EPA approves efficient producer pathway for Indiana plant The U.S. EPA has approved an efficient producer pathway under the Renewable Fuel Standard for Poet Biorefining &ndash; Shelbyville, an 80 MMgy corn ethanol plant awaiting commissioning in Shelbyville, Indiana. Ethanol plants that have approved efficient producer pathways are able to generate RINs for production volumes above those grandfathered under current RFS regulations if they are able to meet a 20 percent greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction threshold when compared to the program&rsquo;s gasoline baseline.
In its pathway approval document, the EPA said ethanol produced at the Shelbyville plant will achieve a 25.8 percent reduction in GHG emissions when compared to baseline gasoline. The facility was expected to start up this spring but was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and industry downturn. It&rsquo;s expected to start up when market conditions improve.
4 more ethanol plants join Harvestone marketing group Harvestone Group has announced that four more ethanol plants have joined its marketing, logistics and trading platform. The newly added facilities are owned by Glacial Lakes Energy of South Dakota and represent over 360 million gallons of annualized production capacity. This adds a meaningful increase to Harvestone&rsquo;s marketing volume and broadens its strategic footprint, now over 850 million gallons of ethanol production in only its second year of commercial operations. All four of the plants transitioned to Harvestone&rsquo;s platform July 1.
&ldquo;Harvestone&rsquo;s team and shareholders are excited for the volumes to begin flowing through the platform,&rdquo; said Kevin Stewart, director of marketing and trade for Harvestone. &ldquo;These gallons are accretive to our existing domestic and export footprint &hellip; and these strategic facilities give us an opening to the rest of the global markets.&rdquo; Zimmerman joins USGC as director of industry relations Ellen Zimmerman joined the U.S. Grains Council in July as director of industry relations. In this role, Zimmerman will direct the USGC&rsquo;s industry relations team and provide direction to, and management of, the organization&rsquo;s engagement with domestic industry, agribusiness, checkoff and other members in support of the council&rsquo;s global market development program.
&ldquo;Ellen brings with her a solid connection with and great knowledge of the checkoff system so important to the council's daily work,&rdquo; said Ryan LeGrand, USGC president and chief executive officer. &ldquo;She comes to us with an abundance of positivity and creativity and will quickly incorporate her skills into what is already a very solid and trusted team at the council.&rdquo;
Before joining the USGC, Zimmerman worked for the American Seed Trade Association as the director of internal communication and membership engagement.
RFA&rsquo;s Ed Hubbard appointed to key USDA trade advisory committee Renewable Fuels Association General Counsel Ed Hubbard has been appointed to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service&rsquo;s Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee for trade in grains, feed, oilseeds and planting seeds. Hubbard is the only appointee to any of the USDA-FAS advisory committees who represents renewable fuels.
The ATAC advises the U.S. secretary of agriculture and the U.S. trade representative on matters related to grains, feed, oilseeds and planting seeds.
&ldquo;RFA is proud to congratulate Ed on his appointment to this highly respected committee,&rdquo; said RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. &ldquo;Ed brings a wealth of knowledge and experience on global trade issues to the committee, along with excellent collaboration and problem-solving skills. We know Ed will make many valuable contributions to the committee, and he will certainly represent RFA&rsquo;s members and the entire renewable fuels industry well.&rdquo;

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Industry news and business briefs from the August issue of Ethanol Producer Magazine. 

Business Briefs

Making the decision to purchase and implement a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) in an ethanol plant can be a challenge. Many things should be considered, including the needs of the company, but also the plant&rsquo;s financials.
A few myths will likely pop up during research. Here are a handful, followed by some clarification and correction:
Myth: A CMMS costs too much. Upon doing initial research, it&rsquo;s common for maintenance professionals to see the cost of a CMMS as an unnecessary expenditure that is not in the budget.
Truth: Many times, a CMMS actually saves ethanol plants money. While there is, of course, a cost associated with having a CMMS, many companies (such as Mapcon Technologies Inc.) allow users to purchase add-ons as needed instead of buying huge systems, keeping the cost down.
In addition, the features included within a CMMS can save plants money. For example, preventive maintenance scheduling enables users to see issues and make repairs before a machine breaks, thus decreasing costly downtime. This feature also helps prevent emergency repairs, which can be costly.
Myth: A CMMS is difficult to set up, especially for someone who has never done it before. Many believe it is not worth the time upfront.
Truth: Many CMMS companies offer extensive training options to help with the initial setup process. Some even offer complete courses. If needed, many can also send employees on-site to assist. In addition, online training webinars and video tutorials often are offered, allowing users to learn about their new system from the comfort of their own office. Check for a free trial of the software. It can help users become familiar with it before purchasing, making the transition even easier. Systems can also be set up using the Cloud, which makes things even easier.
Myth: Spreadsheets work just as well as a CMMS.
Truth: Spreadsheets have many faults when it comes to maintenance planning and control. First, valuable historical data is either not kept at all, or easily overwritten. In a spreadsheet, it is incredibly easy to inadvertently overwrite data. Simply click in the wrong box and begin typing, and information is gone. A CMMS, however, automatically keeps historical data, such as repair and cost history. This can be useful when making important business intelligence decisions, such as whether to repair or replace a piece of equipment. One can simply look at its repair history and do a cost comparison to determine the best course of action.
Also, spreadsheets generally do not disclose who made changes to them. This can make it difficult to determine who did a certain repair on an asset if a question comes up. CMMS software automatically tracks and displays who has made changes to a record.
The addition of a mobile application is another huge advantage of a CMMS over a spreadsheet. Spreadsheets can be difficult to use and read on phones and tablets. A mobile CMMS eliminates this issue.
Myth: Paperwork orders are good enough. Writing down the repairs that are needed and handing it to a technician works well, so a CMMS is not needed.
Truth: Paperwork orders have many faults. First, a piece of paper can be easily lost or destroyed. Inadvertently losing or destroying a work order could lead to important repairs or preventive maintenance tasks not being completed. Paper forms also make tracking historical data more cumbersome, whereas a CMMS keeps that information all in one easy-to-locate place.
Myth: A CMMS is only for preventive maintenance, nothing else. Therefore, it is not worth the cost.
Truth: While preventive maintenance is definitely a primary feature, a robust CMMS will offer a number of features that can be beneficial to the plant&rsquo;s operations. Purchasing, for example, may be added to the system. Purchasing allows users to create purchase requests for spare parts or tools, right from the maintenance software. Automatic reorder can also be set up, which ensures critical spares are always on hand when needed.&nbsp;
Myth: It is time-consuming to use. It&rsquo;s quicker to just do things manually.
Truth: While a CMMS may seem time-consuming during setup and implementation, it&rsquo;s actually usually more time-consuming to not use a CMMS. First and foremost, a CMMS provides a one-stop-shop for everything maintenance-related, from preventive maintenance tasks to important historical data. Workers save time by going directly to their software system to locate this information, rather than going through spreadsheets and paper files.
In addition, checklists within a CMMS can save time. For example, a checklist can be added to a preventive maintenance task, detailing the steps and questions right on the work order and ensuring all necessary items are completed at that stop. Adding a mobile application saves even more time because the checklists can be brought up easily while workers are on the plant floor, near the equipment being serviced.
Myth: Only large plants need a CMMS. Small- or medium-sized plants can track things more easily, so the software is not beneficial.
Truth: Any size plant can benefit from the main features of a CMMS&mdash;work orders, preventive maintenance, inventory tracking, and maintenance planning. Many CMMS companies offer add-on modules so the system can be adjusted to fit the individual plant.
When considering whether to purchase a CMMS, it is important to differentiate fact from fiction. When the truth has been identified, the search for maintenance management software can begin. Author: Heather Wilkerson Marketing Coordinator Mapcon Technologies Inc. 800.922.4336 ext. 115 heather@mapcon.com

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MAPCON MAINTENANCE: Big River Resources in Boyceville, Wisconsin, has used Mapcon Technologies Inc. computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) since 2006. 

