Domestic Fuel

In comments submitted this week to the Environmental Protection Agency, the Iowa Biodiesel Board (IBB) said that the federal Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) has “breathed new life into Iowa’s struggling biodiesel industry.”

The comments were submitted by IBB executive director Randy Olson in regard to EPA’s notice of proposed rulemaking on the Regulation of Fuels and Fuel Additives: 2012 Renewable Fuel Standards.

Home to 15 plants with 315 million gallons of capacity annually, virtually all of our state’s plants shut down or operated at reduced capacity in 2010. Today most of those plants are operating again, many at or near their full potential. Other idled plants have been purchased and plan to begin production soon. The RFS2 has stimulated an investment in infrastructure, which is critical to the long-term success of biodiesel in our nation’s energy portfolio. In Iowa, Magellan Pipeline has announced plans to install equipment for biodiesel blending at its Des Moines terminal. Other Iowa terminals carrying biodiesel are in Mason City, Ottumwa and Fort Madison. The RFS2 serves as a stabilizing force that will make these investments pay off over the long term. Despite claims of RFS2 opponents, the needed infrastructure is falling into place.

Read the full text of the comments from IBB.

Ten new government-funded research projects were announced today to help accelerate bioenergy feedstock production.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack visited a waste-to-energy bioprocessing facility under construction in Florida today to announce that the Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Energy (DOE) have awarded 10 grants totaling $12.2 million to spur research into improving the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of growing biofuel and bioenergy crops. The grants are part of a broader effort by the Obama administration to develop domestic renewable energy and advanced biofuels, providing a more secure future for America’s energy needs and creating new opportunities for the American farming industry.

“USDA is helping our nation develop the next generation of biofuels to grow jobs and generate energy from new, homegrown sources,” said Vilsack. “Combining DOE’s leadership in genome-scale technologies with USDA’s experience in crop improvement will accelerate the efficient production of biofuels.”

The 10 projects are located in California, Colorado, Illinois, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Virginia.

Vilsack made the announcement at the INEOS New Planet BioEnergy facility in Vero Beach, Fla., which was granted a conditional USDA loan guarantee earlier this year to help build and operate a biorefinery capable of producing 8 million gallons per year of cellulosic ethanol and 6 megawatts of electricity.

Today’s USDA and DOE joint announcement will also benefit Florida by providing grant funding to the University of Florida in Gainesville to improve energy production from cane biomass. The project will produce a range of foundational genetic resources and genetic makers for energy cane breeders to efficiently develop energy cane cultivars with increased biomass production and reduced input requirement.

As the media heads to Iowa next week for the August 13 Straw Poll in Ames, they will have the opportunity to learn more about the importance of ethanol to the state and the nation.

Iowans Fueled with Pride is hosting a series of events during the week to provide the media with opportunities for first-hand interaction with leaders in Iowa’s agriculture and renewable fuels industries. As two of the most innovative sectors of the economy, renewable fuels and crop production have experienced great advances during the last four years. The “hands on” events will provide media with up-to-the-minute information on the efficiency, productivity and energy security benefits of renewable fuels.

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) are sponsoring the events, which will begin on Tuesday, August 9, with an Iowa farm family tour. On Wednesday, Dahl’s Foods in Des Moines will host a ride and drive event to allow the media to test drive the latest flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) and biodiesel vehicles. On Thursday, the Iowans Fueled with Pride Straw Poll site will be set up near the media parking lot at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, offering the chance to meet with Iowa’s ethanol and biodiesel industry leaders and a mobile education trailer.

The premier event of the week will be on Friday, starting with an ethanol plant and livestock farm tour, followed by a visit to Iowa State University’s BioCentury Research Farm, and culminating with a media availability by Iowa Governor Terry Branstad at the Iowans Fueled with Pride Straw Poll site. All day Saturday, visitors and media are invited to stop by the site to tour the mobile education trailer and learn the latest facts on the production and use of renewable fuels.

Find out more on the Iowans Fueled with Pride website.

Members of the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) are being urged to contact their congressional representatives during down time this month.

ACE Executive Vice President Brian Jennings says there are three key issues important to the ethanol industry that they are encouraging members to discuss with congressmen and senators during the August Recess. They include the offer by the ethanol industry “to sacrifice our tax credit for deficit reduction, next-generation biofuels, and incentives for small ethanol producers and infrastructure. Congress missed an opportunity to include this ethanol reform plan in the debt ceiling deal but should look for ways to advance this plan when they return to Washington, DC.”

