Ethanol. Right. Now.

ACE partners with BBI International on ethanol conference

The American Coalition for Ethanol is excited to announce its 24th annual ACE Ethanol Conference, to be held August 22-24, 2011 at the Downtown Marriott Hotel in Des Moines, Iowa. Registration for the conference will open soon at Ethanol.org.

The ACE Ethanol Conference will continue to provide an outstanding venue for industry speakers, networking opportunities, information-sharing, and updates on what’s happening in the industry today. As in past ACE conferences, the program will include key leaders in public policy, market development, management and leadership, and other topics of interest to ethanol plant board members, management, investors, commodity producers, and goods and service providers to the industry.

In recent years, the American Coalition for Ethanol has paired its annual conference with an industry trade show. This year, to better serve its members, ACE is pleased to announce that it will partner with BBI International as a Supporting Organization for the Fuel Ethanol Workshop (FEW). This allows ethanol industry suppliers and plant operators to concentrate on one trade show, and gives ACE the opportunity to focus its efforts on providing a top-notch conference.

“ACE is thrilled to continue to provide our members with the best conference event possible, and supporting the Fuel Ethanol Workshop will enable ACE to continue to offer members a trade show option while focusing our efforts on presenting an informative and valuable conference event,” said Brian Jennings, Executive Vice President of ACE.

ACE’s status as a Supporting Organization of the Fuel Ethanol Workshop will allow ACE members to receive discounted registration to this summer’s event, to be held June 27-30 in Indianapolis. ACE members will continue to receive discounted registration to the ACE conference in Des Moines.

More information about the ACE Ethanol Conference will be available soon at Ethanol.org

Response to The WSJ: Ethanol is not reducing the amount of corn for food

While I was amused that The Wall Street Journal would invoke “morality” in one of its editorials, I was stunned by the sheer number of half-truths, miscalculations, and misleading statements that could be wedged into one 600 word anti-ethanol editorial, “Amber Waves of Ethanol.”

The article primarily seeks to blame ethanol for higher food prices, and even the failure of two food companies, yet it includes no discussion about the morality of other Big Food companies who managed to thrive during the time period the others failed, by invoking the mythical “food vs. fuel” bogeyman as an excuse to raise their prices and reap record profits.  While the “food vs. fuel” PR campaign was wildly successful, it was not the truth, and it still isn’t.

In fact, the opposite is true.  More corn for all other uses is now available in the United States because of growing ethanol production (see chart). 

Chart shows the U.S. corn crop in billions of bushels, the portion used to make ethanol, and the portion remaining for food, feed, and export.

Sources: Corn production data: U.S. Department of Agriculture / Ethanol production data: U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Service

The WSJ article talks of “reduced corn food supply,” which is at best ignorant of reality.  The supply of corn for food in America and around the world is increasing, and in the United States that is due in part to the fact that ethanol has restored market pricing to corn – as opposed to artificially low prices with government payments designed to keep farmers growing cheap corn.  Because real grain markets are more attractive, farmers are growing more corn – more food – than ever before.  I am continually puzzled by those who think farmers will grow more corn if they are paid less for it.  Which economics textbook did I miss that contained that theory?

The article contained many other factual errors, such as ignoring consistently higher corn yields and record-setting corn production, no recognition that ethanol only uses starch and returns all of corn’s protein, fat and fiber to the food supply in the form of the animal feed distillers grain (a 33 percent error), and no recognition of the fact that China – yes, China – is currently accusing U.S. ethanol producers of producing too much of this low-cost feed.  I am led to the conclusion that if this is the quality of analysis being used to make decisions on Wall Street, we had better be prepared to bail them out again.

Posted by: Ron Lamberty, Vice President / Market Development, American Coalition for Ethanol

Winning the future, with the help of ethanol

The American ethanol industry, comprised of farmers and small businesses, is ready and willing to help the U.S. “win the future” for the sake of our economic security, national security, and environmental protection.

