EPA Approves E-15 Waiver for 2001-2006 Vehicles

On Friday, EPA extended the waiver for the general use of gasoline blended with up to 15 percent ethanol (E-15) to model years 2001-2006 cars and light trucks. EPA reached its decision after reviewing the results of tests of E-15 on 2001-2006 engines conducted by the Department of Energy.

EPA announced that it will not grant a waiver for the use of E-15 in any motorcycles, heavy-duty vehicles or non-road engines this year. The agency stated that that there is no testing data to support such a waiver.

AFBF policy supports increasing the ethanol blending standard to a level higher than 10 percent.

EPA under suit for Ethanol Blend Decisiod

Agriculture Resumes its Infighting

The Grocery Manufacturers Association and the American Meat Institute joined other groups in filing a lawsuit Tuesday against EPA to overturn the agency’s decision to allow a higher ethanol blend in gasoline. The groups said EPA overstepped its authority in allowing cars built in 2007 and later to burn E15 or gasoline with a blend of 15 percent ethanol.

In its filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals, the groups said EPA “clearly exceeded its authority under the Clean Air Act” and “the agency has a legal obligation to adhere to the letter and spirit of the Clean Air Act and, in this case, has failed to do so.”

The American Farm Bureau is a proponent of the blend increase ruling. “Ethanol is a clean-burning, home-grown renewable fuel. Increasing the percentage of ethanol in the domestic gasoline supply moves our nation one step closer to greater energy independence,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman. “It also promotes job creation in rural America.”

Ethanol Plants Showing Strong Profits

Higher corn prices haven’t put a dent in profits for ethanol plants thanks to strong demand for the biofuel and higher prices for dried distillers grain.

Ethanol plants in Iowa are earning a profit of about 27 cents for every gallon produced, compared to a loss of 6 cents per gallon as recently as July, according to Ag Trader Talk, an online grains-information service in Clive, Iowa.

“If you’re not making money in ethanol right now, you have a problem with your production process,” said Jason Ward, an analyst at Northstar Commodity Investments LLC in Minneapolis. “They’ve got three of the four main components working in their favor.”

E15 for 2007 and Newer Vehicles Benefits America

Following the EPA's decision, filling stations will now be able to sell gasoline blended with up to 15% ethanol.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of E15 (gasoline blended with up to 15 percent ethanol) for model year 2007 and newer cars and light-duty trucks is a step toward strengthening America’s commitment to home-grown energy, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

“Ethanol is a clean-burning, home-grown renewable fuel. Increasing the percentage of ethanol in the domestic gasoline supply moves our nation one step closer to greater energy independence,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman. “It also promotes job creation in rural America.”

The decision announced by EPA Wednesday applies to 43 million vehicles or about 20 percent of the current U.S. duty fleet. A second decision by EPA on the use of E15 (for model year 2001 to 2006 cars and light-duty trucks) will be made after additional Department of Energy testing is completed toward the end of the year. A total of 86 million cars/light-duty trucks or about 54 percent of all vehicles on the road today are model year 2001 to 2006.

EPA Approves Ethanol Increase in Gasoline

The EPA yesterday approved a request by Growth Energy, and ethanol industry trade group, to increase the amount of ethanol blended into regular unleaded gasoline from 10 to a maximum of 15%. The approval of the ‘green jobs waiver’ will allow companies to blend up to 15% ethanol into motor vehicle fuel creating a blend known as E-15.

The new standard applies only to 2007 and newer model cars and trucks. EPA is expected to decide whether to approve E15 for vehicles 2001 to 2006 in November.

According to Growth Energy, the group that proposed the new standard, the decision is the first move to help eliminate the ‘blend wall’ or the point at which no more ethanol can be used by the U.S. fleet due to the arbitrary 10% blend limit.

Ethanol Production and Demand Peak

The Renewable Fuels Association reported last week that ethanol production and demand have reached an all-time high. According to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) ethanol production in June was just over 854,000 barrels per day (b/d), or 1.08 billion gallons for the month. Based on data from the first six months of 2010, US ethanol production is running at 12.87 billion gallons on an annualized basis, 172,000 b/d more than in 2009.

E15 is Still Awaiting Approval

Last week a group of bipartisan senators requested information from the EPA about why E15 has not been approved. Some answers are finally filtering through. After a meeting with EPA administrator Lisa Jackson and a Department of Energy (DOE) official on Monday a few answers were revealed.

The EPA’s request for additional testing of the engine effects from fuel with 15% ethanol was prompted, according to Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) because the EPA expects to be sued by opponents of E15. Environmentalists have teamed up with small engine manufacturers and the oil industry and are expected to sue the EPA. The collection of additional data is to ensure E15 can remain in the market once it is opened.

Senators were also encouraged to hear evaluation of E20 is also being conducted by the DOE. Such evaluations could provide the EPA with the basis to approve E20 and E15. However, it will take some time and higher blends will likely not be available to consumers until sometime in 2011.

(image: dreamymo)

25x’25 Vision within Reach

The bold vision created by a renewable energy advocacy coalition calling for 25x’25 is becoming a reality.  A new report titled, “Meeting the 25x’25 Goal: A Progress Report,” shows that between 2004 and 2009, renewable energy produced in the U.S. increased by 23 percent. In May of 2009, 11.5% of all energy produced in the U.S. came from renewable sources, a record for the clean energy sector. Those numbers and the influence of the vision don’t appear to be shrinking.

The report summarizes the role several energy sources will play in the future including: biofuels, biodiesel, biogas, biopower, wind, solar, geothermal and hydro.The report also comments on the numerous constraints to progress: policy constraints, insufficient infrastructure and variances in biofuels blending are just a few named differences.

