Tag Archives: renewable-fuel

Renewable Fuel: Good for Our Climate

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Renewable Fuel: Good for Our Climate

Posted 24 November 2015 in

National

Since the passage of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), the United States has achieved major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, protecting our climate and public health.

Over the past 10 years, the RFS has significantly cut carbon emissions – slashing transportation-related CO2 emissions by nearly 590 million metric tons. That’s equivalent to taking more than 124 million cars off the road in that same period.

We can continue to curb carbon emissions by using more clean, homegrown, renewable fuel. Corn ethanol use reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 34 percent compared to gasoline and the rate for cellulosic biofuel is even higher at 108 percent.

The benefits to our air are clear and meaningful. But, the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rule for the RFS would lower ethanol blend volume requirements and drastically increase carbon emissions. If enacted, the EPA’s proposal would add nearly 20 million tons of carbon emissions in this year alone – the same as putting 7.3 million cars back on the road.

If the United States wants to lead the world in efforts to combat climate change and curb greenhouse gas emissions, it must strengthen the RFS. When he looks to other countries at the climate talks in Paris this December, our President needs to remember the most successful policy in his own country aimed at combating climate change and slashing carbon emissions – the Renewable Fuel Standard.

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Renewable Fuel: Good for Our Climate

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Infographic: How Renewable Fuel Combats Climate Change

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Infographic: How Renewable Fuel Combats Climate Change

Posted 18 September 2015 in

National

Simply put: the Renewable Fuel Standard is the only law on the books combating climate change. According to a recently released study by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, the RFS has significantly lowered carbon emission levels and displaced nearly 1.9 billion barrels of foreign oil in the decade since it’s passage.

With so much progress on the line, the United States can’t afford to turn its back on renewable fuel.

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Infographic: How Renewable Fuel Combats Climate Change

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This Is Mike Huckabee’s Brain on Ethanol

Mother Jones

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Mike Huckabee said the right things at the Iowa Ag Summit in March. Charlie Neibergall/AP

On the campaign trail, GOP presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee has been a vocal supporter of the ethanol industry. The former Arkansas governor has repeatedly spoken out in defense of the Renewable Fuel Standard—the federal policy that requires energy companies to blend billions of gallons of biofuels into the nation’s gasoline and diesel supply. That makes political sense in Iowa, where corn is big business. Ethanol made from corn constitutes the vast majority of domestic biofuel consumption. And roughly 40 percent of corn grown in the United States is used to produce ethanol.

So it was a bit surprising when Huckabee used his latest book to take direct aim at biofuels such as ethanol. In the middle of a chapter questioning the science of climate change, he suggested that biofuels have been propped up by unscientific “environmentalist policies” that drive up food prices and make global warming worse. Here’s the relevant passage from God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy, which was published in January:

Climate change isn’t the only field in which the environmental movement has claimed to represent unassailable scientific truth, only to be brought up short by new data.

For years, we were told that biofuels were the future. Skeptics who questioned whether it took more energy to create a gallon of fuel from corn than was generated by burning it were dismissed. But as we devoted more and more of our food crops to energy production, we discovered yet again that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. (Science!) In this case, so-called environmentalist policies hurt the poor when the supply of corn and other grains fell, causing skyrocketing food prices and shortages that led to riots in undeveloped nations. At this writing, the European Union has just agreed to limit biofuels, for those reasons and also because they were found to make some engines run less efficiently, to cause more pollution than expected, and to harm the environment and contribute to global warming, due to the need for clear-cutting more farmland.

Huckabee’s professed skepticism about biofuels actually echoes the views shared by a number of conservative activists and environmentalists. But it diverges greatly from much of what he has said and written elsewhere. For example, here’s what Huckabee wrote in his 2007 book, From Hope to Higher Ground:

One energy source that makes perfect sense for America to aggressively explore and dramatically increase is the production and use of biofuels. The most common biofuels are ethanol and biodiesel, both of which have the potential of decreasing our dependence on oil, but could also have a dramatic and positive impact on America’s agricultural production. It could give our farmers the ability to feed and fuel us. While the cost of converting a biofuel source to usable fuel has been historically expensive and therefore not as attractive as gasoline, creating incentives with potential hefty financial rewards could be valuable in the production of ethanol and biodiesel. New technologies using forms of biomass are increasingly viable, and the production of these would be controlled within our own borders. An added advantage of biofuels is that unlike gasoline and conventional diesel, they contain oxygen, which allows petroleum products to burn more completely, reducing air pollution and cutting back on the buildup of greenhouse gases.