President Obama delivered the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress last night, and we are grateful for his statement “clean-energy breakthroughs will only translate into clean-energy jobs if businesses know there will be a market for what they're selling.”

The American ethanol industry couldn’t agree more.  If Congress and the Administration take steps to remove Big Oil’s status-quo grip on the fuel market, corn ethanol and advanced biofuel will finally have the certainty to supply safer and more affordable fuel choices to consumers while creating jobs for the U.S.  That is why the E10 blend wall must be overcome with an approval for E15 in all cars and why policies that deploy more Flexible Fuel Vehicles (FFVs) and blender pumps should be implemented.

We are pleased that President Obama declared “we can break our dependence on oil with biofuels,” and note that American ethanol, the most widely available biofuel, is already displacing approximately 350 million barrels of foreign oil – essentially eliminating the need for the U.S. to purchase oil from Saudi Arabia.

The President rightly pointed out that Big Oil companies are profiting on their own, let alone the billions in taxpayer dollars they benefit from each year.  Redirecting oil company subsidies toward cleaner, safer, and better alternatives – such as American ethanol – is the kind of investment that will create the domestic jobs we need for the economy to recover and grow.

Finally, because there is no silver-bullet solution to reducing oil use, we appreciate the President’s goal to have 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.  Nonetheless, there are already nearly 9 million FFVs on the road.  These FFVs can run on any blend of ethanol and gasoline, and should number nearly 20 million by 2015. 

Steps to ensure there are more FFVs and that the owners of these vehicles have the opportunity to use ethanol-blended fuel need attention this year .

Posted by: Brian Jennings, Executive Vice President, American Coalition for Ethanol

 

Survey shows Congressional candidates' view on ethanol

Last month, Ethanol Today magazine surveyed Congressional candidates in American Coalition for Ethanol members' states and districts to gauge their stances on ethanol-related issues.  Here is a link to the complete survey responses if you care to check it out today:

http://ethanolcollective.com/discussion/topic/show/390897

The full magazine article feature may also be found online at www.ethanoltoday.com in the October edition.

 

Ethanol efficiency to be featured at ACE conference in Kansas City

Two new studies on ethanol efficiency have found that the ethanol production process itself is more efficient and the resulting ethanol has a more positive energy balance.

The first is from Dr. Steffen Mueller at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who studied the dry mill ethanol process and found that today's ethanol producers are using far fewer energy inputs than they did in 2001, as well as producing more ethanol per bushel of corn.  That study can be read here.

The second is from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a study on the net energy balance of ethanol.  The agency has updated data from 2004 and found that for every 1 BTU (British Thermal Unit) of energy used to create ethanol today, 2.3 BTUs of energy are produced in return.  This is a clearly positive energy balance, up from the 1 to 1.77 positive energy balance from 2004 data.  The USDA report can be read here.

The technology innovations that are driving these increases in efficiency will be featured at the American Coalition for Ethanol conference in Kansas City on August 3-5.  The full agenda may be viewed here.  We hope to see you there!

Energy legislation needs to include these two provisions

The American Coalition for Ethanol, the National Corn Growers Association, and the Renewable Fuels Association wrote a letter today to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, encouraging him to include two key provisions in upcoming energy legislation - S. 1627, the Consumer Fuels and Vehicles Choice Act, and S. 3231, the Green Jobs Act.

"As you work to develop legislation to address the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico and
meet America’s many other energy challenges, we are writing to encourage you to include two bills in
your broad energy legislation that will promote the further production and use of biofuels in the United
States and thus help wean us off our dependence on oil: 1) the Consumer Fuels and Vehicle Choice Act
(CHOICE Act), S. 1627, and 2) the Grow Renewable Energy from Ethanol Naturally Jobs Act, or 'GREEN
Jobs Act,' of 2010, S. 3231."

Read the letter in its entirety here.

