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

by Posted on April 2, 2015

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

Posted 2 April 2015 in

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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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Scott Walker Just Blatantly Pandered to Iowa’s Corn Farmers

by JudeSlater Posted on March 9, 2015

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

by Posted on March 6, 2015

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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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Renewable Fuels: Creating Jobs and Spurring Innovation

by Posted on February 3, 2015

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Renewable Fuels: Creating Jobs and Spurring Innovation

Posted 3 February 2015 in

National

Since its passage in 2005, the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) has sparked innovation and investment in communities across the United States. More than just spurring growth in the traditional ethanol industry though, the RFS has also accelerated and encouraged the development of the next generation of clean, renewable fuel.

As an op-ed in Roll Call notes, at a time when overall foreign direct investment was falling in the United States, projects in the biofuels sector were attracting hundreds of millions of dollars from around the world. These investments were on the verge of launching a whole new era of economic growth for rural communities across the United States when the EPA threatened to change the way it administers the RFS.

Though the EPA has since delayed that decision, the uncertainty has led foreign investors to pause as they wait to see whether the Obama administration will recommit to a strong RFS.

The impact of this uncertainty has been immediate and damaging for this growing industry.

Despite the successful completion of a $500 million production facility in Kansas, Abengoa, a Spanish company, is no longer considering additional investments in cellulosic ethanol in the U.S.
After investing some $500 million in R&D and production in California, Nebraska, and North Carolina, Novozymes, a Danish biotech company, is not planning further investment in the U.S. advanced biofuels market.
After opening a cellulosic plant in Iowa with American partner POET, DSM, a Dutch company, now sees China as the best place to invest.

These projects show the promise and possibility of sustained commitment to cellulosic ethanol in the U.S. Now, more than ever, we need President Obama to stand up for a strong RFS.

It’s not too late to get the final rule right and to make sure the United States is the leader in producing the cleanest fuels in the world.

Read the Roll Call column.

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Renewable Fuels: Creating Jobs and Spurring Innovation

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American Drivers Can Save $0.61 Per Gallon by Choosing Renewable Fuels

by Posted on June 18, 2014

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American Drivers Can Save $0.61 Per Gallon by Choosing Renewable Fuels

Posted 18 June 2014 in

National

As the situation in Iraq comes home to motorists paying higher prices at the pump, more and more Americans are choosing less expensive, homegrown fuels as opposed to reliance on the volatile market for foreign oil. In fact, an analysis of data covering the past year from E85prices.com shows that drivers with “Flex Fuel” vehicles in the U.S. can pay an average of $0.61 less per gallon by filling up with E85, which contains up to 85 percent American ethanol.

As you probably know, ethanol is a higher octane fuel that improves engine performance. That’s why it has been added to gasoline for decades and is now being blended at higher levels into the fuels used throughout professional auto racing. Prices for American-grown renewable fuels like ethanol and advanced biofuels have just gotten better and better thanks to America’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which ensures that homegrown renewable fuels are available as an option to American consumers.

The analysis of data from “E85 Prices” also showed how drivers nationwide have at times saved as much as a whopping $0.76 per gallon at the pump over the past year by filling up on E85. And because ethanol increases the available fuel supply, it helps to drive down the price of gasoline for all drivers regardless of whether they choose a higher blend fuel like E15 or E85. And you’ve probably already heard that in addition to saving American drivers money, the RFS has helped to support 852,000 jobs and $184.5 billion in economic output in the U.S.

Meanwhile, violence in Iraq is driving high gas prices even higher than predicted. Mere worries about oil supply issues have already helped drive world and U.S. prices to their highest levels since September. Americans could see prices for regular gasoline jump more than $0.20 per gallon over the next couple weeks as violence in Iraq continues.

Our analysis coincides with a Fuels America advertising campaign to highlight the consumer savings the RFS and the renewable fuels industry deliver for Americans. This week, the coalition is running digital ads that ask Americans why we should “let Big Oil pump us dry,” and call on our leaders to “invest in affordable, homegrown renewable fuels” by protecting America’s Renewable Fuel Standard.