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Mapcon debunks the many myths surrounding computerized maintenance management systems. When considering whether to purchase a CMMS, it is important to differentiate fact from fiction. When the truth has been identified, the software search can begin.

Cutting Through the CMMS Clutter

An improved understanding of biogenic emissions from agricultural crops could change the economics of biobased product manufacturing and biofuel production. A major advocacy group, private industry players, and congressional members from both sides of the aisle are all pushing the U.S. EPA for updates to the classification of the de minimis character of annual emissions from corn, soybeans and other crops. The entire bioeconomy, they all believe, stands to benefit if EPA reclassifies the qualities of biogenic emissions so the quantifiable value of ag production for energy, bioproducts, feed and food includes both what goes into feedstock production and harvest, and what comes out. Victim of Inertia&nbsp;&nbsp; According to the Biogenic CO2 Coalition, federal regulation currently ignores the life-cycle carbon benefits from crop-based feedstocks and instead treats carbon dioxide emissions from fermentation, agricultural processing, wastewater treatment and biomass combustion the same as fossil fuels. &ldquo;This puts America&rsquo;s farmers and rural economies at a severe disadvantage,&rdquo; says John Bode, president and CEO of the Corn Refiners Association, an affiliate organization helping to lead the Biogenic CO2 Coalition.
Thomas Parks, senior communications manager for CRA and a spokesperson for the Biogenic CO2 Coalition, says no other country in the world regulates its ag-based emissions as if they are the same as fossil-based emissions.
The federal regulations administered through the EPA regarding biogenic emissions are not popular with the current administration, Bode says. And the Obama administration also did not believe regulations that placed ag-based emissions on the same level as fossil-based emissions were appropriate. Still, nothing changed.
Robin Bowen, vice president of external affairs for the Biogenic CO2 Coalition, says bureaucratic inertia is to blame for the government&rsquo;s inaction on the issue. &ldquo;There is no scientific or political reason for EPA&rsquo;s current policy,&rdquo; Bowen says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s nothing more than an oversight that has taken far too long to address, and we have an opportunity to get action on it now.&rdquo;
Bowen, along with coalition members and a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers, is working for change this year. In early June, the coalition wrote a letter to EPA, calling for the agency to allow public comment on the regulations of biogenic emissions for annual agricultural crops. Last year, five governors and six senators also wrote letters or publicly called on EPA to address the same biogenic emissions regulations. Soon, EPA is expected to change its stance on the emissions specifically from woody biomass, differentiating them from fossil-based emissions, a move that Bode says is welcome but not enough for the ag sector.
Senator Mike Braun, R-Ind., along with Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.; Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., introduced the Growing Climate Solutions Act in early June to make sure EPA doesn&rsquo;t forget about the ag sector. The bill aims to break down barriers for farmers and foresters interested in participating in carbon markets so they can be rewarded for climate-smart practices.
Bowen says the Growing Climate Solutions Act is an important step toward recognizing agriculture as a critical tool in the fight against climate change. That is part of the main focus of Bowen and her team: Help illuminate the potential for agriculture as a tool and resource in the fight against climate change. &ldquo;This bill seeks to reward the continuous efforts of farmers to improve the sustainability and greenhouse gas sequestration abilities of their operations. CRA stands firmly in support of this critical step toward removing the serious technical and logistical barriers preventing American farmers from participating fully in market-based solutions to climate change.&rdquo;
The results from multiple scientific studies shows why so many groups are working in unison with members of Congress to change the way biogenic emissions are viewed and regulated. &ldquo;Multiple scientific studies have stated that biogenic carbon emissions from facilities that process agricultural feedstocks do not contribute to long-term increases in atmospheric greenhouse gases,&rdquo; says Eamon Monahan, senior director of environmental affairs and workplace safety for CRA. Whereas fossil fuels pull carbon deep in the ground that is millions of years old and releases it into the atmosphere, agricultural crops absorb carbon during the growing process, and release it back into the atmosphere six to 12 months later as part of a relatively rapid natural cycle, Monahan adds. &ldquo;Everybody gets it,&rdquo; Bode says bluntly, &ldquo;now we just need to get that recognized.&rdquo; &nbsp; Immediate Impact American agriculture has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. &ldquo;With crop prices and farm incomes in freefall, EPA has a critical opportunity to act swiftly to unleash more than a billion dollars in new investments and return the focus to job growth in the American heartland,&rdquo; Bowen says. It would also enable U.S. businesses to compete in the international marketplace for renewable products, he adds.
America&rsquo;s bioeconomy currently contributes $459 billion in economic activity, provides 4.6 million American jobs and is the leading source of domestic renewable energy in the U.S., Bowen points out. &ldquo;Yet, we are falling behind in the international marketplace for renewable products and materials.&rdquo; The value of the bioeconomy in the EU, by comparison, is $671 billion and it employs 18 million people.
Bode says ethanol can be a significant feedstock for advanced bioproducts. &ldquo;So, correcting EPA&rsquo;s biogenic CO2 policy, which only is concerned with stationary sources and has no bearing on the RFS,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;could provide flexibility for ethanol producers to better serve emerging markets.&rdquo;
The regulatory burden currently associated with biogenic emissions in the U.S. can be tough on corn wet mills and other corn-based processing facilities, Bode says. In some cases, the regulations can deter expansion or new project buildouts by one to two years. &ldquo;That can be a major burden.
Elimination of that regulatory obstacle would improve investment in the bioeconomy here,&rdquo; he says. The elimination of the regulation would help investment move faster as the emissions from an annual biogenic crop source wouldn&rsquo;t have to be monitored or accounted for in the same costly way as fossil-based emissions.
Bowen and Bode agree that there is also a larger benefit to changing the way the U.S. regulates, and views, biogenic emissions from annual agriculture crops. For the last four years, the CRA and some of its members from the Biogenic CO2 Coalition have attended global summits on climate change.
According to Bode, the goal is to understand how the global community, along with the biobased industry, views agriculture as a positive force in the fight against climate change&mdash;as opposed to a hurdle. Bowen believes the U.S. agriculture industry is gaining more recognition for the role it plays in addressing climate change, but Bode says there is more to be done.
Advancing the environmental profile and usefulness of ag-based products is important, Bode says. Creating a better image of corn is important. &ldquo;The consumer is becoming increasingly distant from agribusiness,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;There is significant value on a larger scale in changing the way we view or regulate biogenic emissions from ag products.&rdquo; Smart Incentives One of the main elements of the Growing Climate Solutions Act was its focus on rewarding climate-smart practices. The bill is trying to create a USDA certification program to help solve issues for farmers and ranchers trying to participate in carbon credit markets. That program, the Greenhouse Gas Technical Assistance Provider and Third-Party Verifier Certification Program, would enable the USDA to provide transparency, legitimacy and information endorsement of third-party verifiers and technical service providers that help private landowners generate carbon credits through a variety of agriculture- and forestry-related practices. The USDA certification program would aim to ensure that these assistance providers have agriculture and forestry experience. The agency would also administer a new website that would serve as a one-stop shop of information and resources for producers and foresters who are interested in participating in carbon markets.
Jason Weller, vice president of Truterra LLC, spoke to the senators during the Growing Climate Solutions Act hearing. Weller said the legislation would help biofuels producers in the same way it would help biobased product producers. Those in the energy supply chain need to have the necessary data to demonstrate GHG savings in order to generate credits under those programs. With a system in place that established the value of carbon credits&mdash;and the practices needed to create them&mdash;farmers or biofuel producers could move to adopt a new suite of technologies, conservation practices or new machinery needed to create GHG reductions that meet marketplace objectives.
Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation (the AFBF is also a member of the Biogenic CO2 Coalition), also told senators that it is vital for the greater ag industry to have greenhouse gas emissions modeling that can be trusted and depended on.
The USDA has also created its own unique GHG modeling and tracking system that will help American farmers participate in a market that values its biogenic emissions. Developed in part by Colorado State University, the COMET Farm system is a whole farm and ranch carbon and greenhouse gas accounting platform. The system includes a tool that helps users describe their property management practices while also allowing for future management change scenarios. A report can be generated showing the carbon and GHG emissions profile and potential from current or future scenarios. This past November, the team behind COMET updated its system. The platform&rsquo;s newest version (2.3) has an enhanced method for calculating a farm&rsquo;s soil N2O level. The system also has new and improved modules that track and calculate synthetic fertilizer, organic fertilizer and the impacts of manure. The only information needed to use the COMET system is related to field or livestock management practices. The field module will ask for crop practices starting from roughly the year 2000, including cropping sequence, approximate planting and harvest dates, tillage systems, fertilizer application information, irrigation methods and residue managements.
An additional energy module is available that applies to the use of renewable energy at a facility or farm. According to the USDA, the system uses information on management practices together with spatially explicit information on climate and soil conditions from USDA databases&mdash;provided automatically in the tool&mdash;to run a series of models for each potential source of greenhouse gas emissions.
Regardless of the biogenic emission tracker or data organization system used, Bode and his team believe the focus should remain on two areas: understanding and accuracy. With the support of the current administration (along with the previous administration), congressional leaders and multiple ag-sector leaders, the Biogenic CO2 Coalition will continue to seek changes to how biogenic emissions are regulated. Annual crop production efforts, and the emissions generated, should not be regulated the same as the fossil fuel industry. The science proves it, Bode says. And, as the efforts to push the EPA to change its stance on biogenic emissions continue pushing upstream against&nbsp; the bureaucratic inertial Bowen points to, there's a notable overall theme. The ag sector and the biofuel production sector should be seen as a positive asset in the climate change conundrum, he says. This year, the CRA adopted a set of climate change policy principles to guide the industry&rsquo;s advocacy to ensure a more sustainable future for corn refining, agriculture and consumers. &ldquo;The principles include undertaking initiatives to reduce the overall carbon footprint of corn refining products and processes, an embrace of GHG reduction goals that are both achievable and science-based and recognizing agricultural feedstocks in industrial processes as a key element in advancing GHG reductions,&rdquo; he says.
Moving ahead, Bode says, he hopes consumers embrace, rather than discredit,&nbsp; the full value of ag in food, feed, fuel and other biobased products. Author: Luke Geiver Associate Editor, Ethanol Producer Magazine 701.738.4944 lgeiver@bbiinternational.com