EPA delays E15 decision once again

EPA is required by law to make a decision on the request to allow the use of cleaner burning blends of up to 15 percent ethanol, and by the time they actually make a decision, it will be a full year later than the law requires. Every addict needs enablers, but frankly we could not have imagined the Environmental Protection Agency would be one of the major defenders of the status quo that is now fouling beaches from Louisiana to Florida.

We also have to wonder who is influencing EPA when they agree it will be impossible to meet the Renewable Fuels Standard but refuse to remove the requirement that fuel contain a minimum of 90 percent petroleum. That decision can only be good news for the likes of BP and ExxonMobil, and anyone else who chooses to ignore the dangers of relying on unstable and hostile foreign regimes for our fuel, or the dangers of drilling two miles below the ocean.

EPA could be accused of slow-walking this E15 decision, but that would imply that progress is being made. This decision has been pushed back an entire year, and has gone from making cleaner burning E15 available to all cars, to only 2001 and newer cars, and now possibly to only those made after 2007. Those vehicles were practically fresh off the assembly line when the data was submitted proving blends beyond E10 are safe for all vehicles, and now two years and millions of dollars have been wasted as EPA defends the status quo. Meanwhile, oil has been spilling from the Gulf of Mexico for 60 days and counting. What do government bureaucrats need to see to be convinced that our nation desperately needs take action to reduce our use of oil?

When ACE met with EPA in March of this year, we were told that by mid-year EPA was planning to approve E15 for 2001 and newer vehicles, a commitment the Agency put in writing in a December 1 letter. While there are many practical challenges to implementing E15 for only 2001 and newer vehicles, it may have been better than the status quo of being limited to only E10. But to add insult to injury, EPA is now indicating that they will consider E15 for only vehicles made after the 2007 model year – only 20 percent of the U.S. fleet. Even if every single vehicle made after 2007 used E15 every time it filled up, it would barely allow the U.S. to meet the 2012 Renewable Fuels Standard requirement.

As oil is ruining livelihoods and closing businesses, the economic and job-creation benefit of ethanol is being told it must wait in the wings. With the price of ethanol being almost a dollar less per gallon than gasoline today, EPA’s approval of a 5 percent increase in the ethanol content could save the U.S. more than $19 billion in fuel expenditures every year – almost as much as BP has committed so far to clean up the damage that oil has done in the Gulf.

ACE is encouraging all ethanol supporters to contact their Members of Congress to urge their support of legislation for more flexible fuel vehicles and blender pumps, such as S. 1627, the Harkin-Lugar ‘Consumer Fuels and Vehicles Choice Act.’ More FFVs and blender pumps would bring flexibility into the U.S. fuel system and give consumers greater fuel choice, while bypassing the bureaucracy that is preventing the cleaner alternative fuels from reaching the marketplace.

Posted by: Brian Jennings

Ethanol responds to new environmental group stall tactics

The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE), Growth Energy, the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), and the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) today countered the tired claims of the Environmental Working Group (EWG) that American ethanol is not a sound investment.

Criticizing the tax incentive provided for the use of ethanol is a misleading exercise if proper context is not provided. A recent International Energy Agency report concluded the world spent $550 billion in subsidies for fossil fuels in 2008 alone. The approximately $4.5 billion spent to increase America’s use of domestically produced ethanol in 2008 is a bargain by comparison.

Equally misleading is a discussion of tax incentives without appropriately attributing increases in economic activity resulting from those incentives. In 2009 alone, U.S. ethanol production helped nearly 400,000 Americans keep their jobs or find a new one, added more than $15 billion to federal, state and local government tax revenues, and displaced more than 360 million barrels of imported oil.

“It’s disappointing that some in the environmental community continue to have an irrational and unsophisticated notion of how to reduce fossil fuel use,” said Brian Jennings, Executive Vice President of the American Coalition for Ethanol. “Some say the solution is to get rid of corn-based ethanol today, in hopes that some other potentially promising, but not yet commercialized fuel will be available tomorrow. The result would be more pain at the pump and more pollution for the planet. Ethanol is the only commercially available alternative to gasoline today, and removing it from our nation’s fuel supply would mean more oil use – and we ought to learn from the painful and ongoing lesson in the Gulf of Mexico that more oil is simply not a sustainable path.”