Huckabee reportedly backed the Renewable Fuel Standard during the 2008 campaign (although, in at least one debate, he appeared to reject the idea of biofuel mandates). At the time, his campaign website said that “we need more ethanol.”

This past March—less than two months after slamming biofuels in his book—Huckabee attended the Iowa Ag Summit in Des Moines, where spent 20 minutes answering questions posed by ethanol kingpin and GOP megadonor Bruce Rastetter. “You’ve been an unabashed supporter of the RFS,” Rastetter said.

“Yeah,” responded Huckabee, adding that the biofuel mandate was part of a “bigger picture of energy independence and energy security” that could help the United States “turn the tables” on Russia and Iran. He didn’t say anything about “skyrocketing food prices.” You can watch the exchange here:

Huckabee addressed the issue again at a May 7 campaign event in Sioux City, where he argued that ending government support for ethanol puts farmers and companies “out of business, and it destroys what is beginning to become a more reasonable, responsible, and economically viable industry.”

I asked Huckabee’s campaign how they reconcile the candidate’s campaign-trail biofuels boosterism with the sharp criticism leveled in his book. They didn’t respond.

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This Is Mike Huckabee’s Brain on Ethanol

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Report: Repeal or “Reform” of the Renewable Fuel Standard Would Doom Advanced Biofuels

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Report: Repeal or “Reform” of the Renewable Fuel Standard Would Doom Advanced Biofuels

Posted 2 April 2015 in

National

After years of innovation and investment, the cellulosic biofuels industry is now deploying the lowest carbon, most innovative fuel in the world at commercial scale. A new report from Third Way details the promise and progress of this growing sector, and warns that attempts to repeal or “reform” the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) could stifle innovation and threaten a potentially transformative industry.

Since its passage, the Renewable Fuel Standard has encouraged billions of dollars in R&D as well as additional investments into cellulosic biofuels, the next generation of clean, renewable fuel.

The widespread production of cellulosic biofuels, made from fibrous, non-edible plant material, would allow the U.S. to lower its greenhouse gas emissions, reduce its reliance on oil, and create new opportunities for growth in the agriculture and technology sectors.

While the federal government has aggressively encouraged the development of cellulosic biofuels for the past decade, this emerging sector has recently reached the cusp of success.

Key to this progress has been the existing corn ethanol industry. As the report notes, the corn ethanol industry has helped overcome the technological and economic challenges that have stifled many cellulosic projects. Efforts to alter the eligibility of corn-based biofuels for meeting the requirements of the RFS would be damaging to the emerging advanced biofuels sector. The report notes that:

“While proposals to gut only the corn section of the RFS may not be intended to endanger the development of cellulosic ethanol, this is exactly what would occur. Given the nuances of current fuel markets and how they interact with the RFS, these proposals will discourage cellulosic ethanol investment by companies with a large stake in corn ethanol — the very companies that are helping to commercialize this long-sought fuel.”

The Third Way report offers yet another example of how the RFS is a key part of building an energy policy that encourages innovation, creates jobs, and enhances our national security.

Read the full report.

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Report: Repeal or “Reform” of the Renewable Fuel Standard Would Doom Advanced Biofuels

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Winners &amp; Losers? Changing the Equation at the Pump

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Winners & Losers? Changing the Equation at the Pump

Posted 27 March 2015 in

National

Opponents of the commonsense, bipartisan Renewable Fuel Standard like to say that Washington “shouldn’t pick winners and losers” when it comes to energy policy.

It’s hard to make this argument with a straight face, however, especially since Washington has been favoring oil companies with special tax breaks, an oil spill bailout fund, and other favorable policies for more than a century.

It was, after all, President Woodrow Wilson who signed the “percentage based depletion allowance” into law back in 1913 … a tax break which is, incredibly, still on the books after more than 102 years. In contrast, the ethanol tax credit expired in 2012.

The dominance of oil companies has given them a near monopoly on the marketplace and the power to use exclusive supplier/distributor contracts to dictate which fuels retailers can and cannot make available to consumers. There is a long, well documented history of oil companies exerting this control to prevent consumers from having access to a wider range of renewable fuel options — higher octane options that deliver better engine performance but cost less and cut into their bottom line.