THE BIG VIEW: Changing the way the U.S. regulates biogenic emissions from agricultural crops will help define the importance of ag-based production in climate change mitigation. 

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REPETITIVE PROCESS: The creation of worthy, trusted and verifiable data collection and processing systems for farm and ranch GHG emissions is crucial. Several systems already exist.  

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The push to alter biogenic emissions regulations could boost corn farming and ethanol production while cementing the role of biobased solutions in the fight against climate change. Political inertia, however, remains the primary barrier to change. 

Biogenic Emissions: Credit Where It's Due

Doug Durante, executive director of the Clean Fuels Development Coalition, says he was taken aback during a recent congressional hearing on the Renewable Fuels Standard, as a freshman legislator questioned the need for biofuels.&nbsp; He says a congresswoman &ldquo;raised her hand and said, &lsquo;Excuse me, why are we having this conversation about renewable biofuels? I thought we were all going to electric?&rsquo; It&rsquo;s such a na&iuml;ve and ill-informed way to look at it, and we said, &lsquo;OK. Let&rsquo;s step back here a little bit and really dig into this,&rsquo;&rdquo; Durante says.
That digging resulted in an issue brief released earlier this year titled, &ldquo;Reality EV: Why Everyone Needs to Take Another Look at Biofuels.&rdquo; The brief&rsquo;s lead author, Burl Haigwood, argues that electric vehicles (EVs) are far from being an immediate solution to the climate and public health crisis. Haigwood, who is a member of the CFDC advisory board, says further development of biofuels depends on showing that EVs can&rsquo;t combat climate change in the near-term. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re never going to get the political support that we need as long as they keep holding on to this notion that somewhere, not even in the next 20 years, EVs are going to make a dent in all of the goals we want to accomplish,&rdquo; Haigwood says. &ldquo;What we need to do is get rid of the EV silver bullet. It doesn&rsquo;t exist. It&rsquo;s a fallacy.&rdquo;
Indeed, research by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which CFDC&rsquo;s brief references, indicates that EVs attaining a 50 percent market share of light-duty vehicles in the U.S. by 2050 would be a result of &ldquo;aggressive climate policy.&rdquo; And even if that were to happen, the research says global oil consumption will be higher in 2050 than it was in 2015.
Research by BloombergNEF also shows electrification of the U.S. light duty fleet is a long-term proposition. According to its Electric Vehicle Outlook 2020 Executive Summary, EVs will account for 60 percent of new vehicle sales in the U.S. in 2040. Despite those numbers, the report says, &ldquo;In 2040, there are still more kilometers driven globally by internal combustion passenger vehicles than EVs.&rdquo; The research also says that by 2040, EVs will make up 31 percent of the global passenger vehicle fleet, with some regions&mdash;like parts of Europe and China&mdash;over 50 percent. Debunking the EV &lsquo;Silver Bullet&rsquo; Durante says California can be used as a current case study. He says the state sells approximately 2 to 3 million cars per year. The state&rsquo;s goal is to have EVs account for 40 percent of the light duty fleet by 2030. &ldquo;So, each year, even if you add 300,000, 200,000, 400,000, you&rsquo;re still putting out 1.5 million conventional vehicles,&rdquo; Durante says. &ldquo;If you really are serious about reducing carbon and reducing petroleum consumption, then you ought to focus on the internal combustion engine. That&rsquo;s where ethanol can shine.&rdquo;
Geoff Cooper, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, believes the ethanol industry recognizes that widespread adoption of EVs is several years&mdash;if not decades&mdash;away. But agrees there are others outside the industry who see EVs as a near-term solution to climate issues. &ldquo;I think there are those that hold the opinion that we can transition the fleet to electric vehicles overnight and that that&rsquo;s going to be a silver bullet for our climate issues, and we just don&rsquo;t see the transition unfolding that way,&rdquo; Cooper says.
While such a changeover to EVs won&rsquo;t be immediate, Cooper says they do have a role to play. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not trying to go against EVs or necessarily compete with EVs,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We think electric vehicles and internal combustion engines that are using liquid fuels will both have a role and should coexist moving forward.&rdquo; He adds that ethanol &ldquo;just wants a fair shake and we want consumers to also have the choice to choose higher ethanol blends, whether that&rsquo;s E30 high-octane, low-carbon fuel, or whether that&rsquo;s E85 in a flex-fuel vehicle.&rdquo;
Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor agrees that EVs can and should coexist with ethanol to fight climate issues. &ldquo;There is no one-size-fits-all path toward decarbonization, which is why renewable biofuels remain vital to any effective transition away from fossil fuels,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;Biofuels and EVs both play a role in reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, and if we are to attain meaningful climate goals, then we need to be open to both. Even with more electric vehicles, the vast majority of cars on the road will continue to be powered by liquid fuels for years to come.&rdquo;
The &rsquo;Hidden&rsquo; Costs In addition to market penetration of EVs, there are other factors to consider, including the environmental cost of producing batteries and generating electricity to charge them, the availability of charging stations for those who don&rsquo;t live in single-family homes, and the fact that EV infrastructure build-out will likely require federal and state subsidies, according CFDC&rsquo;s brief. Not all EV owners can charge their vehicles at home, the brief says, because 30% of the U.S. population doesn&rsquo;t live in a single-family house.
They&rsquo;re also expensive. CFDC cites research that 66% of EV owners make more than $100,00 per year. &ldquo;Of the 163.5 million employed workers in the U.S., just 14.8 million individuals earn more than $100,000, or 9 percent. Therefore, about 5.4 million people would be potential purchasers of an EV. Compare that number to the 267 million registered vehicles on the road.&rdquo;
