Domestic Fuel

As Americans celebrate Independence Day this weekend, it is a good time to reflect on our need to increase our energy independence.

The good news is, we are becoming less dependent on foreign sources of oil for our transportation fuel needs. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), ethanol displaced almost 322 million barrels of oil in 2008. The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) notes that is the equivalent of eliminating oil imports from Venezuela for 10 months, or looked at another way, it would mean that the U.S. would not have to import ANY oil for 33 days. It also saved American consumers and taxpayers $32 billion, an average of more than $87 million a day.

Despite well-publicized cases of economic troubles in the ethanol industry, the production and use of ethanol continues to increase. The latest EIA figures show that American ethanol facilities produced 640,000 barrels per day in April 2009, up by 78,000 barrels from last year. Ethanol demand, as calculated by the RFA, continued to strengthen heading into the summer driving season, with demand at 673,000, up 29,000 from March.

Jay Hakes, author of “A Declaration of Energy Independence,” says American Energy Independence means energy security, energy abundance and energy self-sufficiency.

Energy Independence is a civilization changing idea, like freedom, one that should be thought of much like we think of our national independence—our liberty, which is both an ideal and a physical reality. Energy Independence can and should be pursued with the same patriotic spirit that fought for, won and sustains American democracy and freedom.

The phrase “Energy Independence” is a slogan embodying an idea that resonates with the character of America—it is a call for return to economic balance and protection from vulnerability created by over-dependence on petroleum to fuel our cars, trucks and airplanes—it is a public outcry voiced by citizens demanding government leadership in energy production, distribution, security and fuel choice.

God Bless America.

The Environmental Protection Agency today formally announced a 60 day extension of the comment period on the proposed rule revising the national Renewable Fuel Standard program, commonly referred to as RFS2. The original comment period was to end on July 27, 2009 and will now end on September 25, 2009.

“With the 60-day comment period extension, EPA seeks to provide the public adequate time to provide meaningful comment while finalizing and implementing the standards in a timely manner,” the agency stated in a release.

Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy, said he was not surprised by the action. “They only had a 60 day beginning comment period and this is between 1000 and 2000 pages of scientific and technical data,” said Buis in an interview this week. “You don’t want to get a bad rule because people didn’t have the time to thoroughly analyze it.”

Buis says he believes the agency will still have enough time to implement the RFS2 rule by the January 1 target date, “even if they have to do what they did when they implemented the original RFS, which was announce the volumetric level for each of the fuels and then fill in the details later.”

More information and instructions on submitting comments on the rule, which was mandated by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, can be found here on the EPA website.

A YouTube video of EPA official Margo Oge testifying before a House panel in May reveals her providing radically incorrect information about the amount of corn and soybeans it takes to make biofuels.

The blunder occurred when Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL) asked Ms. Oge, who is responsible for regulating all emissions within the United States, about the indirect land use issue. “It’s my understanding that the EPA’s Renewable Fuels Standard 2 methodology assumes that for every acre of soybean crop that is used to produce biofuel, an equal acre of ground is used in the Brazilian rainforest to replace that acreage, is that correct?” asked Schock.

“Obviously we know that it takes about 64 acres for a gallon of soy biodiesel,” she begins, and then corrects herself, even more incorrectly. “It’s actually the opposite. It takes 64 acres for corn ethanol and over 400 acres for a gallon of biodiesel.”

Actually, one acre of soybeans makes 64 gallons of biodiesel and one acre of corn makes over 400 gallons of ethanol. This may have been just a simple mistake - or maybe she really doesn’t know - but it is now possible that members of the U.S. House Small Business Committee believe that it takes a huge amount of corn and soybeans to produce biofuels because that is what she told them.

The YouTube video with commentary was posted anonymously by an account called “FreedomIs1st” and no one in the biofuels industry has taken credit for it - but it is very good and should be shared. In fact, it might be good for people in the industry to write to their congressional representatives, especially if they are on the House Small Business committee, to make sure they have the facts.

Will corn crop meet demand of both food and fuel? Even before the USDA planted acreage report was released this week, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) had the answer to that question posted on YouTube.

In one of three recent videos posted by the ethanol organization, RFA Vice President of Research Geoff Cooper says the 2009 corn crop is going to be another huge crop. “Probably the second or third largest crop in history,” Cooper says. “Which will be more than sufficient to meet very strong demand for livestock feed, for exports and what will likely be record demand for ethanol production. All of those demands will be met and there will still be a healthy surplus of corn left.”

In another video, Cooper answers the question, what is international indirect land use and why is it controversial? The video is only two minutes long, which is hardly enough time to even begin to explain the controversial theory, much less refute it - but it does get the main point across. RFA also has another short video with Cooper explaining why ethanol is not to blame for higher food prices.

The combination of more corn planted this year than expected and more corn stocks could mean a better chance of the ethanol blend rate being increased.

According to Terry Francl, senior economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation, “For the 2009/2010, the greater availability of corn supplies makes it more likely that the EPA will increase the ethanol blend rate from the current 10 percent to 12 percent or 13 percent, effective Jan. 1, 2010,” Francl said. “That will in turn utilize some 400 to 500 million more bushels of corn in the 2009/2010 crop year and reduce corn ending stocks by 300 to 400 million bushels. It is also important to remember that about one-third of the corn that is utilized as ethanol comes back as distillers dried grain, which replaces corn and some protein meal.”

USDA’s planted acreage report out this week estimated the second largest corn crop since 1946 at 87.0 million acres, and corn stocks were pegged at 4.27 billion bushels as of June 1, up 6 percent from June 1 of last year.

The Obama administration embarked on a National Rural Tour this week that will include discussions about green jobs, a new energy economy, climate change and renewable energies.

