ethanol

A first-of-its-kind study lays out, on a county-by-county basis, the environmental impact of growing corn in the United States, offering the industry an unprecedented tool for improving sustainability along its supply chain.

Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, chairman of one of the committees investigating Russian meddling in U.S. elections, said on Twitter that President Trump called him and "he assured me he's pro-ethanol ... he knows that ethanol is good, good, good." The phone call came on the same day the Senate Judiciary Committee said it would interview Trump's son, Donald Jr., in coming weeks as part of the Russia investigation.

Minnesota ruled that biofuels will need to contain a mix of 20 percent soybeans or other renewable fuel sources, cutting the amount of emissions while boosting demand for soybeans, said MPR News. "This is an opportunity to add value to farmers' products," state agriculture commissioner Dave Frederickson said last Thursday, according to the report. "Given the fact that the first B10 mandate actually added about 63 cents per bushel, on every bushel sold, we're hoping to double that as we move into a B20 mandate."

The federal mandate to mix corn ethanol into gasoline has plateaued at 15 billion gallons a year, so ethanol distillers are looking for other markets and throttling back on production, says Reuters. Three companies — ethanol industry leader Archer-Daniels-Midland, Green Plains Inc. and Pacific Ethanol — are turning to industrial and beverage alcohol production, an avenue open to them because ethanol is grain alcohol.

The Advanced Biofuels Business Council told the Senate Environment Committee that year-round sales of E15 would widen the market for cellulosic ethanol, made from gasses and woody plants, reported DTN. At present, E15, a 15 percent mix of ethanol and gasoline, cannot be sold during the summer because of air pollution rules.

Billionaire Carl Icahn has been an informal White House adviser on regulatory issues since the early days of the Trump administration. Five Democratic senators asked EPA chief Scott Pruitt for all documents involving any communications involving Icahn and his businesses and the EPA, which regulates air pollution laws and biofuel usage.

In hopes of expanding sales of gasoline with a 15 percent biofuel blend, ethanol trade groups are putting pressure on the EPA as well as Congress, says DTN. Their immediate goal is approval by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee of a bill to waive a fuel volatility rule, which would allow the sale of E15 during the summer.

The job went to Sonny Perdue of Georgia, although Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley loudly advocated for a northerner to be agriculture secretary under President Trump. Grassley told a crowd of Iowans that his doubts were erased went he met Perdue, who repeated for the crowd his bona fides in the three major U.S. crops, grown predominantly in the Midwest and Plains.

With a letter to President Trump, two dozen senators, mainly from the Midwest, stepped into a dispute that recently fractured the unity of ethanol trade groups. Spearheaded by Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the letter asks the president to keep petroleum refiners responsible for compliance with the Renewable Fuels Standard, which requires use of biofuels in the gasoline supply.

An ethanol industry trade group says President Trump's decision to review fuel economy standards for automobiles set by his predecessor could mean a larger role for "high octane, low carbon fuels" such as renewable fuels. Trump announced "the big news that we're going to work on the CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) standards, so you can make cars in America again" during a speech in Detroit.

The avowed watchdog group Public Citizen says in letters to the U.S Senate and House that businessman Carl Icahn, a special adviser to the White House, may have violated federal lobbying laws when he tried to change the Renewable Fuels Standard, reports DTN. Icahn says the group is inciting a "witch hunt" against him.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, the Trump administration's nominee for U.S. ambassador to China, says he is assured that a change in the Renewable Fuels Standard sought by oil refiners "is not going to happen," reported Radio Iowa. But a White House official told Reuters the proposal was under review, although the administration took no position "either way on this issue at this time."

Bipartisan legislation was filed in the House and Senate to allow year-round sale of E15, a higher, 15 percent blend of ethanol into gasoline than the traditional 10 percent. At present, E15 cannot be sold during the summer, a factor in this week's fracture among ethanol trade groups.

The largest of the ethanol trade groups, the Renewable Fuels Association, is out in the cold for supporting a change in the program that gives biofuels a share of the U.S. gasoline market. Fuels America, an agribusiness coalition "committed to protecting America's Renewable Fuels Standard," severed ties with RFA, while the second-largest ethanol group, Growth Energy, said the RFA was doing the dirty work of the oil industry.

The corn ethanol industry squabbled over a rumored White House overhaul of the Renewable Fuels Standard, which guarantees biofuels a share of the gasoline market and provides a market for more than a third of the U.S. corn crop. By the end of the day, however, the White House knocked down talk that it would allow year-round sales of a 15 percent blend of ethanol, a step up from the 10 percent blend that is now standard, and potentially a large expansion in ethanol sales.

As a candidate, Donald Trump supported corn ethanol and, one month after taking office, he reiterated his view, telling the National Ethanol Conference, "renewable fuels are essential to America's energy strategy." The industry is under perennial attack by the oil industry and by some environmental groups, that want to reduce or eliminate the federal mandate to use biofuels.