In addition, Durante says the subsidies necessary for wider EV adoption may no longer be an option or will be severely reduced. &ldquo;COVID is really going to hit state budgets hard,&rdquo; Durante says. &ldquo;And the state incentives are really important to complement the federal incentives, which are already under great strain.&rdquo;
And despite their appeal to environmentalists, EVs also come with an environmental cost. Cooper says the carbon intensity of EVs is increased when electricity generated from coal is used to charge them. &ldquo;The climate benefits or carbon benefits of electric vehicles are highly variable, depending on the source of electricity,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Electric vehicles are going to be attractive in some areas and some situations and low-carbon liquid fuels are going to be more attractive, or better, in other areas and situations. And I think the market will figure out how that&rsquo;s all going to fit together.&rdquo;
Those are issues that need to be tackled, Durante says. &ldquo;How do you address the subsidy issue? How do you address the cost issue? How do you address the recharging issue? How do you address the battery issue and cobalt mining in impoverished countries? I&rsquo;m not saying I won&rsquo;t accept that, but I&rsquo;ve never heard a good answer.&rdquo;
And Cooper says that while EVs aren&rsquo;t an immediate solution, ethanol is. &ldquo;Ethanol is available here and now,&rdquo; Cooper says. &ldquo;It is available at large scale at significant volumes, and it would be a lower cost and quicker transition to move to higher ethanol blends in optimized, high-compression ratio engines that take advantage of ethanol&rsquo;s octane properties, and its low-carbon properties. You could have a situation where a high-compression ratio engine is using a 100 RON or 98 RON blend of E30 and you&rsquo;re getting very good carbon reductions from that system that would rival electric vehicles, even when they&rsquo;re using cleaner grids on the East and West Coast,&rdquo; he says.
Cooper says ethanol needs a fair chance to compete with other fuels, including electricity, and Durante agrees. &ldquo;I am a firm believer when it comes to environmental performance, corn ethanol can do everything that an electric vehicle can do, if not more,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I just think that&rsquo;s a message we need to do a better job of getting out. Of course the key is, we&rsquo;ve got to be given the opportunity to demonstrate that and show that, and consumers have to be given the choice and opportunity to take advantage of those properties. And so those are things we need to continue to work on as an industry. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m thinking of people who aren&rsquo;t ethanol supporters, would have to look at [the issue brief] and say, &lsquo;Wow, you raise a lot of issues that need to be addressed before we assume this is going to be our savior,&rsquo;&rdquo; Durante says. Cleanup Time Haigwood and Durante say ethanol trade groups haven&rsquo;t embraced CFDC&rsquo;s message as they&rsquo;re busy with other regulatory issues. &ldquo;This is nobody&rsquo;s fault, but there&rsquo;s always some crisis,&rdquo; Durante says. &ldquo;Whether it was getting E15, now the waivers from the RFS, the RFS is constantly under attack,&rdquo; Durante says.
And Cooper agrees that much of the industry&rsquo;s focus has been on promoting growth. &ldquo;We are constantly on guard and playing defense to ensure that those regulations aren&rsquo;t administered in a way by EPA that undermines the industry and constrains growth,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Many of these regulations and policies were designed to grow the industry and grow the consumption of renewable fuels, and unfortunately EPA has administered them and enforced them in ways that haven&rsquo;t done that. That&rsquo;s an ongoing battle,&rdquo; Cooper says.
But, given the global pandemic, both Cooper and Durante say now is the time to focus on air quality. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s going to be tons of gasoline out there, and it is aromatic laden, and we are finding a direct connection to the COVID rates,&rdquo; Durante says.
&ldquo;We do think this moment provides an opportunity to revisit ethanol&rsquo;s benefits to air quality,&rdquo; Cooper says. &ldquo;Much of the focus has been on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change in recent years, but COVID-19 has really brought criteria pollutants and air quality and human health impacts back to the fore, and ethanol absolutely has a good story to tell there. We&rsquo;re reducing particulate matter emissions, reducing carbon monoxide, reducing NOX emissions and all those other pollutants that lead to asthma and respiratory illness, and in fact cancer and other health problems as well. So, ethanol is a solution to those problems and that&rsquo;s one more reason that we should be looking at policy solutions that facilitate increased levels of ethanol in the blend and not limiting or constraining the amount of ethanol that we&rsquo;re using.&rdquo;
Haigwood agrees. He says the content of benzene in gasoline is a public health issue, and that recently, ethanol groups have started to address it. &ldquo;I would say, in the last three months, you are beginning to hear the ethanol industry respond to this octane thing, this stuff in gasoline, because they don&rsquo;t really have anywhere else to go,&rdquo; Haigwood says, adding that the fact that ethanol replaces benzine in gasoline is &ldquo;indefensible.&rdquo;
And Durante says that even if EVs replace some of the light-duty vehicle fleet, gasoline&rsquo;s effect on air quality will still need to be addressed. &ldquo;What about the other 60 percent of the fuel that&rsquo;s gasoline? What are you going to do about that? And that&rsquo;s what the ethanol industry needs to do. It needs to demand the environmental community get their head out of the sand and recognize that, you&rsquo;re right, this is only part of the problem,&rdquo; Durante says.
Cooper agrees. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t turn over a fleet of 240 million vehicles overnight,&rdquo; he says. &rdquo;And so, why not focus on doing everything we can to decarbonize the liquid fuels that are going to be used in the next few decades as an increasing share of the fleet does transition to electric vehicles? Let&rsquo;s do what we can to clean up the remaining liquid fuel use in the rest of the fleet.&rdquo; Author: Matt Thompson Associate Editor, Ethanol Producer Magazine 701.738.4922 mthompson@bbiinternational.com

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FLEXIBLE FUELING: Ethanol is a better near-term solution for combating climate issues, as flex-fuel vehicles, like this one, have a lower carbon intensity than EVs charged with electricity generated from coal.

