ethanol

The Corn Refiners Association, a trade group whose members make sweeteners, ethanol and starch, "just hired 10 outside lobbyists for an aggressive, unorthodox attack on the federal sugar program just a year after a new farm bill was signed into law," says the Washington Post.

Commercial-scale production of new-generation biofuels has been slowed by a year and a half of uncertainty about federal support for the fuels, which use grass or corn stover as feedstocks rather than food crops, reports DTN, based on a panel discussion at a trade meeting.

The USDA said it will provide up to $100 million in matching funds for "state-led efforts to test and evaluate innovative and comprehensive approaches to market higher blends of renewable fuel, such as E15 and E85."

The U.S. ethanol industry has 213 plants with capacity to produce more than 15 billion gallons a year. With the EPA proposing ethanol use at close to current production levels, "there is little need for new plants in a saturated market," says Reuters after interviewing...

A group of 18 U.S. representatives, including the chairmen of the House Judiciary and Rules committees, is trying to block USDA grants for installation of blender pumps that sell gasoline with a higher ethanol content than the traditional 10 percent.

EPA administrator Gina McCarthy says the agency will issue rules this spring that set the ethanol mandate and define the upstream reach of clean-water laws, according to DTN, but she did not offer a specific date for the announcement.

Two potential aspirants for the Republican nomination for president, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz spoke against an ethanol mandate at the Iowa Ag Summit, according to reports in the Washington Post and the New York Times.

The average 100-million-gallon-a-year ethanol plant in Iowa had a record profit of 54 cents a gallon in 2014, says economist Scott Irwin of U-Illinois at farmdoc daily.

Portions of the Renewable Fuels Standard that effectively mandate the use of corn-based ethanol would be repealed under a bill introduced by Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Jeff Flake of Arizona.

Two of the top-ranking members of the House Agriculture Committee are among the four lead sponsors of a bill to eliminate the federal mandate for corn-based ethanol.

The think tank World Resources Institute says the world food gap could be narrowed greatly if crop-based biofuels - made from corn, sugarcane or vegetable oils - are eliminated. In a working paper, WRI points to estimates that food production must rise by 70 percent by 2050 to feed the growing world population. "If crop-based biofuels were phased out, the 2050 crop calorie gap would decrease from 70 percent to about 60 percent, a significant step toward a sustainable food future," says the report by Tim Searchinger and Ralph Heimlich.

A co-sponsor of a Senate amendment to eliminate annual targets for ethanol consumption says the amendment will not be called for a vote as part of debate on the Keystone pipeline.

A convenience store chain in six mid-Atlantic states, Sheetz Convenience Stores, said it will offer E15 at 60 of its fuel stations in North Carolina by spring 2016.

Ethanol maker Big River Resources will use first-of-its-kind technology at a facility under construction in western Illinois "to extract zein, a highly valuable corn protein that will be used for food and pharmaceutical products," says the Associated Press.

It's now up to the Chicago City Council to decide if service stations in the city will be required to sell E15, a 15 percent blend of ethanol and gasoline. The traditional blend is 10 percent. The idea was approved by the finance subcommittee on Monday.

Ethanol makers are likely to need at least 5 billion bushels of corn for making the renewable fuel in the coming year despite the biofuel selling at a premium to gasoline, say economists Scott Irwin and Darrel Good of U-Illinois.