The Renewable Fuel Standard changes that equation, and ensures that homegrown, American made renewable fuel has a chance to access the marketplace. It is providing new fueling options for American consumers and creating market certainty so that businesses are investing billions of dollars in next generation technologies like cellulosic ethanol production. Without it, that investment would quickly shift overseas, and America would become ever more dependent on foreign oil.

Gutting the RFS means allowing oil companies to prevent competitors from accessing the market. Now THAT is picking a winner … the same winner Washington has been picking for a century.

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Winners &amp; Losers? Changing the Equation at the Pump

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Scott Walker Just Blatantly Pandered to Iowa’s Corn Farmers

Mother Jones

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As the Republican governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker has resisted the federal government’s support of the biofuel industry. But last weekend, within the borders of corn-rich Iowa—the state upon which Walker appears most intensely focused for his all-but-announced presidential bid—he sang a different tune. Joining other potential candidates at the Iowa Ag Summit, Walker said he was “willing to go forward on continuing the Renewable Fuel Standard,” a federal policy that requires fuel used in the US to contain at least 10 percent “renewable fuel,” usually ethanol and other biofuel.

As the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel noted, this represents a complete about-face for Walker, who made enemies in Wisconsin for his long resistance to robust ethanol subsidies. Corn is Wisconsin’s most important crop, and in 2012, the state was the nation’s second-biggest ethanol exporter. In January 2014, Walker stayed quiet on a federal proposal to cut ethanol use by three billion gallons. That silence angered biofuel producers in the state, according to the Journal-Sentinel, as well as the governors of nearly every other Midwestern state, including Iowa’s Terry Branstad.

Walker’s opposition to the federal ethanol mandate stretches back to 2006, when he was the Milwaukee county executive running for governor. The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) was a year old, and it was considered a viable way to reduce US use of foreign oil, improve the environment, and help out American farmers. However, Walker said, “it is clear to me that a big government mandate is not the way to support the farmers of this state.” Bruce Pfaff, Walker’s then-campaign manager, told Wisconsin’s Daily Reporter, “How can you justify the mandate when it is not proven whether or not it will help gas prices, the economy or the environment?”

Indeed, studies have found that ethanol is worse for the climate than fossil fuel. Though the mandate has been a boon to corn producers—40 percent of American corn is now used for biofuel—it also caused food prices to rise in the United States and abroad. Beyond that, given the recent increase in fossil fuel production in the US, environmental groups and taxpayer organizations are arguing that continued federal support of ethanol production—once considered an important alternative to foreign oil—is unnecessary.

But in Iowa, which produces nearly a third of US ethanol, the industry is far from unnecessary. The RFS will expire in 2022. This past weekend, Walker said that he’d continue the mandate, but he added that he hoped the United States will eventually not need it.

Walker’s evolution on the issue is already handing his critics and opponents ammunition. The conservative blog Hot Air called Walker’s stance a “big let down.” It praised the lone conservative who opposed RFS last weekend: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. “I recognize that this is a gathering of a lot of folks where the answer you’d like me to give is ‘I’m for the RFS, darnit.’ That’d be the easy thing to do,” Cruz said. “I’ll tell you, people are pretty fed up, I think, with politicians who run around and tell one group one thing, tell another group another thing.”

Walker’s enemies in the Democratic Party let loose too. DNC spokesman Jason Pitt told the Wisconsin State Journal, “If Scott Walker thinks pandering on ethanol is going to convince people he’s anything but backwards on energy and the environment he can think again.”

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Scott Walker Just Blatantly Pandered to Iowa’s Corn Farmers

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Fuels America Launches the “Clean, Secure, American Energy” Campaign

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Fuels America Launches the “Clean, Secure, American Energy” Campaign

Posted 6 March 2015 in

National

As America marks the 102nd anniversary of tax breaks for oil companies this week, the Fuels America coalition is launching the “Clean, Secure American Energy” campaign, an effort that will highlight the success of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The “Clean, Secure, American Energy” campaign will culminate in the tenth anniversary of the RFS in August.

Oil company tax breaks were first signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson as part of the very first income tax code, which took effect on March 1, 1913. In contrast, tax credits for ethanol expired several years ago, and the Renewable Fuel Standard has existed for just 10 years. In those 10 years, however, the commonsense, bipartisan RFS has tripled America’s biofuel production and helped lower our oil dependence to the lowest level in decades, while delivering significant environmental and public health benefits.