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THE COST CONUNDRUM: Electric vehicles, like this Chevy Bolt, come with costs that many people donâ€™t consider, according to an issue brief released by the Clean Fuels Development Commission. 

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CHARGED UP: While signs like this one are becoming more common, experts say it may still be decades before electric vehicles make up a significant portion of the light-duty vehicle fleet in the U.S. 

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FUEL FOR THE FUTURE: Geoff Cooper, Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO, says ethanol is an immediately available solution to climate and air quality issues. 

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UPWARD TREND: Research by BloombergNEF indicates that EVs will account for less than 10 percent of the new vehicles sold in the U.S. by 2023. That figure is expected to grow to 60 percent by 2040.

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An issue brief by the Clean Fuels Development Coalition advocates for increased ethanol use and a realistic look at the role electric vehicles can play in decarbonization. The report also calls into question the variable environmental costs of EVs.

Reality Check: Examining the Future of Ethanol and EVs

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ADVOCATES IN ACTION: Durante, shown here with various U.S. political figures, has for decades collaborated with CFDC Director of Program Development Burl Haigwood (right of Durante).

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2020 High-Octane Award winner Doug Durante has spent much of his 40-year career advocating and advancing policy for ethanol. Few active industry lobbyists have contributed to so many stages of biofuels policy development, from the 1970s to today.  