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American Drivers Can Save $0.61 Per Gallon by Choosing Renewable Fuels

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Report Shows Renewable Fuels Support 852,000 Jobs and $46 Billion in Wages for America’s Workers

by Posted on April 24, 2014

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Report Shows Renewable Fuels Support 852,000 Jobs and $46 Billion in Wages for America’s Workers

Posted 24 April 2014 in

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WASHINGTON, DC — The Fuels America coalition today released an economic impact study by John Dunham & Associates showing the far-reaching benefits of renewable fuels for America’s workers and the U.S. economy – including supporting more than 850,000 American jobs.

Renewable fuels now represent nearly 10% of America’s fuel supply and have helped reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil to the lowest level in years. The analysis takes into account the entire supply chain for renewable fuels and quantifies the impact to the U.S. economy, including:

Driving $184.5 billion of economic output
Supporting 852,056 jobs and $46.2 billion in wages
Generating $14.5 billion in tax revenue each year

The full analysis is publicly available on the Fuels America website, including localized reports for every state and every congressional district in the country .

The report tells the story of an innovative, advanced renewable fuels and biofuels industry that is producing growing benefits for America’s economy. “The data are in: The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is driving billions of dollars of economic activity across America,” the report concludes. “This is the result of years of investment by the biofuel sector to bring clean, low carbon renewable fuels to market.”

Embraced by both Democrats and Republicans and signed into law by President Bush – but bitterly opposed by the oil industry – the RFS calls for the use of American-grown renewable fuels in our transportation fuel supply. The oil industry is urging the U.S. EPA and/or Congress to repeal or weaken the RFS so that renewable fuels do not further reduce oil industry market share.

Fuels America stands with the thousands of farm families, workers, small business owners, environmental advocates, veterans and military families who submitted comments to the U.S. EPA urging the agency to protect the Renewable Fuel Standard and support the development of clean, homegrown American fuels.

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Report Shows Renewable Fuels Support 852,000 Jobs and $46 Billion in Wages for America’s Workers

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Fuels America Launches Major National TV and Digital Ad Campaign, Website on Earth Day

by Posted on April 22, 2014

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Fuels America Launches Major National TV and Digital Ad Campaign, Website on Earth Day

Posted 22 April 2014 in

National

Fuels America coalition members today announced the launch of the “Oil Rigged” television and digital ad campaign and OilRigged.com to expose the many ways the oil industry is rigging the system to protect their profits and block the transition to clean, American renewable fuels.

The campaign begins today with the launch of OilRigged.com, at least two weeks of ads on cable stations nationwide, as well as extensive digital advertising that will include an Earth Day takeover of Politico.com.

The campaign shows the benefits of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which gives consumers access to innovative American renewable fuels — which are “cleaner, less expensive, and better for engines” — and warns not to let the oil industry muddy the renewable fuels debate and “rig the system” against competition. The television advertisement notes that the oil industry reaped profits of “$177,000 per minute” last year at consumers’ and taxpayers’ expense.

Oil companies have made the RFS the focus of hundreds of millions of dollars in distorted attacks, simply because the RFS is the most important policy moving America away from reliance on foreign oil and toward a healthier economy and environment.

Embraced by both Democrats and Republicans and signed into law by President Bush, the RFS calls for the use of American-grown renewable fuels in our transportation fuel supply to benefit our economy and environment. Innovative renewable fuels have saved the U.S. as much as $50 billion in a single year and support over 400,000 jobs across the country.

Fuels America stands with the thousands of farm families, workers, small business owners, environmental advocates, military families and veterans who submitted comments to the EPA in support of renewable fuels and a strong RFS. With the resources on OilRigged.com, consumers and decision-makers can avoid getting “oil rigged.”

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Fuels America Launches Major National TV and Digital Ad Campaign, Website on Earth Day

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Advanced biofuels grow the economy, lower gas prices and benefit the environment

by Posted on April 8, 2014

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Advanced biofuels grow the economy, lower gas prices and benefit the environment

Posted 8 April 2014 in

National

Today, the Senate Agriculture Committee held a hearing to examine the status of advanced biofuels in the US. The message was clear: advanced biofuels grow the economy, lower gas prices and are good for the environment – and we need the RFS to keep it that way.

