The E-Xchange — Environment
A Reality Check on API’s “RFS Reality Gap” Report
It’s time for a reality check. RFA's Geoff Cooper offers rebuttals to API’s far-fetched arguments from its recently-released report, tells the “rest of the story” that was conveniently omitted from the report’s misleading charts, and underscores the importance of staying the course with the RFS.
Posted in Environment, Oil, Production, Renewable Fuel Standard
N.D. Oil Industry Flares Off $1B Worth of Natural Gas…But Balks at Investments in Renewable Fuels
According to a recent study, government data show that nearly 30% of the natural gas extracted as a byproduct of fracking for oil in North Dakota is being burned off, or “flared.” That’s right, three out of every 10 cubic feet of natural gas extracted in North Dakota ends up being burned at the wellhead and released into the atmosphere.
Posted in Energy, Environment, Oil
A Call for Global Cooperation in Spain
Ed Hubbard had the unique opportunity to participate in the World Biofuels Conference in Seville, but despite the beautiful location, it wasn’t all love for the European Union. Current EU tariffs are proving damaging to its own demand, and the impact would spread to the global biofuel trade. It is clear that Europe’s industry would be better served with a more cooperative approach to trade relations.
Posted in Ethanol, Environment, Exports, Tariff
What ILUC? Amazon Deforestation Rates Hit Lowest Point Since at Least 1988
Geoff Cooper responds to US ethanol causing "indirect land use change" and the continuous annual reduction in deforestation rates resulting in the lowest point since 1988.
Posted in Agriculture, Corn, Brazil, Ethanol, Energy, Environment, Land Use
Letter to the Editor - Dinneen to Big Oil: Focus on the Facts
RFA’s President and CEO Bob Dinneen submitted the following letter to the Orlando Sentinel in response to their recent article featuring Charles Drevna, President of the American Fuels & Petrochemical Manufacturers.
Posted in Environment, Gas Prices, Jobs, Oil, Renewable Fuel Standard
IER’s Response to Politico Op-Ed Smells Like a Skunk
In a new post on the Institute for Energy Research blog, Robert Murphy suggests that I mislead Politico readers in a recent op-ed about the RFS, RIN credits, and gas prices. IER claiming that I misrepresented the facts on the RFS is a bit like a skunk saying a rose smells bad.
Posted in Ethanol, Environment, Gas Prices, Renewable Fuel Standard
Letter to the Editor - Response to Chicago Tribune Editorial
In a Letter to the Editor of the Chicago Tribune in response to "Food and the Drought", I point out that yes, this years drought is undoubtedly painful, but we will not know the impact on corn supply until harvest. In the meantime, we must avoid speculation and allow the marketplace work.
Posted in Corn prices, Ethanol, Environment
Improvements in Ethanol Process Result in Lower GHG Emissions
America is home to the most innovative, productive and efficient ethanol and grain producers in the world. This increasing productivity and efficiency contributes directly to ethanol’s ability to lower greenhouse gas emissions from gasoline on a lifecycle basis. American farmers and ethanol producers are consciously investing in technology that dramatically lowers their carbon footprint while producing more fuel, feed, and food than ever before.
Posted in Ethanol, Energy, Environment
From farm to biorefinery: Ethanol production efficiency improves
In the second part of RFA’s series on the improving efficiencies of corn ethanol production, the focus will be specifically on input use—both on the farm and at the biorefinery.
Posted in Ethanol, Energy, Environment, Production, Water
Ethanol is helping form the backbone of a new rural economy
America's commitment to ethanol and renewable fuels has been a unparalleled success for rural America. It has created jobs, spurred economic activity, and even given some rural residents a reason and the opportunity to move back home. Yet, critics of ethanol would lead you to believe that ethanol is the scourage of rural America. A new paper from an anti-ethanol group, Food and Water Watch, goes so far as to compare domestic ethanol production to the illegal methamphetamine plague impacting rural areas. Like much of the rhetoric from those opposing ethanol, this paper is not based on the facts and takes poetic license to irresponsible levels.
Posted in Agriculture, Ethanol, Environment, Food, Fuel, Jobs, Oil, Production, Renewable Fuels
2011 State of the Industry Address
This morning at the 16th Annunal National Ethanol Conference, I will be giving the State of the Industry Address, dicussing the successes the ethanol industry has had and challenges that are in front of us.
Posted in Congress, E15, Ethanol, Energy, Environment, Exports, Fuel, Land Use, National Ethanol Conference, Production
NPR: Lop-sided and Outdated. Where’s Big Oil?
As NPR is still reeling from the November congressional and public outcry to bar local public radio stations from using taxpayer dollars to purchase NPR programing as a result of perceived bias in “reporting”, it is very surprising that NPR would then turn around and run a lop-sided and at times miserably outdated series on ethanol as produced by Harvest Public Media. After listening and reading the past two days’ “reports”, a number of items need to be addressed.