Clean Calling: High-Octane Award Winner Doug Durante

Summer E15 sales in the U.S. increased 46% on a per-store basis in 2019 from summer sales the year before. Since May 2019, 40 terminals have added the blend to their offerings, as have 400 retail locations. The growth is due, in large part, to the Reid vapor pressure waiver finally granted to E15 in May of 2019, but it&rsquo;s also despite significant setbacks in the market.
COVID-19 has been an obvious barrier, reducing fuel demand in general by about half. The ethanol industry felt that crunch, but has rebounded to about 85% of pre-COVID-19 production. The waiver will help sales bounce back further as the country recovers, says Chris Bliley, Growth Energy&rsquo;s vice president of regulatory affairs. &ldquo;We have a ways to go, but just having year-round access to E15 gives consumers more awareness of the fuel,&rdquo; he says.
Beyond the pandemic, small refinery waivers, RIN prices and ethanol prices have slowed E15&rsquo;s potential. Still, retailers are increasingly interested in the product, now free of RVP restrictions. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a tremendous positive, and we&rsquo;ve received a lot of outreach from retailers, far more than in advance of [the waiver], asking how their markets can participate,&rdquo; says Cassie Mullen, director of business development for the Renewable Fuels Association. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been extremely positive.&rdquo; &lsquo;The Proof is in the Pudding&rsquo; Minnesota and Iowa report E15 sale data, and both saw an increase of about one-third in the past year, says Scott Richman, RFA&rsquo;s chief economist. &ldquo;A lot of that had to do with the expansion in the number of stations, and the fact that we didn&rsquo;t get the typical dip in summertime consumption. So the year-round rule helped both in terms of sales in existing stations and the expansion of stations.&rdquo;
Not surprisingly, Minnesota&rsquo;s E15 sales did dip in April, when the country stayed home, according to Minnesota Department of Commerce data. May sales were up 25% over April, but still down about 25% from May 2019. &ldquo;In rough terms, they kind of matched what was going on with overall gasoline sales,&rdquo; Richman says. &ldquo;What happened with the oil prices at the same time&mdash;futures going negative&mdash;it looks like E15 is following the general fuel sales trend.&rdquo;
The Iowa Department of Revenue 2019 Retailers Fuel Gallons Annual Report released in April shows a 38% increase of E15 sales across Iowa in 2019, totaling a record high 47.4 million gallons purchased by Iowa motorists. E15 is now offered at 10 percent of all reported Iowa locations, amounting to well over 200, with E85 at 350 stations, both record highs, according to the Iowa Corn Promotion Board. Iowa does not report monthly E15 sales data.
Nationwide, state- and local-level barriers to full adoption remain, such as regulations limiting the use of one hose to dispense more than one&nbsp; blend, Mullen says. But none of those blocks are major. Mullen&rsquo;s work was crucial in overcoming barriers in New York State, which approved year-round sale of E15 in November. &ldquo;The proof is in the pudding,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;We just have to get into their good graces and get a chance to convince them.&rdquo;
The California Air Resource Board has yet to approve the blend year-round, but that&rsquo;s mostly a result of the lengthy process, Mullen says. &ldquo;Nothing that we have proposed to California has been shot down,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve accepted a tremendous amount of our data and we&rsquo;re moving to the next step. In California, it&rsquo;s simply a matter of time at this point. They&rsquo;re not arguing with us, they just have a protocol that is very lengthy. We&rsquo;ve made it through major hurdles with their regulators.&rdquo; Waiting for the Waiver Many retailers waited for the waiver before offering E15, says Dan Sanders, vice president of Front Range Energy in Windsor, Colorado. &ldquo;That certainly had to do with the ability for retailers to offer that product year-round and not have to deal with confusing consumers and changing pumps out and not having to deal with obstructions,&rdquo; he says.
Mullen agrees. &ldquo;They don&rsquo;t want to put out to their consumers that there&rsquo;s anything wrong with this during a certain time. [The waiver] made the conversation a whole lot easier. Market development became a lot simpler.&rdquo;
Sanders sites one large Colorado retailer that was primarily selling E15 in markets not affected by RVP, such as Colorado Springs. With the waiver in place, it&rsquo;s now expanding E15 into the northern front range, Denver, and into the mountains, he says.
Branded retailers will be an exception to E15 adoption, says Charlie Bosselman, chairman and CEO of Bosselman Enterprises. &ldquo;Anyone who&rsquo;s branded by one of the big oil companies is not going to be selling E15,&rdquo; he says, adding that Bosselman Enterprises unbranded years ago and he sees no benefit to branding. Those retailers get their information from their jobbers and the oil companies, missing crucial details about ethanol, RINs, biodiesel and its tax credit, and more, he says. &ldquo;People in the industry should be educated about this, but they know nothing about it. It boggles my mind.&rdquo;
But plenty of unbranded stations remain. Sanders says Growth Energy&rsquo;s Prime the Pump initiative is working with over 375 new locations in its latest push to offer E15. &ldquo;That shows there&rsquo;s still interest,&rdquo; he adds. &ldquo;I think consumers ultimately are going to drive this. Consumers like choice at the pump&mdash;they like when they have a less expensive choice at the pump. They&rsquo;re starting to get more in tune with cleaner air, with climate issues. People are paying more attention now than they ever have. And that goes all the way down to the fuel they&rsquo;re choosing.&rdquo;
Mike O&rsquo;Brien, vice president of market development for Growth Energy, says Prime the Pump is on track to have a total of 3,500 retail sites selling E15 in the next couple years. Price at the Pump Bosselman Enterprises has been able to sell E15 for a nickel cheaper than E10 at its locations, except in the past few months of the pandemic, Bosselman says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve seen a dramatic increase in the amount of E15 we&rsquo;ve been selling,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Of course, the last several months the market has been a little out of sorts with the price of oil, the price of ethanol and everything in our market is driven by price, of course.&rdquo;
But E15 is a better octane and the choice for consumers is obvious when it&rsquo;s cheaper, too. &ldquo;It was an easy sell to our customers,&rdquo; Bosselman says. &ldquo;Our sales went through the roof on that product.&rdquo;
Bosselman Enterprises has been selling E15 since before the waiver, and purchased its blender pumps with the help of grants. &ldquo;We worked tirelessly for grants to develop infrastructure money to help with blender pumps. At the first locations we were splash blending, but we wanted locations where we could have E85 and E15. Having that option was critical.&rdquo;
Before the waiver, E10 made up the largest segment of product mix sales for Bosselman Enterprises, but that share has now split about evenly with E15, Bosselman says. &ldquo;Having that waiver made it a whole lot easier to market a product rather than have all these restrictions out there.
&ldquo;E15 was still trending up, but the sideways market skews things, because retail price had to be adjusted to the same price as E10,&rdquo; he adds. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re kind of back to the nickel price difference now, but for several months we didn&rsquo;t have that, so it skewed our gallons.&rdquo; HBIIP Help During COVID-19, retailers have certainly put the brakes on any new investments, Mullen says. &ldquo;That includes growth of infrastructure for E15 at their locations. Based on the market, nobody is making any moves, it seems. The addition of [the Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program] has kept the conversation going, which is nice.&rdquo;
USDA&rsquo;s HBIIP has up to $86 million available for retailers looking into offering higher blends such as E15 and E85. &ldquo;Grants for up to 50 percent of total eligible project costs, but not more than $5 million, are available to vehicle fueling facilities, including, but not limited to, local fueling stations/locations, convenience stores, hypermarket fueling stations, fleet facilities, fuel terminal operations, midstream partners and/or distribution facilities,&rdquo; USDA says.
An additional $14 million is available for implementation activities related to higher blends of biodiesel. Applications for both funding groups are available through Aug. 13.
HBIIP has been a positive during the pandemic, Mullen says. &ldquo;It spurred a lot of interest and that was hard to do when everyone was shut down and frightened. So, we have reached out to thousands of retailers and have a ton of people in the application process right now.&rdquo; Retailers are still striving to expand and move their businesses forward, even through a pandemic, she adds. &ldquo;HBIIP has been a huge shot in the arm for them. We&rsquo;re grateful to have a light there in the midst of all the darkness.&rdquo;
Continued Recovery The COVID-19 pandemic has brought more attention to cleaner air and skies. Mountain ranges and skylines popped back into view as people stayed home and pollution reduced. It&rsquo;s a timely opportunity for ethanol to tout its benefits.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to lead on that narrative, just to make people more aware that even as we come back after this crisis, and people get to driving again, ethanol is available today and can clean up carbon tailpipe emissions,&rdquo; Sanders says. &ldquo;Everyone realizes that we are going to see pollution increase from stationary and mobile sources as the economy comes back online. But we&rsquo;re making people aware that, where E15 is offered, they can make a cleaner fuel choice.&rdquo;
Sanders predicts the recovery will be long, but adds producers are prepared. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll see overall production numbers being lower through recovery,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We might not even recover fully in 2021.&rdquo; E15, with its year-round sales, will help the ethanol industry bounce back faster than it would without the waiver, he adds, though it couldn&rsquo;t have helped the pandemic-related crash. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anything could have stopped that,&rdquo; he says.
Bliley says, &ldquo;Unfortunately, COVID-19 certainly hindered things in 2020, but I think E15 is poised for strong growth continually, because consumers are becoming more comfortable with the fuel. They know it&rsquo;s more affordable, a little bit better on octane and ethanol is certainly cleaner than fossil fuels. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re bullish for the future,&rdquo; he adds. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve seen over the past really three years, from five terminals that sold E15 to nearly 200 today, more than 2,100 retailers across the country. These are larger retailers that sell high volumes.
&ldquo;Year-round sales was an important milestone for E15, and we saw some of that success last year &hellip; when EPA restores integrity to the [Renewable Fuels Standard], I think that&rsquo;ll also help continue to drive demand as well.
&ldquo;As we rebound from COVID, I think we&rsquo;re in a good position,&rdquo; Bliley adds. &ldquo;This is the second summer that E15 will be sold.&rdquo;
Prime the Pump will keep plugging away, O&rsquo;Brien says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re on track for about 2,600, 2,700 new sites offering E15.&rdquo; Retailers currently working with Prime the Pump have about 10,000 sites and 19 billion gallons of gasoline demand. &ldquo;So we definitely have room to grow with the retailers that we&rsquo;re partnering with already,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Now that RVP is out of the way, I think we&rsquo;ll see more prospects come into the fold here with USDA grant money.
&ldquo;Our goal is to keep growing; keep going.&rdquo; Author: Lisa Gibson Editor, Ethanol Producer Magazine 701.738.4920 lgibson@bbiinternational.com

PUMP PROGRESS: E15, branded Unleaded88 by Growth Energyâ€™s Prime the Pump initiative, saw a 46% increase in 2019 summer sales over 2018. The number of terminals and retailers offering the blend have increased, too.  

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More than a year after the EPA's long-awaited Reid vapor pressure waiver made year-round E15 use possible, even the COVID-19 slowdown hasn't wiped out the rapid progress being made to grow the higher blend's nationwide retail presence.       