The RFS has played an important role in advancing American energy independence and national security as part of an “all of the above” energy strategy. And because Renewable Fuel is produced right here in the United States, the industry supports 852,000 American jobs.

Last week, renewable fuel champions highlighted the environmental benefits of the RFS with the release of a letter to President Obama, urging him to ensure the EPA’s new multiyear rule for the RFS supports growth for existing and new biofuels technologies and lives up to the original intent of the bipartisan law.

“The RFS is working and has resulted in significant environmental gains,” the letter said. The RFS is America’s only fully implemented policy that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants.”

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Fuels America Launches the “Clean, Secure, American Energy” Campaign

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Top 5 Ways the Renewable Fuel Standard is Supporting Rural Economies

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Top 5 Ways the Renewable Fuel Standard is Supporting Rural Economies

Posted 10 February 2015 in

National

From North Carolina to California, renewable fuel is driving economic growth in rural communities across the country. Since the passage of the Renewable Fuel Standard in 2005, the renewable fuel industry has grown by leaps and bounds — and along with it the communities that rely on this rapidly growing sector. As the EPA finalizes the 2014 renewable fuel targets, it’s important to remember that:

The RFS supports more than 852,000 jobs across the United States.
The workers of the renewable fuel sector take home $46.2 billion in wages every year.
The direct output of the renewable fuel industry is greater than the economic activity generated by the beef cattle sector.
There are over 840 facilities supporting renewable fuel production and distribution; research and development; and other activities throughout the country.
Iowa is the top state for biofuels jobs. The renewable fuel sector supports more than 73,000 jobs and $5 billion in wages for Iowa farmers, workers, and small business owners.

With so much on the line, Americans need to know that the President, Congress, and the EPA will stand up for these homegrown jobs — and strong, vibrant rural economies.

Find out how the Renewable Fuel Standard has impacted your community.

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Top 5 Ways the Renewable Fuel Standard is Supporting Rural Economies

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2014: A Banner Year for Renewable Fuel

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2014: A Banner Year for Renewable Fuel

Posted 19 January 2015 in

National

With record ethanol production and the lowest gas prices in years, 2014 was a banner year for the renewable fuel industry. This is good news for the farmers, small business owners, and workers who rely upon this growing sector for their livelihoods. As the new Congress gets to work, it’s important for them to know that:

In 2014, biofuels production reached 14.4 billion gallons — a record — in the United States. As biofuels production soared, U.S. gas prices fell to their lowest levels since 2008 and 2009.
The renewable fuel industry now supports more than 852,000 jobs and $184.5 billion in economic output across the country. This means that more jobs than ever are supported by renewable fuels — especially in America’s rural economies. These are homegrown American jobs that can’t be outsourced.
In 2014, three new commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol facilities came online in America’s Heartland. They will produce the world’s cleanest motor fuel from agricultural waste like corncobs.

All of this progress has been made possible by the Renewable Fuel Standard. At a time of crisis and instability around the globe, we have achieved unprecedented levels of energy independence.

With so much on the line, the United States can’t afford to turn its back on renewable fuels. Congress, the President, and the EPA should keep the progress going and support a strong Renewable Fuel Standard.

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2014: A Banner Year for Renewable Fuel

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What the State of the Union Missed

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What the State of the Union Missed

Posted 29 January 2014 in

National

Viewers of last night’s State of the Union address got the impression that President Obama supports an “all of the above” approach to America’s energy policy. But despite this rhetoric, the President’s own Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to cut back on renewable fuel in 2014 by slashing obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard. This proposal threatens severe economic and environmental effects: drivers will pay billions in increased fuel costs, oil companies stand to increase their profits by more than $10 billion and, according to a recent analysis, 30 million additional metric tons of carbon dioxide will be released into the air as a result of increased petroleum consumption. That’s the equivalent of 5,600,000 more cars on the road.

By signaling a retreat on renewable fuel, the Administration is also threatening the immense progress the industry has made toward commercialization of advanced fuels like cellulosic ethanol. This map, based on data from the Biotechnology Industry Organization, details 68 facilities and more than $5.9 billion of investment in the fuels of tomorrow:

We hope the Administration and the EPA listen to the thousands of comments sent by farm families, small business owners, labor groups and environmental advocates in defense of renewable fuel and revise their proposal for the sake of a clean energy future.

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What the State of the Union Missed

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