“It is unfortunate that groups purporting to represent the environment are still criticizing the only alternative fuel – domestic ethanol – that reduces our dependence on foreign oil,” said Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy.

“Family farmers in the U.S. have provided us with five record crops since 2005, and we're growing 20 percent more corn per acre than any other nation," said NCGA President Darrin Ihnen. "For American corn farmers, the ethanol industry provides the opportunity to add value added to our commodity while expanding the role of U.S. agriculture in our movement toward greater energy self-reliance. It needs and deserves the support it's getting in Washington.”

“America’s investment in domestic renewable fuels is only just beginning to pay dividends,” said RFA President and CEO Bob Dinneen. “Current technologies are directly replacing oil-based fuels in American gas tanks and creating tens of thousands of jobs. New technologies are coming online that will expand ethanol’s economic benefit while continuing to improve the industry’s environmental footprint and energy security contribution. The environmental community remains shortsighted in its dismissal of ethanol, particularly as the devastating impacts of our oil addiction are currently on full display.”

Agricultural production and ethanol biorefining continue to become increasingly efficient. According to a recent article in the scientific journal Biotechnology Letters, ethanol production alone has seen a 28 percent reduction in energy use, a 32 percent reduction in water use, and a 5.3 percent increase in ethanol yields all in less than a decade. Conversely, deep water drilling and tar sands extraction continue to drive oil’s carbon footprint even higher.

This assault from EWG is just the latest in a line of impractical attacks the environmental community has launched against American ethanol production.  Recently, environmental activists suggested that ethanol use in America would reduce our oil consumption – a good thing – and thus drive down the world price of oil – also a good thing. As a result, other nations would use more oil. Ergo, according to their tortured logic, ethanol must be penalized for the carbon emissions from the increase in oil use in other nations. Curiously, EWG suggests that more could be gained from proper tire inflation and obeying the speed limit. Yet, under the current logic of the environmental community, all of those activities would have to be penalized for increasing oil use elsewhere. 

“No other option exists today that can match ethanol’s ability to reduce oil use in American vehicles,” the groups stated.  “Rather than erecting roadblocks, we would welcome the constructive input of the environmental community to expand our use of renewable fuels and reduce our need for oil. That starts by allowing the use of 15 percent ethanol blends.”

Ethanol offers big savings for motorists over Memorial Day holiday

With ethanol trading for nearly a dollar less than gasoline at the rack, motorists can capture those savings at the pump by choosing ethanol-blended fuel.  The savings over the recent Memorial Day holiday were significant.

According to fuel price data* published May 24, the E10 blend is an average 9.5 cents per gallon lower than straight gasoline right now.  Based on AAA’s expected travel distances** for the holiday weekend and a national average gas price of $2.85 per gallon, this 9.5 cent discount for E10 could have equaled $95.8 million in savings nationwide.

The savings on E15 would be nearly 14 cents per gallon.  If the E15 blend was available nationwide, the total savings for motorists this holiday weekend could reach $138 million.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to make its ruling this summer on whether to allow all consumers access to the 15 percent ethanol blend.

At the current ethanol price, the E30 blend is 28.5 cents per gallon less than gasoline, and E85 is 75 cents less per gallon.

“Every little bit of cost savings helps in a tight economy, and American families are saving money at the pump thanks to the availability of ethanol,” said Ron Lamberty, Vice President / Market Development for the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE), the nation’s largest grassroots ethanol association.  “With the wide spread right now between ethanol and gasoline prices, the higher the ethanol content per gallon of your fuel, the higher the savings.”

“Motorists deserve to have access to these cost-effective fuels at the pump instead of just being limited by government red tape and Big Oil’s grip on the market,” said Brian Jennings, Executive Vice President of ACE.  “We need to give consumers the power to choose whatever fuel is most affordable by making flexible fuel vehicles and blender pumps more widely available.”