In addition, Jennings says members should ask Congress to take a look at oil tax subsidies to reduce spending, and jobs legislation, with specific focus on clean energy jobs. “Provide your Members of Congress concrete examples of how ethanol has created jobs and benefited your community so they are armed with information they can use in trying to convince their colleagues in Congress to be more supportive of ethanol in the context of jobs legislation this fall,” said Jennings in a memo to members.

The deal to raise the U.S. debt ceiling and make spending cuts agreed upon by President Obama and congressional leaders includes no mention of the compromise to reform ethanol policy worked out last month in the Senate and ethanol industry leaders are disappointed.

“As this deal calls for a commission and a future budget framework, the possibility still exists for a more comprehensive dialogue about energy tax policy, including how to assure the continued evolution of the ethanol industry to new feedstocks and technologies, how to assure needed investments in vehicles and infrastructure to accommodate higher ethanol blends, and how to end the billions in subsidies and tax preferences still enjoyed by very mature and profitable petroleum fuels,” said Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen in a statement. “With the debt ceiling crisis looking as though it has been averted for now, we hope Congress and the Administration are now prepared to address the nation’s worsening energy crisis, as oil and gasoline prices continue to rise and the nation’s investment in home grown renewable fuels languishes.”

Brian Jennings, Executive Vice President of the American Coalition for Ethanol, calls it a missed opportunity. “By disregarding reform of the ethanol tax credit as part of this deal, consumers and the American biofuels industry have been shortchanged. It remains frustrating that some elected officials are continuing to protect billions in subsidies for the oil industry, while dismissing efforts to improve consumer choice at the pump.”

House of Representatives passed the compromise bill today by a vote of 269-161. The Senate is expected to pass the bill Tuesday and President Obama has said he will sign it.

An effort that would prevent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from implementing its approved waiver for E15 ethanol blends in America’s fuel supply is being led by Reps. John Sullivan (R-OK) and Gary Peters (D-MI).

Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis says they intend to fight against an amendment to the FY 2012 Department of the Interior and EPA funding bills that would block EPA from moving forward with the regulatory decision made in January approving E15 for all vehicles built in the last decade. “The Sullivan/Peters amendment picks politics over science,” Buis said in a statement. “Voting for this amendment is like voting to keep our nation addicted to foreign oil and all the economic and military consequences of that addiction.”

The amendment is expected to be printed in the record today and could come up for a vote later this week.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will keynote the Department of Energy 4th annual Biomass Conference on Tuesday.

This year’s conference, Biomass 2011, will focus on topics surrounding the use of biomass as a replacement for petroleum to supply the energy, products, and power markets. The Biomass 2011 theme will explore the new horizons of bioenergy technologies and deployment strategies, business practices, policies, and partnerships that will help sustainably transform the energy landscape.

Among those on the conference agenda is POET’s Project LIBERTY Director Jim Sturdevant who will outline the company’s vision for expanding the reach of its technology to other ethanol producers and new feedstocks. He will also show how the industry will spread to make every state an energy-producing state and what that will mean for America’s economy. Sturdevant will join Richard Wynne, Director of Environment and Aviation Policy for Boeing Company; Henry Bryndza, Director of Biochemical Science and Engineering for DuPont and Mark Maher, General Motors Executive Director for Powertrain and Vehicle Integration in a plenary session “Industry Perspectives on Bioenergy” on Wednesday morning.

Wind energy and biofuels are part of the campaign for Congress launched this week by former Iowa first lady Christie Vilsack.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do, from supporting biofuels and wind power, to bringing broadband internet to our rural communities,” Vilsack says in her campaign YouTube video. Her website, ChristieVilsackForIowa.com, features a rural wind farm in the mast head. “We have more wind turbines in this district than anyplace in the country outside of Texas,” Vilsack says under Christie’s Plan on the website. “Why can’t some of their 8,000 component parts be made right here in Northwest and North Central Iowa?”

Vilsack officially announced her bid to represent Iowa’s newly formed 4th district yesterday with her husband Tom, current U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and former Iowa governor, at her side.

The Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory is looking for the best biofuels crops to grow in the northeast Illinois Indian Creek Watershed.

