The Biden administration is the best friend the biofuel industry ever had, notwithstanding gripes that it set the RFS too low, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday. Vilsack defended the administration’s record while announcing an additional $450 million to encourage the sale of higher blends of biofuels, such as E15, through installation of dispensing pumps, storage tanks and related equipment.
An initial $50 million for the Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program (HBIIP) was announced last December, so the new money raised total funding to $500 million. The $450 million would be awarded in $90 million tranches every three months through early 2025. During a trip to the Minneapolis area, Vilsack announced 59 projects from New Hampshire to California would receive $25 million in HBIIP grants from the original $50 million, with additional awards to come.
Vilsack cited the large infusion of cash into HBIIP and waivers allowing summer-time sale of E15 as signs of a strong administration commitment to biofuels. The RFS for 2023-25, announced last week, sets the highest-ever target for blending biofuels into U.S. fuel suppy and last summer’s climate, health and tax bill created incentives for sustainable aviation fuel.
“The reality is no administration has been more supportive of the biofuels industry than the Biden administration,” said Vilsack. “That’s a fact.”
Ethanol trade groups, who grumbled at the RFS announcement last week, applauded the funding for HBIIP, which pays up to 75 percent of the cost for retailers who add or upgrade equipment to sell higher blends of biofuels. The Renewable Fuels Association said it was “thrilled” by the funding, “which will help bring lower-costs biofuel blends like E15 and E85 to more fuel retail locations across the country.”
During a teleconference, Vilsack said the USDA would assist growers as appropriate for damages in the “flash” drought that developed since May in the Midwest. He mentioned a number of disaster relief programs and the common step during droughts of allowing farmers to graze livestock or harvest hay from cropland ordinarily off-limits in the Conservation Reserve.
“I’m glad you’re open to emergency haying and grazing,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Democrat. “I think that’s the way we are headed.”
Seventeen of the 59 HBIIP grants went to projects in Minnesota. Sen. Tina Smith said the state “has long been a leader in biofuels. It has meant tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity.”
The list of 59 projects that received HBIIP grants is available here.