about racing with ethanol. She said, “I think that we’re in definitely in an age where everybody is doing what they can to take care of this wonderful world we live in. Ethanol is definitely something that has been a real presence in IndyCar years ago to NASCAR now. It’s really great.” Danica Patrick Ethanol Remark

You can listen to the full press conference with Danica here: Danica Patrick Press Conference

2011 Iowa Corn Indy 250 Photo Album

The Iowa Corn Growers are going green this weekend at the Iowa Corn Indy 250. In fact, there will be lots of green shirts out here at Iowa Speedway. Here are some of the leadership team that was on hand this morning to talk with the media.

I spoke first with Iowa Corn Promotion Board Chair, Dick Gallagher. Dick is also a corn grower. He says that this weekend is special because it’s all about going green. That shows that this renewable fuel is a green fuel. To the naysayers he says, “Ethanol is renewable, good for the Iowa economy and more environmentally friendly.” Dick Gallagher Interview

Next up was Iowa Corn Growers CEO, Craig Floss. Craig agrees with me that the weather is perfect for racing and we hope it stays that way. He says he visited with Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti last night and he was reminded about how much the drivers like ethanol as a fuel for a variety of reasons. Craig Floss Interview

And I also spoke with incoming President for the Iowa Corn Growers Association, Kevin Ross. Kevin is from southwest Iowa and says he’s near the flooding area but hasn’t been affected. However, he notes how much that situation is affecting farm families right now and our prayers and thoughts go out to them. From his perspective as a grower the Iowa Corn Indy 250 “it’s been a huge event.” He’s just thrilled with the showcase to promote their product. Kevin Ross Interview

2011 Iowa Corn Indy 250 Photo Album

It’s time for the running of the fifth Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer Hi-Bred. One of our drivers will be Marco Andretti. Marco is seen here on a break from practice laps today out at Iowa Speedway. Yesterday he was signing autographs at the Urbandale Kum & Go. The Kum & Go chain has been a proponent of ethanol for a long time and was conducting a promotion with the Iowa Corn Growers.

I spoke with Marco and asked him about racing on ethanol fuel and his thoughts on the race which will be under the lights on Saturday evening for the first time. Marco Andretti Interview

Representing Kum & Go at the promotional event was the Chief Operating Officer, Dennis Folden, seen here with Marco. Dennis says they now have 74 stores serving E85!

During the two hour promotion at the store you could purchase E85 for just 85 cents and regular unleaded containing ten percent ethanol was lowered by 25 cents/gallon. There was no lack of cars pulling in to fill up. Dennis Folden Interview

Also on hand pumping ethanol into cars during the promotion was Vachel White, a corn grower who servers on the Industrial Uses Committee of the Iowa Corn Growers. He says people like “cheap” gasoline and ethanol is making that happen. As a corn grower he says this promotion means a lot to him. Vachel White Interview

I am collecting photos from all the activities going on here in Iowa. You can find them here: 2011 Iowa Corn Indy 250 Photo Album

The Iowa Speedway will experience a “green out” under the lights on Saturday night with the fifth running of the Iowa Corn Indy 250, presented by Pioneer and powered by 100 percent home grown ethanol.

Officials and fans will be wearing green apparel to the first Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented under the lights, with the green flag dropping at 8 p.m.

“Ethanol is a ‘green’ energy source and our race sponsors’ corporate colors are green,” explains Iowa Speedway Vice-President of Sales and Marketing Chuck Spicer. “So, we want fans to pack the stands in a field of green to celebrate the 5th annual Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer.”

The Iowa Corn Promotion Board (ICPB) and the Iowa Corn Grower’s Association have been partnering sponsors with Pioneer and the speedway since the inaugural race in 2007.

“We are excited to once again showcase the power and performance of 100% corn-ethanol with the Iowa Corn Indy 250,” said ICPB Chairman Dick Gallagher, a farmer from Washington, Iowa. “We think that it is important for consumers to know we have a renewable fuel source that is grown in Iowa and if 100% corn-based ethanol is good for Indy, than it’s good for consumers.”

Iowa corn growers are encouraging everyone to be a part of the “Corn Power” team by signing up and being entered to win $100 in ethanol blended fuel. You can also follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

Domestic Fuel will be covering the race once again, as well as the pre-race promotional activities sponsored by the Iowa corn growers.

In advance of a vote in the Senate on an amendment to eliminate the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) immediately, ethanol interests remain “cautiously optimistic” that the measure will fail.

Seven agriculture and ethanol organizations sent a letter to the Senate leadership urging a no vote on the amendment proposed last week by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK). In it the groups note that, “As evidenced by the ethanol tax reform legislation recently introduced by a bipartisan group of senators and supported by our nation’s ethanol producers, the ethanol industry understands the need for reforming the tax incentive to significantly reduce costs to a more responsible approach that protects the evolution of the industry.” Groups signing the letter include the American Coalition for Ethanol, Advanced Ethanol Council, American Farm Bureau Federation, Growth Energy, National Corn Growers Association, National Farmers Union, and the Renewable Fuels Association.

Other groups that have voiced opposition to the amendment include the Petroleum Marketers Association of America (PMAA), and the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America (SIGMA) which sent a letter to Sen. Coburn in opposition stating, “…an abrupt termination of VEETC before that date will injure many marketers who have contracts to purchase ethanol at prices that were premised upon the existence of VEETC through the year 2011. SIGMA assumes that such a consequence is not your intent and therefore urges you to forego any legislation which would end VEETC before the end of this year.”

A vote on the amendment is expected this afternoon.