“We’ve heard for years that advanced biofuels are just around the corner. Well, we’re here. We’re at the point where it’s actually happening,” said Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).

Jan Koninckx, the Global Business Director for Biorefineries at DuPont Industrial Biosciences reiterated this sentiment:

 

Koninckx went on to talk about the importance of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to the continued growth of advanced fuels, saying, “the bottom line here is that driven by the RFS, we have completely re-imagined how we fuel our planet. We do so with renewable resources without adding any additional CO2 into the atmosphere. It is a remarkable achievement. And when you look at this from the perspective of a science company – this has actually gone quite fast.”

The idea that advanced biofuels have arrived and that the RFS has been crucial in their development, and that a strong RFS is crucial to their future, is an idea shared by all of the witnesses.

 

Senator Stabenow further reiterated what the witnesses had shared by saying “Now we need to provide certainty through a strong Renewable Fuel Standard.”

The debate over of how strong the RFS should be boils down to a simple question: Do we want a future with more advanced biofuel, which will provide economic and environmental benefits for us all, or do we want to become more reliant on oil and deal with the consequences of expensive fuel that degrades our earth more and more with each passing day?

Let’s protect the RFS.

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Advanced biofuels grow the economy, lower gas prices and benefit the environment

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New Year, Same Spin

by Posted on January 7, 2014

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New Year, Same Spin

Posted 7 January 2014 in

National

The oil industry’s lobbying group, the American Petroleum Institute (API), has just released its 2014 State of American Energy summary, and it’s no surprise they’re taking yet another opportunity to spread misinformation about the Renewable Fuel Standard and its role in promoting viable alternatives to oil.

Underlying API’s claims about the RFS is the idea that there’s a “blend wall” preventing the wider adoption of higher renewable fuel blends like E15 (the DOE’s most extensively tested fuel, ever). When the RFS first passed, the oil industry effectively pledged to invest in the infrastructure necessary to bring renewable blends to our gas pumps. But now that renewable fuel is presenting true competition, they’re doing everything in their power to prevent its adoption. That means engaging in frivolous lawsuits, fabricating safety concerns about E15 and discouraging franchisees from carrying the fuel.

The oil companies don’t want to blend more renewable fuel into gasoline because it hurts their bottom line. In fact, it cost them (and saved you) $50 billion in 2012, so it’s no surprise they’re doing what they can to squash the competition. So who benefits from renewable fuel? You do, in the form of lower gas prices, reduced carbon emissions and increased national security. The choice should be clear.

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New Year, Same Spin

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Why the Renewable Fuel Standard is Good for the Climate

by Posted on December 12, 2013

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Why the Renewable Fuel Standard is Good for the Climate

Posted 12 December 2013 in

National

Despite well-financed opposition from the oil industry, the Renewable Fuel Standard enjoys strong support across the political spectrum, from conservative lawmakers like Senator Chuck Grassley to progressive groups like the Center for American Progress (CAP). Yesterday, CAP published a new issue brief making the environmental case for the Renewable Fuel Standard. As they note:

The RFS is a valuable policy that is creating a market for cleaner-burning biofuels that will reduce carbon pollution in the transportation sector and help address the urgent threat of climate change.

CAP also recognizes the importance of the RFS for sustaining investment in advanced biofuels like cellulosic ethanol:

The development of advanced biofuels will only continue with the market certainty provided by the RFS, which enables companies to invest in the development and commercialization of cellulosic and advanced biofuels that are half as dirty as conventional fuels. Without the RFS, the diversification of fuel sources, the investment in advanced biofuels, and the effectiveness of U.S. climate policy will be severely limited.

Despite this clear evidence that the RFS is a vital part of our climate policy, the Obama Administration has proposed scaling back on renewable fuel in 2014. If you agree that this is the wrong decision, take one minute to send a letter to President Obama in support of the Renewable Fuel Standard.

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Why the Renewable Fuel Standard is Good for the Climate

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