* Source: Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) Chicago Average Rack Price for the week ending May 21, 2010

** Source: AAA Memorial Day 2010 Travel Forecast, May 20, 2010

American consumers deserve fuel choice

This op-ed was written by Lars Herseth, President of the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE).  It was published in the Omaha World-Herald on Saturday, May 8 in the "Midlands Voices" section.

As a farmer, rancher, businessman, former lawmaker, and current president of the American Coalition for Ethanol, it won’t surprise you that I support making renewable and homegrown fuels more widely available.  But just like you, I am also a consumer.

I believe that American motorists should have lots of choices at the pump – including fuel not blended with ethanol.

You may have read that statement twice, knowing that I am the president of ACE, a grassroots advocacy association for ethanol.  But ACE members believe that motorists deserve the right to choose what fuel to put in their cars, and we’re not afraid to have our fuel of choice – ethanol – compete with petroleum.  When consumers are given meaningful choices at the pump, we are confident they will choose ethanol.

Today, ethanol-blended fuel is the most affordable and clean-burning alternative to gasoline.  And more importantly, unlike some other promising alternative fuels, we don’t have to wait for ethanol because it is here now as the only commercially viable substitute for fossil fuels. 

ACE has partnered with others to support a waiver pending before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to allow up to 15 percent ethanol per gallon of gasoline.  We have done so because today EPA arbitrarily restricts the volume of ethanol that can be blended into a gallon of gasoline to just 10 percent, and because our competitors work hard to block ethanol from gaining additional market access.

If EPA approves E15, consumers would pay less for fuel because wholesale prices for ethanol are currently at a significant discount to gasoline – in some places a dollar less per gallon.  Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly clear that when EPA does approve E15 it will be on a limited basis, restricting its use to only model year 2001 and newer cars.  We are concerned this will cause unnecessary confusion for consumers and may even prevent station owners from choosing to offer the fuel.

So, in anticipation of an inadequate EPA decision on E15, ACE believes the focus should be on consumer fuel choice.  The power of fuel choice needs to be transferred from Big Oil back to the consumer, and the most straightforward way to do so is the combination of Flexible Fuel Vehicles (FFVs) and blender pumps.

If every automobile sold in the U.S. were an FFV, which is capable of using virtually any blend of ethanol and gasoline, we know ethanol will compete at the pump.  Similarly, blender pumps, which dispense ethanol-gasoline blends at various percentages at the retail level, empower consumers to choose the most affordable and reliable blend of fuel for their car.

To this end, ACE supports S. 1627, the “Consumer Fuels and Vehicle Choice Act,” legislation by Senators Tom Harkin and Richard Lugar to provide more FFVs and blender pumps.  ACE has launched an online petition at www.ethanol.org/petition, giving consumers a chance to express their support for this bill and for freedom of fuel choice at the pump.  I encourage you to sign the fuel choice petition today.

The longer we wait to provide Americans with real fuel choice, the more consumers will pay at the pump, the more the environment will suffer, and the more our nation will rely on foreign sources of oil.  Please make your voice heard at www.ethanol.org/petition.

What is an ethanol blender pump, and where can I find one?

Blender pumps are coming up more and more often in conversations about renewable fuels, so I thought it might be useful to pull together some basic blender pump information in one location -- including a link to a map of current U.S. blender pump locations.

Blender pump basics:

Blender pumps give motorists more choices at the pump by offering a variety of ethanol blends between E10 and E85, as seen here.

A blender pump looks like a standard gasoline dispenser and takes up the same amount of space, but features two underground tanks -- one with unleaded and one with E85.  The two fuels are blended in the appropriate percentages to create mid-level ethanol blends such as E20, E30, or E50, in addition to E10 and E85.

This map of U.S. blender pump locations is maintained by the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE).

