I am not a fan of writing the traditional January column—the “out with the old, in with the new” piece, the list of New Year’s resolutions, or any of the articles either predicting how the world will change or how we can make it change. It’s not because I find them tired or cliché as much as the likelihood of being provably wrong, in print. So, I predict the ethanol industry will concentrate on carbon reduction in 2024, and one of the most contentious topics will continue to be carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) pipelines.&nbsp;No topic has created as much controversy in the ethanol world as the CO2 pipeline saga that played out over the past year. The ethanol industry is no stranger to protest, but until now, has largely prevailed in the face of controversy because proposed projects met, and often exceeded, requirements of laws and regulations governing whatever was being built or operated. More importantly, when complaints were filed, elected and regulatory officials acknowledged protesters’ concerns, while defending the projects’ legal rights to move forward. Both Navigator CO2 and Summit Carbon Solutions expected to be granted permits for their proposed CO2 pipelines, since both projects met or exceeded safety requirements and would comply with applicable laws or even stricter proposed laws at the time the companies applied.But when Navigator cancelled its Heartland Greenway pipeline project, it cited the “unpredictable nature of the regulatory and government processes” as the reason. Elected and regulatory officials, in response to protests, delayed decisions, held lengthy hearings and, in some cases, enacted new regulations making it difficult or impossible to build the pipeline that was perfectly legal when the project was proposed. While court fights could restore pipeline builders’ legal rights to move forward, justice delayed is justice denied, and the longer the delay, the less likely projects can be completed in time to receive federal incentives—a key piece of the economics of building CCS pipelines to reduce carbon pollution and keep ethanol relevant in future fuels discussions.The public face of pipeline opposition has been farmers concerned about landowner rights, along with some carefully stoked fears about pipeline leaks. But after Navigator’s cancelation, the most visible grave-dancer and credit-taker was the Sierra Club, whose Iowa organizer announced, “The people united to resist Navigator at every level in every corner of every state, and we won.” The Sierra club has a long history of opposing energy infrastructure projects by employing any available argument and co-opting any sympathetic cause to stall or prevent construction, even when those arguments and causes don’t match theirs. If “landowner rights” has traction to slow CO2 projects, the Sierra Club hopes you’ll accept their support and ignore their strong opposition to “modern agriculture” and desire to control what farmers do with their land. They’re not holding “We support ethanol, not pipelines” signs, either. They oppose both. They know ethanol and CCS pipelines reduce carbon intensity, making ethanol competitive with electric cars, so they call both “false solutions” that extend petroleum use.The most damaging piece of anti-CCS pipeline rhetoric, however, may be the one casting projects as tax grabs creating extra profits for plants that will be just fine without them. In the real world, ethanol plants that can sequester or utilize CO2 without a pipeline will, and they’ll earn credits up to a buck per gallon or more. At three gallons of ethanol per bushel, do the math—how cheap would a plant without CCS have to buy corn to compete and stay in business? This issue doesn’t start and stop at the ethanol plants.Author: Ron Lamberty&nbsp; Chief Marketing Officer,&nbsp;&nbsp; American Coalition for Ethanol&nbsp; rlamberty@ethanol.org

2023-12-06 - Where Does This Pipeline Go? (Ethanol Producer Magazine)

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The U.S. ethanol industry will continue to focus on carbon reductions next year, and one of the most contentious topics will be the development of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) pipeline systems. 

Where Does This Pipeline Go?

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