E15 Climbs through the Chaos

If we learned anything during the COVID-19 lockdown, it was that parking our cars helped clear the air. For the first time in decades, skylines were visible in major cities across the globe. And while we know this was not a sustainable situation, it has brought the world&rsquo;s attention to air pollution, tailpipe emissions and the need to find a solution to improve air quality.
This is where ethanol can shine. Ethanol is an available solution right now that when added to gasoline, reduces toxic tailpipe emissions and clears the air.&nbsp;&nbsp;
The reason ethanol is so beneficial in gasoline is because it reduces the need for the most toxic fuel additives called aromatics. Aromatics are hydrocarbons that include benzene, toluene and xylene, which are often referred to as the BTX group. Aromatics are the most energy-inefficient, carbon-intensive, and expensive components of gasoline. They often don&rsquo;t fully combust in the engine, which is why aromatics are the primary source for creating ultra-fine particulates. According to a study by Carnegie Mellon, 40% of ultra-fine particulates in urban areas come from gasoline vehicles.
&nbsp;No wonder the skies were clearer when we were no longer commuting. Staying home meant we were less exposed to the dangers of aromatics and ultra-fine particulates. But we don&rsquo;t need to take this extreme these extremes to improve the air we breathe.
Aromatics are added to fuel to boost octane. Ethanol is the only other commercially viable octane source, plus it has the highest octane rating and is a homegrown fuel. Right now, aromatics make up an average of 25% of a gallon of gasoline. That number was closer to 35% before E10 became the standard choice for consumers. With the expansion of E15 and higher blends, the additional ethanol continues to dilute the amount of aromatics added at the refinery. The bottom line: the higher the ethanol blend, the fewer the aromatics and the cleaner the fuel.
This is a story we&rsquo;ve been telling since 2012. Right before COVID-19, we shifted our focus to not only educate the industry, but also share this story with the general public. The Urban Air Initiative launched an educational campaign dedicated to the aromatic and emission reductions of ethanol, along with its many other benefits. It&rsquo;s called Let&rsquo;s Clear the Air and it was designed for each one of you to take the information and share ethanol&rsquo;s story with your friends and family.
Now more than ever, people are paying attention. We all saw the pictures of blue skies in Los Angeles and the headlines acknowledging that improved air quality was one of the few benefits of the COVID-19 lockdowns. Let&rsquo;s take this moment and promote the importance of ethanol. It&rsquo;s important that when given the choice, consumers choose higher blends. And it&rsquo;s equally important that we continue to push for more access to blender pumps across the U.S., especially in urban areas that can truly benefit from a reduction in aromatics and an increase in homegrown ethanol. It&rsquo;s time to Clear the Air with ethanol.
Author: Dave VanderGriend President, Urban Air Initiative CEO, ICM Inc. 316.796.0900 davev@icminc.com

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When given a choice, consumers choose higher ethanol blends. It's important that we continue to push for more access to blender pumps across the U.S., especially in urban areas that can truly benefit from aromatics reductions and cleaner air. 

We Don't Need a Lockdown  to Clear the Air

The novel coronavirus has forced us to adapt to practices that would have been unthinkable just a few months ago. The handshake is out, masks are in and social distancing is here to stay. While inconvenient, these new habits will soon become second nature to protect ourselves from a ruthless virus.
These simple steps can help, but what if the air we breathe is conspiring with the coronavirus? A recent Harvard University study concludes that air pollution is linked to significantly higher rates of death in those with disease caused by the coronavirus. The researchers contend that even slightly cleaner air in New York City could have saved hundreds of lives at the height of the pandemic.&nbsp; The bottom line is that people breathing dirty air day in and day out are far more likely to die from the virus than those in rural areas or metropolitan areas with cleaner air.
&ldquo;This information can help us prepare by encouraging populations [in polluted areas] to take extra pre-cautions and allocate extra resources to reduce the risk of poor outcomes from COVID-19,&rdquo; said Xiao Wu, one of the Harvard researchers. &ldquo;It is likely that COVID-19 will be a part of our lives for quite a long time, despite our hope for a vaccine or treatment. In light of this, we should consider additional measures to protect ourselves from pollution exposure to reduce the COVID-19 death toll.&rdquo;
The Harvard experts identified the problem. Now it is up to us in the energy and environmental communities to do our part. A good place to start is by speeding up the transition to cleaner fuels. Brazil, with its extensive use of sugarcane ethanol in the transportation sector, can be part of the solution.
Flex-fuel vehicles have long thrived in Brazil, and the country boasts the largest such fleet in the world. Nearly 78 percent of all cars and light-duty trucks run on pure ethanol or an ethanol-gas blend.
The ethanol of choice in Brazil is, of course, made from its own sugarcane.&nbsp;
Comparing Brazilian megacities like S&atilde;o Paulo and Rio de Janeiro with their counterparts in China or India, for example, the benefits of ethanol are hard to miss. One is that sugarcane ethanol provides up to a 90% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. When compared to gasoline and diesel, sugarcane ethanol significantly reduces the emissions of various pollutants, like sulfur oxides (by about 90% compared to gasoline, about 99% compared to S500 diesel and 50% compared to S10 diesel), particulate matter (by more than 98% compared to gasoline and diesel), and toxic hydrocarbons.
Research conducted by University of S&atilde;o Paulo&rsquo;s Faculty of Medicine confirmed ethanol&rsquo;s health benefits by looking closely at that city&rsquo;s vehicle fleet. S&atilde;o Paulo, South America&rsquo;s largest and most densely populated city, is already a leader in use of flex-fuel vehicles, but if it depended exclusively on ethanol, the health benefits would be overwhelming: save more than 1,400 lives per year; prevent more than 9,000 hospital admissions per year; save the taxpayers more than $190 million annually.&nbsp;
Brazilian sugarcane ethanol enjoys the distinction of being one of the least carbon-intensive biofuels currently available at commercial scale. The country has bigger plans, as demonstrated by its National Biofuels Policy (RenovaBio) that aims to increase the participation of biofuels, including biodiesel and ethanol made from different raw materials, in the transport matrix with the goal of reducing GHG emissions by 100 million tons in 10 years.
We can&mdash;and must&mdash;do more. The current process to make sugarcane ethanol taps only one-third of the energy the plant can offer. The remaining two-thirds of energy is locked in leftover fiber and straw. Engineers and scientists are hard at work to use these valuable scraps to produce cellulosic ethanol at an affordable price. Once this happens, cellulosic ethanol has the potential to double the yield of fuel coming from the same amount of land.
Because of COVID-19 and future respiratory epidemics, we now have another urgent reason to decrease air pollution and improve the quality of our environment by looking past fossil fuels.
Author: Leticia Phillips North American Representative Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association, UNICA 202.506.5299 leticia@unica.com.br

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Because of COVID-19 and future respiratory epidemics, we now have another urgent reason to decrease air pollution and improve the quality of our environment by looking past fossil fuels. We can—and must—do more.