Links for more information about blender pumps:

• Section on Ethanol.org: http://www.ethanol.org/index.php?id=91&parentid=8
• The national "Blend Your Own Ethanol" campaign, led by ACE and the Renewable Fuels Association: www.byoethanol.com
• A diagram of a blender pump: http://www.ethanol.org/index.php?id=84&parentid=29 

Ron Lamberty ([email protected]) or Lacey Dixon ([email protected]) at the American Coalition for Ethanol can be your point of contact for any questions about mid-level ethanol blends or blender pumps.

Guest editorial in response to "Beyond Corn Ethanol" series

This op-ed was written by American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) member Ron Fagen, President & CEO of Fagen Inc. of Granite Falls, MN.

A recent op-ed alleging that “the ethanol boom is over” and that “policies to further the corn ethanol industry should not be supported” demands a response, both because it is patently untrue and because my words were twisted and taken out of context to justify the editorialist’s opinion about corn ethanol.  I respect that everyone is entitled to their own opinions.  But, in the case of the op-ed titled “Beyond Corn Ethanol” published on April 28, 2010 by Minnesota 2020, neither the opinions nor the so-called facts expressed were accurate. 

It’s true that Fagen Inc. has partnered with farmers to build more than half of all the ethanol plants in the U.S.  It’s also true that technology innovations have enabled corn farmers and ethanol producers to become incredibly efficient stewards of resources.  Today, corn farmers use fewer inputs and less energy on fewer acres of land to produce more bushels of corn than ever before.  Case in point:  in 2009, U.S. farmers planted 7 million fewer acres of corn than in 2007, but they produced more corn than in the previous record year of 2007 thanks to technology and yield increases.  At the same time, ethanol plants have reduced energy and water use to become more sustainable and efficient.  University studies indicate that one gallon of ethanol contains more than two times the amount of energy used to make it.

So it is not accurate – in fact, it is downright misleading – to suggest corn ethanol has no future.  Today, ethanol-blended fuel is the most affordable and clean-burning alternative to gasoline.  And more importantly, unlike some other promising alternative fuels, we don’t have to wait for more ethanol because it is here now as the only commercially viable substitute to fossil fuels.  In fact, this year U.S. ethanol producers will rank as our nation’s third largest supplier of fuel on a gasoline-equivalent basis, behind only Canada and Saudi Arabia, and ahead of Venezuela.
 
Ethanol has also triggered more economic prosperity in rural America than anything else in my lifetime.  It has enabled corn farmers to earn more for their crops, and ethanol has given farmers and rural citizens the opportunity to invest in locally owned production facilities, operations where the profits stay in rural America.  According to a report issued by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture in 2008, the combined impact of corn and ethanol production in Minnesota has generated $6 billion in economic activity and impacted 26,000 jobs.  Nationwide, ethanol supports 400,000 jobs across the U.S. economy and generates more than $50 billion to our Gross Domestic Product.
 
At the same time ethanol is becoming more efficient and making a positive difference for the environment and U.S. energy security, oil is making a difference too – a dangerous difference.  At present, 5000 barrels of oil per day are leaking from a deepwater well in the Gulf of Mexico and the spill is polluting the shores of the U.S. Gulf Coast, threatening wildlife and the environment.  
 
I run a construction company, and I am actively engaged in the development of renewable energy from ethanol to wind to biomass power production facilities.  The opinion piece suggests that I have “changed focus” by moving away from corn ethanol and that this should send a message to policy makers to shift away from supporting corn ethanol as well.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  My family and my company fully support the growth of ethanol and welcome the opportunity to construct more ethanol plants.  Unfortunately, government bureaucracy currently limits corn ethanol from expanding and today’s installed capacity for corn ethanol is maxed out under current law.  In other words, the ethanol plants in operation and currently under construction in the U.S. have the capability to exceed the 15 billion gallon per year limit of production included in the 2007 Energy Bill.  That’s right, Congress has capped the volume of corn ethanol by allowing no more than 15 billion gallons of production to qualify for the Renewable Fuels Standard.  What’s more, at present the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) arbitrarily restricts the volume of ethanol that can be blended into a gallon of gasoline to just 10 percent.  I am working with others to tackle these problems, but until or unless EPA allows more ethanol in gasoline or Congress acts, there isn’t any market space available to build new plants.  
 