During a recent field tour of the watershed sponsored by the Conservation Technology Information Center, Argonne agronomist Cristina Negri said they are looking at alternative crops that can efficiently use nitrogen to grow on marginal land in the area. According to Negri, the purpose of the Biomass Production and Nitrogen Recovery project is to “find a way to bring biofuels into the big conservation equation.”

Negri participated in the CTIC tour to learn more about the production practices being used by farmers in the watershed and also gave a presentation on the Argonne project: Cristina Negri Presentation

CTIC Indian Creek Watershed Project Field Tour Photos

A deal has been reached in the Senate that would eliminate the ethanol blenders tax credit but still provide incentives for infrastructure development.

U.S. Senators John Thune (R-S.D.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) announced the agreement “that allows for a transition to a more sustainable model of incentives for domestic renewable fuel production while reducing the nation’s deficit by $1.3 billion.” The agreement, based on Thune and Klobuchar’s bipartisan Ethanol Reform and Deficit Reduction Act, would end the existing 45 cent per gallon Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit at the end of this month, five months earlier than its current expiration date of December 31, 2011. According to the announcement from Sen. Thune’s office, “The bipartisan agreement would dedicate two-thirds of the savings from existing money—$1.3 billion—to debt reduction and the remaining $668 million in savings to renewable fuel incentives, helping provide consumers with lower gas prices.”

Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) Chairman Chuck Woodside, CEO of farmer-owned KAAPA Ethanol in Nebraska says the compromise is not perfect, but the industry is willing to do its part to help the budget deficit. “While it is clear this agreement does not encompass everything proposed by Senators Klobuchar and Thune in their bill (the Ethanol Tax Reform and Deficit Reduction Act), their tireless effort to find a path forward is a testament to their commitment to American ethanol production and is greatly appreciated by advocates of renewable fuels,” Woodside said in a statement from RFA.

Something the ethanol industry would like to still see addressed is limitations placed on the cellulosic biofuel incentives, which American Coalition for Ethanol Executive Vice President Brian Jennings says needs “to be fixed in order to meaningfully help spur the commercialization of these promising fuels.” The agreement includes a modification and extension of the existing $1.01 per gallon tax credit for cellulosic biofuels through 2015 that would otherwise expire on December 31, 2012. It would be changed from a yearly credit to a gallon-based, capped credit, according to Brooke Coleman, Executive Director of the Advanced Ethanol Council (AEC), something that “adds artificial and unnecessary layers of uncertainty and risk for the financing community.”

National Corn Growers Association President Bart Schott says the “compromise reflects both the importance of the ethanol industry to achieve energy independence and the need for fiscal responsibility” but they would still like to see a more level playing field for energy policy. “Unlike the oil and gas industries, ethanol has been proactively working to reform tax policy affecting the industry and secure a safety net while reducing the overall cost to the federal government,” said Schott.

Sens. Thune and Klobuchar say that the agreement is consistent with recent votes in the Senate that have sought to end the current Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit while still continuing to fund blender pumps. The compromise can now be considered by the full Senate.

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.

The government is paving the way for the nation’s first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant in Iowa.

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made the announcement today of a $105 million loan guarantee to support the development of Project LIBERTY, sponsored by POET and located in Emmetsburg, Iowa.

“This project will help decrease our dependence on oil, create jobs and aid our transition to clean, renewable energy that is produced here at home,” said Secretary Chu. “The innovations used in this project are another example of how we are seizing the opportunity to create new economic opportunities to win the clean energy future.”

“Projects like the one we are announcing today show that our investments in next generation biofuels are paying off,” said Secretary Vilsack. “Project LIBERTY will produce up to 25 million gallons of ethanol per year, create over 200 jobs, and generate millions of dollars in revenue for the local economy. This project is an important step in the Obama Administration’s effort to break our nation’s unsustainable dependence on foreign oil and move toward a clean energy economy.”

According to POET officials, the plant will ultimately produce up to 25 million gallons of ethanol per year, generate approximately 200 jobs during construction and 40 permanent jobs at the plant, and bring approximately $14 million in new revenue to area farmers.

Another step toward getting 15% ethanol blended fuel on the road was taken today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

EPA has released the final official government label for fuel pumps to dispense blends containing up to 15 percent ethanol, known as E15.