Posted in Agriculture, Ethanol, Environment, Jobs, Oil, Production
If a Tree Doesn’t Fall in the Forest, Will ENGOs and Regulators Notice?
Environmental lawyer Timothy Searchinger’s ILUC hypothesis, already reeling, took another crippling blow today when Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen to its lowest rate since the government began collecting data in 1988. Data from the Brazilian government clearly show that Amazon deforestation rates in Brazil have been plunging for the last seven years, and the 2010 rate is less than one-quarter of the rate experienced in 2004 when deforestation reached more than 10,700 square miles. All of this has occurred while U.S. biofuels production has increased dramatically (nearly 300% since 2004), proving once again that there is no correlation between U.S. ethanol output and deforestation. Will the ENGOs and regulators notice?
Posted in Brazil, Ethanol, Environment, Land Use, Production
RFA President Speaks at Cellulosic Biofuels Summit
Today I will be speaking at the Cellulosic Biofuels & Biorefineries Summit this morning in Washington, DC. I plan to talk about key issues within the cellulosic community including the U.S.Department of Agriculture's Loan Guarantee program, investment into cellulosic ethanol and indirect land use and carbon accounting. Read my full remarks by clicking the link above.
Posted in Ethanol, Environment, Fuel, Land Use, Production, Renewable Fuel Standard, USDA
You can have your opinion, but not your own facts
Lots of editorial boards have come out in support of and against ethanol. They are welcome to their opinions. What they are not welcome to is their own facts. In attacking ethanol as the Houston Chronicle did in its editorial “Food versus fuel: Rising grain costs show folly of continuing federal ethanol subsidies,” the editorial board propagated misinformation and, at some points, simply made up facts to support their predetermined opinion.
Posted in Ethanol, Environment, Exports, Fuel, Production, Research
Making Mountains Out of Molehills
Last week, NRDC’s Nathanael Greene noted my frustration with his organization’s hasty dismissal of new Department of Energy research that shows “…minimal to zero indirect land use change was induced by use of corn for ethanol over the last decade.” NRDC immediately attempted to trash the DOE work, which was conducted by seasoned scientists at the agency’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Nathanael went so far as to suggest it “tells us nothing about ILUC.” It’s interesting that NRDC could reach such a conclusion without actually ever having seen the study (it hasn’t been published yet), without ever having laid eyes on the raw data underlying the analysis, or without ever having experimented with the methodology that ORNL used.
Posted in Ethanol, Environment, Land Use, Research, U.S Dept. of Energy
Hypocrisy in the name of the planet
Environmentalists were among the early supporters of ethanol as they sought to mitigate the damage done by man’s overly heavy dependence on petroleum. Now that ethanol is trying to go mainstream, environmentalists are turning on ethanol production in an oil-fueled haze. But it wasn’t that long ago the leading environmentalists were urging more ethanol use.
Posted in Ethanol, Environment, Renewable Fuels, Renewable Fuel Standard
Secretary Vilsack Addresses Administration Biofuel Policy
Following this morning's remarks by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack regarding Obama Administration biofuel policy, Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen issued the following statement: "The Obama Administration has shown strong leadership on the issue of domestic biofuels, putting forward a vision that recognizes the importance of the existing industry and the potential of new technologies. Domestic ethanol production is one of the few bright spots in a gloomy economic forecast, providing tens of thousands of jobs in hundreds of rural communities all across the country. By expanding the scope of American ethanol production to include new feedstocks from grasses to wood waste to algae, the industry can extend the benefits seen in rural America to every corner of the country".....
Posted in Ethanol, Energy, Environment, Fuel, Renewable Fuels, Renewable Fuel Standard, USDA
ILUC: Real World Results Vs. Economic Theory
Since a polemic paper from environmental attorney Tim Searchinger was released in February 2008, a false notion that American ethanol production from grain was leading to Brazilian rainforest destruction has permeated discussions around ethanol's environmental contributions. Now, a team of researchers from the Department of Energy have analyzed real world data from the period of greatest American ethanol expansion and found this notion to be without merit.
Posted in Agriculture, Brazil, Ethanol, Environment, Land Use, Renewable Fuels, Research, U.S Dept. of Energy
White House Underscores Ethanol Support at RFA Annual Meeting
Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change Policy Heather Zichal reiterated the commitment of the Obama Administration to the entire ethanol industry regardless of technology or feedstock at RFA's Annual Membership Meeting this week. Specifically, Zichal highlighted the Administration's support of existing ethanol policy, including the tax incentive in its current form, as well as its commitment to ethanol technologies of every kind.
Posted in Agriculture, E15, Ethanol, EPA, Environment, Renewable Fuels, Renewable Fuel Standard, VEETC
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