It is important to note that public policy is not only holding corn ethanol back from unleashing its ability to provide the U.S. with cleaner and more affordable fuel, but these restrictions also prevent the “next-generation” of biofuels from becoming commercially available.  I support both corn ethanol and advanced biofuels and am disappointed that some try to pit corn ethanol against advanced biofuel – we need both.  As we employ technology to drive down the process and capital costs associated with advanced biofuel, let’s take advantage of the benefits of corn ethanol.
 
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the amount of corn currently stored on farms in the U.S. is about 4.6 billion bushels, which is larger than the amount of corn that is expected to be processed into ethanol during the 2009/2010 marketing year.  U.S. farmers can produce enough corn for feed, fuel, and food, and U.S. ethanol producers can efficiently distill corn into clean-burning renewable fuel and high-value livestock feed through distillers grains.  
 
Entrepreneurs in the U.S. are capable of replacing foreign oil with corn ethanol and advanced biofuels from a variety of sources, but only if the policy limitations are addressed by Congress and the Administration.  That’s where we ought to focus.

The ethanol tax credit must be extended

A bill was introduced today in the U.S. Senate by Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Kent Conrad (D-ND) to extend VEETC -- the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit -- for five years at the current rate of 45 cents per gallon.  Called the GREEN Jobs Act of 2010 ("Grow Renewable Energy from Ethanol Naturally"), the bill mirrors its U.S. House companion bill, introduced on March 25 by Congressmen Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) and John Shimkus (R-IL). 

In his press release, Senator Grassley used the biodiesel tax credit as an example, stating that its expiration at the end of 2009 cost 29,000 clean-energy jobs and put 23,000 more at risk in America's biodiesel industry.

"We can't risk a repeat performance with ethanol, where 112,000 jobs are at stake," Grassley said.

Senator Conrad said, "Our country is in serious danger because of skyrocketing energy costs. This growing crisis demands urgent action. We must be committed to coming together in a bipartisan way to lessen our dependence on foreign oil, while aggressively pursuing alternative sources of energy such as biofuels. Extending these tax credits is a step in the right direction."

Brian Jennings of the American Coalition for Ethanol cited ethanol's direct benefits to Americans.

"The American people directly benefit from ethanol through the creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs and by saving money on a clean, renewable product at the pump. If it is a priority to save these high-skill, high-wage jobs in the U.S. and provide consumers with affordable fuel, it is imperative that these ethanol tax credits are renewed this year."

If you support the extension of these important tax credits for ethanol, please contact your Members of Congress and urge their support of these bills.  ACE hosts a Legislative Action Center where you can send a message to your representatives in Congress in less than one minute's time: www.capwiz.com/ethanol.

Posted by: Kristin Brekke

National Agriculture Week: Celebrating the contributions of farmer-owned ethanol plants

In honor of National Agriculture Week, we here at the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) would like to say a big "thank you" to farmer-owned ethanol plants.  Farmers were some of the first to believe in ethanol and take the risk of building ethanol plants in their local communities with local investment.  Would the others who followed in ethanol production have invested in building plants if the farmer-owned ethanol plants hadn't proved successful?  Some may have, but I bet many would not. 

Farmer-owned plants in large part can be thanked for giving ethanol a good start and laying the foundation for the widespread production of ethanol we have today.  It was visionary, really.

We did some research into the current ownership structure of U.S. ethanol production and found that farmer-owned plants are still a very important part of the industry.  Forty-four of the approximately 200 operating ethanol plants are farmer-owned, or 22 percent.  These farmer-owned plants produce nearly 2.5 billion gallons of ethanol annually, representing nearly one-fifth of the industry's total capacity.  And many more ethanol plants can be considered "locally owned" because local community members are shareholders in the company.