“The new orange and black label must appear on fuel pumps that dispense E15,” according to the EPA news release announcing the new labeling. “This label will help inform consumers about which vehicles can use E15. This label will also warn consumers against using E15 in vehicles older than model year 2001, motorcycles, watercraft, and gasoline-powered equipment such as lawnmowers and chainsaws.”

In response to a request by Growth Energy and 54 ethanol manufacturers under the Clean Air Act, the EPA granted two partial waivers that allow, but do not require, the use gasoline that contains up to 15 % ethanol for use in model year 2001 and newer light-duty motor vehicles. “This is another step in the process to get E15 into the marketplace later this year, which will create U.S. jobs, improve the environment and strengthen national security by displacing foreign oil,” said Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis of the new labeling regulation.

The final label is less threatening than the original proposal by EPA that was bright orange and said “CAUTION” in large red letters. The ethanol industry had provided comments to EPA regarding the label and suggesting that it be toned down.

Cellulosic ethanol targets were reduced while biodiesel was increased under the latest standards proposed by the federal government for the Renewable Fuel Standard program (RFS2).

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today proposed the 2012 percentage standards for four fuel categories under the RFS2 based on the annual renewable fuel volume targets. EPA once again lowered the target for cellulosic ethanol, which was set at 500 million gallons in 2012, to somewhere between 3.45 and 12.9 million gallons. The agency “remains optimistic that the commercial availability of cellulosic biofuel will continue to grow in the years ahead” and so does the Advanced Ethanol Council, provided there is stable policy to allow the industry to invest in technology to make it possible.

“The most immediate term solution to this problem is to enact meaningful and long-term tax incentives to spur construction of the first-commercial advanced biofuel plants, in much the same way that Congress has stood behind oil and gas production for nearly 100 years,” said AEC Executive Director Brooke Coleman. “The cellulosic and advanced ethanol industry will hit the mark and achieve the goals of the RFS if Congress aligns our tax code with the RFS and sends a clear message to the marketplace that advanced biofuels will be a cornerstone of a broader strategy to create jobs and reduce oil dependence.”

EPA is also proposing to increase the volume requirement for biomass-based diesel from 800 million gallons this year to 1 billion gallons in 2012 and almost 1.3 billion gallons in 2013. The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) notes that since biodiesel qualifies as an advanced biofuel it is also eligible to exceed the biomass-based diesel targets and help meet general advanced biofuels requirements under the program. “As America’s first advanced biofuel being produced on a commercial scale nationwide, we have done extensive research to assess the various feedstocks that are used to make biodiesel, including agricultural oils, recycled cooking oil, animal fats, algae and camelina,” said NBB CEO Joe Jobe said. “We are confident we can meet these targets and we anticipate that we will likely exceed them.”

The EPA proposes to maintain the 2012 advanced biofuel requirements under the RFS at 2 billion gallons as federal law requires. The mandate for convention renewable biofuel also remained consistent with the statute at 13.2 billion gallons.

Cars designed to run on electricity and 85 percent ethanol took top honors in a competition to engineer a more fuel efficient and environmentally-friendly vehicle.

A team from Virginia Tech University designed an extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) using 85 percent ethanol (E85) to win first place in the three-year EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge competition sponsored by the Department of Energy and General Motors. The competition challenged participating engineering students to re-engineer a GM-donated vehicle to minimize the vehicle’s fuel consumption and emissions, while maintaining its utility, safety and performance. The Virginia Tech team hit incremental goals throughout the challenge that helped the vehicle achieve the equivalent of nearly 82 miles per gallon, a 70 percent improvement in fuel efficiency over the stock vehicle.

Taking second place, also with an E85 EREV, was Ohio State University. The University of Waterloo took third place with a hydrogen fuel cell plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.

“With the experience and skills these innovative students have gained through the EcoCAR competition, they will help reduce our nation’s reliance on oil imports and keep U.S. industries competitive in the global marketplace,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu.

Florida-based Protec Fuel supplied the E85 for several of the teams that made it to the competition finals last week, including the first and second place winners. “We are proud that EcoCAR Challenge winners were running on E85 fuel. This next generation of promising engineers has shown that combining E85 with electric vehicles augments the domestic fuel’s already cleaner burning properties,” said Todd Garner, CEO of Protec Fuel. “This just goes to show E85’s value to development in future – and everyday – vehicle technologies and why E85 deserves to keep tax credits that traditional fuels have enjoyed.”