ethanol

During a year of record U.S. ethanol production, exports of the biofuel totaled 1.05 billion gallons, second only to the record 1.19 billion gallons shipped to foreign buyers in 2011, said the Renewable Fuels Association. "Our industry produced 15.2 billion gallons of ethanol last year, and while we continue to meet our domestic needs, ethanol exports are essential for future growth,” said RFA chief executive Bob Dinneen.

There are plenty of reasons for optimism in the corn ethanol industry — record production, a higher mandate for biofuels in the gasoline supply and the inauguration of an ethanol supporter, Donald Trump, as president. All the same, the industry is looking for reassurance that the Trump administration will be a friend, considering that prominent federal appointments have gone to ethanol critics.

Bioenergy crops such as switchgrass are highlighted as a potential alternative source of farm income but there is no market for them at present. USDA economists say 25-29 million acres of cropland, equal to half the area planted to wheat annually, would be needed for a bioenergy crops that would be generate as much electricity as hydropower. That's around 6 percent of U.S. production, if there was a federal bio-electricity policy.

With President-elect Donald Trump figuratively looking over his shoulder, Scott Pruitt assured Farm Belt senators that he will support the Renewable Fuels Standard, which guarantees biofuels a share of the gasoline market, if he is confirmed as EPA administrator. Pruitt is state attorney general in Oklahoma, an oil-producing state, which raised questions about whether he would enforce the biofuels mandate.

A U.S. bankruptcy judge approved the sale of Abengoa Bioenergy's 25 million-gallon-a-year cellulosic ethanol plant in Hugoton, Kan., to newly formed Synata Bio for $48.5 million, or 12 cents on the dollar, says Ethanol Producer Magazine. The Hugoton plant, which opened in October 2014, is one of three commercial-scale cellulosic plants in the country.

The fuel industry will be obliged to use 15 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol in 2017, said the EPA. It was the first time the agency has set the target for the biofuel at the maximum allowed by the 2007 energy law. The 500-million-gallon increase in the ethanol mandate comes at a time when U.S. gasoline consumption is rising and making it easier to consume larger volumes of biofuels.

The ethanol industry is too well-established in rural American to be dismantled, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told Bloomberg as the deadline nears for an EPA announcement of the so-called ethanol mandate for 2017. "The Renewable Fuels Standard is solid," Vilsack said.

Myron Ebell, the head of Donald Trump's transition team for EPA, "is a long-time opponent of the Renewable Fuels Standard and ethanol policies," says DTN. In addition, Ebell, who works at the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute, "also is a renowned skeptic of climate science."

The so-called ethanol mandate guarantees the biofuel a share of the gasoline market. Because of this, the Wall Street Journal says "some of the world's biggest oil companies" will see a windfall of more than $1 billion from the sale of renewable fuel credits associated with the mandate.

Ruling that its domestic producers have been "substantially" harmed, China's Commerce Ministry announced anti-subsidy duties of 10-10.7 percent on imports of distillers dried grains, an ethanol co-product used as livestock feed, from the United States beginning on Friday, said Xinhua.

In a preliminary ruling, China's Ministry of Commerce said it will put a duty of 33.8 percent on shipments of distillers dried grains from the United States, a step that could affect ethanol makers and rebound against U.S. soybean meal usage, said Agrimoney. Some in the commodity trade speculated China was playing tit-for-tat with a U.S. complaint to world trade authorities over Chinese farm subsidies.

The $1 per gallon tax credit for biodiesel blenders is due to expire at the end of the year, along with four dozen tax breaks that were extended for a year or two by law makers. Biofuel and farm groups signed a letter asking Congress for a multiyear extension before it adjourns for fall campaigning, said DTN.

The leading contender for Interior secretary if Republican Donald Trump becomes president is Forrest Lucas of Indiana, the founder of Lucas Oil, says Politico, citing two sources familiar with the campaign's deliberations. Lucas is a long-time opponent of biofuels and a founder of a group that challenges animal-rights organizations.

The government of Mexico published a regulation that requires a 5.8-percent blend of ethanol into gasoline sold in the country, with the exception of three major metropolitan areas of Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey, reports the Washington Examiner. U.S. ethanol groups said the mandate represented an expansion of the market for renewable fuels in North America.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump promised to protect the Renewable Fuel Standard and corn-based ethanol, eliminate burdensome regulations like the Waters of the United States rule ("which is a disaster") and provide tax relief to farmers in a speech in Des Moines over the weekend, says the Des Moines Register. Trump also said he would use immigration laws to prevent crime. "We will move justly but we will move fast, believe me. And we will move tough," he said.

Rep. Eric Swalwell led five additional California House members urging the EPA to put the Renewable Fuel Standard program "back on track by finalizing blending targets that are in line with Congress’ original intent." In a letter to the EPA, the lawmakers said the tepid rise in the RFS announced earlier this year falls short of the statutory volumes set by Congress and "sends a chilling signal to biofuels investors."

In a step the ethanol industry called a game changer, HRWT Oil Co. said it will sell pre-blended E15 at four fuel terminals in the Midwest and Mid-South. Gasoline stations have been slow to offer E15 despite EPA approval, partly because of difficulties in acquiring and dispensing the fuel.

The Biden administration awarded $90.3 million in grants to projects in 26 states, from California to Connecticut, to install blender pumps, storage tanks, and other equipment for the sale of fuels, such as E15, with higher-than-usual blends of biofuels, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. With the grants, the USDA has used $221 million of the $500 available through the Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program.