Improving Air Quality Can Help Reduce Fatalities

When in mid-June the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency revealed it was considering 52 new small refinery exemption requests from oil refiners, going as far back as the 2011 compliance year, many of us reacted with anger, but not necessarily with surprise. And few of us would be shocked if the EPA actually tried to grant some of these new petitions, as our faith in the agency&rsquo;s ability to properly implement the Renewable Fuel Standard is highly diminished.
But we cannot give up. We have to keep fighting to protect the RFS and holding EPA&rsquo;s feet to the fire, using whatever means necessary to ensure the agency follows the law.
Two days after Administrator Andrew Wheeler hinted publicly that EPA was receiving these gap-year waiver requests, we sent a letter calling on him to &ldquo;clarify that small refinery exemption extension petitions for past compliance years are inconsistent with the RFS and will not be entertained by the agency,&rdquo; and to &ldquo;expeditiously deny any petitions that have already been received, or that are received going forward, for past compliance years.&rdquo;
The same day Wheeler spilled the beans, U.S. Department of Energy Under Secretary Mark Menezes testified in the Senate about these prior-year exemption petitions. He called the petitions &ldquo;gap filings&rdquo; intended to establish, without regard to merit, a continuous string of exemptions &ldquo;to be consistent with the Tenth Circuit decision,&rdquo; which came about when RFA, the National Corn Growers Association, National Farmers Union and the American Coalition for Ethanol challenged waivers EPA granted that were not extensions of prior ones, as required by law.
In its decision, the Tenth Circuit actually anticipated that refiners might try to skirt the ruling with gap-year filings and noted the absurdity of such an approach. The court explained the irrationality of allowing refiners to send in retroactive waiver requests: &ldquo;by that logic, the EPA could grant a 2019 petition seeking a small refinery exemption for calendar year 2009&mdash;more than a decade after the fact.&rdquo; And this is exactly what refineries are doing&mdash;pretending there could have been a hardship years ago that could justify the granting of an exemption today.
RFA is also aware of refineries resubmitting previously rejected petitions for prior compliance years. The Tenth Circuit likewise addressed this possibility, noting that it would not support a misreading of the statute under which &ldquo;EPA would also be empowered to grant a re-submitted extension petition for an earlier year even though the agency had previously denied that very petition.&rdquo;
Historically, EPA has recognized the importance of processing exemption petitions before the annual compliance deadline to ensure that parties have adequate time either to comply with the program or, if they receive an exemption, to sell their RINs to other parties. Even in arguments defending its authority to receive and consider exemption petitions &ldquo;at any time,&rdquo; EPA has only contemplated that petitions will be received within the compliance year for which an exemption is sought, or shortly thereafter.
More generally, granting petitions for past compliance years flatly contradicts EPA&rsquo;s position that, once annual volume standards have been set and compliance has occurred, modifying those standards &ldquo;would inappropriately render the standards a moving target.&rdquo;
And that is precisely what the Renewable Fuel Standard has become under this current administration: a moving target. As the Tenth Circuit court put it in its decision, &ldquo;EPA data show that the approach followed by the agency from 2016-forward has opened up a gaping and ever-widening hole in the statute.&rdquo; Eighty-five petitions have been granted by this EPA for the compliance years 2016-2018, and only eight have been rejected. For 2019 there are 27 pending, and one for 2020. Now, we have 52 more pending for earlier years as refiners try to rig the system.
If EPA were to finally adhere to its 90-day deadline for reviewing exemption petitions, we would expect to learn more about the outcome of these petitions in September. As a decision against renewable fuels would have an impact on many rural voters&rsquo; decisions a few months later, we can only expect EPA to ignore the deadline and kick the can down the road a little further. Either way, EPA and the administration need to be held accountable.
Author: Geoff Cooper President and CEO Renewable Fuels Association 202.289.3835 gcooper@ethanolrfa.org

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The RFA urges the ethanol industry to keep fighting to protect the Renewable Fuels Standard and 'holding EPA's feet to the fire,' using whatever means necessary to ensure the agency follows the law and stops treating the RFS like a 'moving target.'

The Folly and Cynicism of Gap-Year Waivers

Few regulatory actions over the past decade have been as momentous&mdash;and overdue&mdash;as the Trump administration&rsquo;s 2019 decision to allow E15 to be sold year-round. And while the promise of ubiquitous E15 use is an enticing vision, achieving the omnipresence of E10 will be a long time coming. The higher blend&rsquo;s market growth is on a nice, gradual ascent&mdash;buttressed by independent retailer support&mdash;but its adoption will be hard to rush.&nbsp;
In &ldquo;Climbing Through Chaos,&rdquo; Lisa Gibson reports that, since E15 received its Reid vapor pressure waiver last year, more retailers and terminals have adopted the blend. In fact, sales of E15 are up 46 percent post-waiver, with 400 new retail locations and 40 terminals getting set up to handle the blend in the past year. So while fuel use is down, E15&rsquo;s lower price&mdash;and its year-round presence&mdash;is spurring growth. Branded retailers are, of course, still resisting, but USDA grant money for higher blend infrastructure has, in the words of one market observer, &ldquo;kept the conversation going&rdquo; with retailers willing to listen.
Ethanol&rsquo;s market expansion will require continuous technical work and persistent advocacy. The subject of &ldquo;Clean Calling&rdquo; is no stranger to either. With the 2020 International Fuel Ethanol Workshop &amp; Expo being carried out as a virtual event this year&mdash;the conference will take place online in mid-September&mdash;we decided to spotlight the distinguished career of Doug Durante, winner of this year&rsquo;s High-Octane Award. It was a pleasure to speak with Durante and Award of Excellence winner Doug Tiffany, who we'll feature in the October issue.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Coincidentally, our High-Octane Award winner shows up in another August feature, &ldquo;Reality Check,&rdquo; which explores a new issue brief by Durante&rsquo;s organization, the Clean Fuels Development Coalition. In that story, Matt Thompson reports that the CFDC makes a compelling case for increased ethanol use amidst seemingly blind support for electric vehicles (EVs). Durante and others are essentially calling for a more honest examination of the role EVs can and should play in decarbonization.
Indeed, the emissions reductions necessary to set decarbonization in motion is not only a matter of transforming energy production and use, but altering how we understand and account for biogenic CO2. As Luke Geiver reports in &ldquo;Biogenic Emissions: Credit Where It&rsquo;s Due,&rdquo; American farmers and biofuels producers alike would experience a significant boost&mdash;at a time when they really need it&mdash;if biogenic CO2 emissions were finally deemed de minimis, or neutral. Changing the way those emissions are regulated would create a glidepath for farmers to participate in market-based climate change solutions and reinvigorate the U.S. bioeconomy. Jumpstarting any sector starting in &ldquo;bio&rdquo; sure sounds nice right now.&nbsp;
Enjoy the reading. See you at the virtual FEW next month. Author: Tom Bryan President BBI International

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Ethanol Producer Magazine's publisher previews the August issue, which includes stories about the growth of E15, a profile on High-Octane Award winner Doug Durante, the role of ethanol and EVs, and the need to retool biogenic emissions policy.    

August 2020

Business Briefs

Business Briefs

Columns

We Don't Need a Lockdown to Clear the Air

Improving Air Quality Can Help Reduce Fatalities

The Folly and Cynicism of Gap-Year Waivers

Ethanol's Realistic Role

Featured

Biogenic Emissions: Credit Where It's Due

Reality Check: Examining the Future of Ethanol and EVs

Clean Calling: High-Octane Award Winner Doug Durante

E15 Climbs through the Chaos

Contributions

Cutting Through the CMMS Clutter

August 2020.css-7jxktu{position:absolute;bottom:0px;left:0px;right:0px;height:3px;border-radius:3px;background-color:var(--chakra-colors-brandBlack);}

Business Briefs

Business Briefs

Columns

We Don't Need a Lockdown to Clear the Air

Improving Air Quality Can Help Reduce Fatalities

The Folly and Cynicism of Gap-Year Waivers

Ethanol's Realistic Role

Featured

Biogenic Emissions: Credit Where It's Due

Reality Check: Examining the Future of Ethanol and EVs

Clean Calling: High-Octane Award Winner Doug Durante

E15 Climbs through the Chaos

Contributions

Cutting Through the CMMS Clutter

August 2020