During an interview for the National Association of Farm Broadcasting with Michelle Rook of WNAX, Yankton, SD, Obama was asked about the role renewable fuels will play in the future for rural America. “Obviously, I come from a farm state - Illinois - and ethanol has been a big boon for a lot of rural communities,” the president said. “But we also are recognizing the key for us is to move into the next generation of biofuels, how can we use wood chips and refuse and switchgrass and how can we improve the efficiency of first generation biofuels. Farmers are going to be critical to that entire process.”

“We want to be able to compete with countries like Brazil that now are running basically their entire automobile fleet on biofuels,” he continued. “If Brazil can do it, there’s no reason why America can’t do it.”

Obama also commented on the climate change bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last week, saying that the legislation provides “a whole host of opportunities for rural communities to profit even as they are helping to achieve America’s energy independence.”

The first stop on the administration’s rural road trip was in Wattsburg, Pennsylvania on Wednesday where the topic was rural broadband service. Future dates where energy will be the focus include July 18 in Ringgold, Virginia; August 12 in Bethel, Arkansas; and August 16 in Zanesville, Ohio.

Listen to Obama’s ethanol and climate bill comments here:

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Growth Energy is building a team from the grassroots to speak up for the ethanol industry.

CEO Tom Buis says they created the eTeam to be “an army of thousands of ethanol consumers and supporters who are willing to take action to spread the message that ethanol is a clean, green renewable fuel available today.”

Buis says they already have 1200 eTeam members signed up who are armed with factual ethanol information to comment on blog posts, write letters to the editor, speak to local organizations, participate in community events, and contact their state and national lawmakers about policy issues.

“I’ve found that there are so many advocates out there that if they would get energized and participate, we would be winning all these debates in the media and in the halls of Congress and in the statehouses,” said Buis. “Now’s the time we have to stand up in a proactive manner and go out and tell that good story. Tell people that we’re a low carbon fuel, we emit less greenhouse gases than gasoline, tell them we create jobs and we are helping our nation address a problem that has existed for the past 35 years, that literally our economy and our nation are held over a barrel - an oil barrel.”

Growth Energy is reaching out to people in rural communities where ethanol has created jobs, to farmers, and to consumers who believe in the benefits of ethanol for the economy, the environment and energy security. Buis urges people to sign up for the eTeam by going to GrowthEnergy.org and clicking on the Get Involved button.

Sign up for the eTeam here.

Listen to or download an interview with Tom Buis about the eTeam here:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Wisconsin Bio Industry Alliance (WBIA) hosted a media event today to discuss the importance of increasing the number of blender pumps in Wisconsin. Working in partnership with representatives from the Renewable Fuels Association, the American Coalition for Ethanol, Growth Energy, the Wisconsin Corn Growers Association and the American Lung Association, Wisconsin’s bio fuel producers are drawing attention to the benefits of increased ethanol use in Wisconsin.

While there are more than 100 locations across the state where consumers can purchase gasoline blended with up to 85 percent ethanol, there are fewer than 30 locations across Wisconsin where consumers have the choice to purchase fuel blended with different levels of ethanol. Blender pumps allow consumers to determine what percentage of gasoline and ethanol they would like to purchase for their vehicle. When visiting the fueling station, consumers are able to select a variety of fuels, including E10, E20, or E85.

“Consumers should be given a choice. Whether you want a gasoline blended with 10 percent ethanol for your boat or small engine, or you chose to purchase ethanol blended with 20 percent or 85 percent ethanol for your flex fuel vehicle, blender pumps give you those options,” said Joshua Morby, Executive Director of the WBIA. “We’re working closely with our partners nationally to increase the number of blender pumps not only in Wisconsin but throughout the United States.”

The newest member of the U.S. Senate says he is pro-ethanol. In an interview with MinnPost.com today, Senator-elect Al Franken (D-MN) expressed his support for ethanol.

“What we’re talking about here is the science of how ethanol affects our carbon footprint,” Franken said. “The science to me tells me it helps. I’ve looked at this a lot, and it seems to me that ethanol already helps our carbon footprint and it’s only getting more efficient in the way it’s produced. Corn ethanol is a step on the way to cellulosic ethanol, which is also going to benefit Minnesota. I’m in the pro-ethanol camp.”

Franken’s campaign website gives his views on renewable energy and the need for America to reduce its dependence on foreign oil.

I think we need a new “Apollo project” – this time to fundamentally change our energy policy and end our reliance on foreign oil.

This “Apollo project” should provide financial support for research into new forms of renewable energy and development of currently-identified sources to make them more efficient. Of course I’m talking about corn ethanol. But I’m also talking about cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels. I’m talking about solar power. And, especially here in Minnesota, I’m talking about wind power. We live in a windy state!

The Environmental Protection Agency plans to extend the public comment period for the proposed rule on the Renewable Fuel Standard for an additional 60 days until September 25, 2009. A public notice dated Tuesday was posted on scribd.com and may be published in the Federal Register this week. However, no notice has yet been posted on the EPA website and the agency has not sent out a news release about the action.

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) expressed concerns about the extension during his weekly telephone press conference with agricultural reporters. “There’s no doubt that the issue that EPA is dealing with is very complex, so I suppose we ought to have some appreciation for the extra time they’re taking,” Grassley said. “However, the delays threaten the viability of the biodiesel industry which needs the rule to set the level that must be used in 2010 for the RFS. It’s important that the rule gets finished to provide market certainty because biodiesel is not very good shape.”

The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) also expressed concern about the extension, which will mean a delay in implementation of the rule. In a statement, NBB officials said, “It is important to note that RFS-2 was supposed to be in place at the beginning of this year, and extension of the comment period could further delay the implementation of the program, This will provide additional hardship to the U.S. biodiesel industry.”

The ethanol industry has not yet released any official comment on the notice of extension.