And regardless of its ownership structure, each ethanol plant benefits its local ag economy through a new market for grain, an improved basis, and the availability of distillers grain as livestock feed.  Not to mention the benefits to the economy at large of good jobs, increased tax revenues, and so on.  So, as you celebrate National Agriculture Day, be sure to thank a farmer for the food on your plate, as well as the fuel in your tank!  Read ACE's full statement here.

The best ethanol lobbyists

In just a few days ACE members will set out to take part in our annual “fly-in” where we showcase to Members of Congress the grassroots strength and voice of the ethanol industry.  Every advocacy/trade group in the country has a lobbyist – there’s nothing particularly special about that.  What makes ACE unique and helps us effectively advocate for aggressive and progressive ethanol policies is that we have thousands of grassroots members who are willing to take the time to let their Members of Congress know why ethanol is important to them.

A handful of these advocates join us each year in DC for the fly-in.  During last year’s fly-in ACE members Vivian Pappel (who owns a lab supply company in Nebraska), Rich Wiarda (a South Dakota farmer and board member for an ethanol plant) and Bill Hejl (a North Dakota farmer and former president of the World Association of Beet and Cane Growers) and I met with several Members of Congress and their staff.  Vivian, Bill, and Rich are pictured here with the Legislative Assistant in the office of Congressman Steve Kagen of Wisconsin.

Vivian said she had never “lobbied” Congress before, but thanks to some help from her teammates, a briefing we did for her and others prior to the Hill visits, and a few tips on effective lobbying – she was a rock star, as were Rich and Bill. For example, Vivian was able to impress upon Congress that her laboratory is able to create new jobs when her ethanol plant customers are doing well, and alternatively she faces the thankless proposition of cutting jobs when her ethanol plant customers are hurting.  It is one thing for a registered lobbyist to tell a Member of Congress that ethanol creates jobs in rural America – it is quite another for a business owner like Vivian to make that case.

Vivian’s story is the genuine grassroots narrative that is so compelling to Members of Congress.  It is that sort of compelling ethanol story our members intend to convey on March 22-23 in DC, when we make our voices heard on issues such as VEETC reauthorization, blender pumps, and FFVs.  There are still a few days remaining to sign up for the fly-in.  Register or learn more at this link.

Posted by: Brian Jennings

Lawmakers need to hear from the real ethanol experts

This photo was taken March 4, 2009 of part of the group that traveled to Capitol Hill for the American Coalition for Ethanol's first-annual "Biofuels Beltway March."  These folks are the real ethanol experts -- the best and most effective lobbyists.

In their day jobs they are farmers, small business owners, ethanol producers, bankers, educators, and accountants.  Last March these ethanol advocates became ethanol lobbyists and met personally with more than 70 Members of Congress or their staff, and with Lisa Jackson, Administrator of the U.S. EPA.

The word "lobbyist" so often has a negative connotation, but here that's not the case.  These people each had real-life experience with ethanol and a personal message to bring to Congress.  They were able to share first-hand stories and answer questions in a way that a paid lobbyist can't. 

I was part of a small group that visited the office of U.S. Senator John Thune, as seen below.  Two members of the group were farmers from South Dakota, both members of the board at one of the state's ethanol plants.  They had the incredible opportunity to sit down across the table from a person in DC who makes decisions that directly impact their business -- both farming and ethanol production.  They told about the current difficult financial situation and offered suggestions for ways federal programs could be altered to be of much better service to ethanol producers.  This face-to-face interaction with Members of Congress is simply the most effective way to get our message across about ethanol.

Will you join us in sharing the ethanol message in DC?  Please consider taking part in ACE's second annual fly-in, set for March 22 and 23.  More details and registration information can be found at www.ethanol.org under the "Get Involved" tab on the right.  An article recapping last year's event can be read at www.ethanoltoday.com in the April 2009 issue located in the Archives. 

ACE needs your help to tell Congress to extend the ethanol tax credit, approve E15 for all vehicles, and push for more flex-fuel vehicles and ethanol blender pumps.  Thank you!

Posted by: Kristin Brekke