“The 25x’25 progress report demonstrates the tremendous progress that has been made by the renewable fuel sector to create a cleaner, more energy independent nation,” Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy, told EPM.

Formed in 2004, the 25×25 alliance initially aimed at meeting 25 percent of the nation’s energy needs with renewable energy by 2025.

(image:Guerito)

Ethanol and Biofuels Capture Headlines

USDA research shows corn ethanol is showing a better energy balance mainly because of increased efficiencies in growing corn, but also because of improvements in the distilleries.

The USDA report, 2008 Energy Balance for the Corn Ethanol Industry, reveals that corn ethanol supplies twice the amount of energy it takes to produce the fuel.

With such positive reports, its no wonder Senators are asking for action. Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, John Thune of South Dakota, Mike Johanns of Nebraska and Kit Bond of Missouri are pressing President Barack Obama on his administration’s decision to further delay the entry of E15 blends of gasoline into the market. The senators asked the president for prompt action on the waiver petition and immediate consideration of an interim blend of E12.

Vilsack Wants Quick EPA Decision on Ethanol Blend Rate

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack wants the Environmental Protection Agency to quickly make a decision on raising the ethanol blend rate in gasoline from the current level of 10 percent.

On Wednesday, Vilsack and other USDA officials said unless the rate is increased soon, production growth ethanol could halt because demand for it won’t be able to expand. The American Farm Bureau Federation supports raising the ethanol blend level to up to 15 percent.

USDA Chief Economist Joe Glauber said he expects ethanol production this year to reach about 13 billion gallons, and there is not much room for expansion beyond that. Glauber said the “blend wall,” or the maximum amount of ethanol that can be produced to meet demand, will be about 15 billion gallons per year.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack wants the Environmental Protection Agency to quickly make a decision on raising the ethanol blend rate in gasoline from the current level of 10 percent.

On Wednesday, Vilsack and other USDA officials said unless the rate is increased soon, production growth ethanol could halt because demand for it won’t be able to expand. The American Farm Bureau Federation supports raising the ethanol blend level to up to 15 percent.

USDA Chief Economist Joe Glauber said he expects ethanol production this year to reach about 13 billion gallons, and there is not much room for expansion beyond that. Glauber said the “blend wall,” or the maximum amount of ethanol that can be produced to meet demand, will be about 15 billion gallons per year.

Growth Energy Launches National Ad Campaign

Growth Energy’s new television ads for ethanol received positive reviews at a “commercial premiere” event in Denver this week.

CFB’s Crystal Korrey attended the event and is excited about the ad campaign.

“This is the first ever national TV ad campaign for the ethanol industry. With simple encouraging messaging Growth Energy is helping to show the nation the need for this sensible fuel,” she said.

The campaign is entitled “America’s Fuel”.  Six different 15-second commercials focus on ethanol’s benefits, including job creation, cleaner air and the strengthening of America’s national and economic security.

Growth Energy is spending two-point-five million dollars on the six month campaign, which includes major cable networks such as Fox News, CNN, HLN and MSNBC.

You can also view all the ads on You Tube.

Colorado’s First Blender Pump Opening a Success

Colorado’s first ethanol blender pump dispensed 512 gallons of fuel April 8 during its inaugural day of operation at the Stratton Equity Coop in Burlington.

During a grand opening event for the pump, Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture John Stulp said the annual U.S. consumption of nearly 10 billion gallons of ethanol has reduced crude oil needs by seven percent. He said home-grown ethanol has a positive impact on America’s economy while reducing the need for U.S. troops to defend the nation’s oil import supplies.

USDA Economists: Ethanol Close to Blend Wall

Ethanol is getting very close to hitting the blend wall, according to economists with the Agriculture Department.

With four months in a row of record ethanol production and stagnant gasoline demand, ethanol stocks are increasing. “Margins have weakened a lot over the last few weeks,” said Joe Glauber, USDA chief economist.

“We’ve seen a sharp drop in ethanol prices,” Gerry Bange, USDA economist said. This has cut returns for ethanol producers dramatically.

The future for the ethanol industry may very well hinge on the decision the Environmental Protection Agency has yet to make—moving the allowable blend level for ethanol in gasoline up to 15 percent from the current 10 percent level.

“Given the fact that gasoline consumption in this country simply is not growing very rapidly and has essentially been flat for some time now, we are getting to the point where we simply have absorbed as much ethanol as we can under the current E10 legislation,” said Bange.

Biofuels Industry Welcomes RFS2 Standards

Ethanol industry reaction to the much delayed promulgation of rules and standards for the expanded Renewable Fuels Standard was mostly positive yesterday. Industry groups were mostly satisfied with the EPA’s new set of standards and benchmarks for the renewable fuels industry.

Among other provisions, the RFS will set mandatory blend levels for renewable fuels while implementing a framework for carbon emissions calculations that will be the basis for future carbon reductions from fuel. Disappointingly, however, EPA continues to rely on oft-challenged and unproven theories such as international indirect land use change (ILUC) to penalize U.S. biofuels to the advantage of imported ethanol and petroleum.

Despite the inclusion of ILUC in the final rule, grain based biofuels will qualify as a low-carbon fuel for the entire 36 billion gallon benchmark under the newly expanded RFS2.

“EPA was right to recognize that ethanol from all sources provides significant carbon benefits compared to gasoline,” said Renewable Fuels Association President Bob Dinneen. “As structured, the RFS is a workable program that will achieve the stated policy goals of reduced oil dependence, economic opportunity, and environmental stewardship.”

Ethanol Groups Challenge LFCS

Both the Renewable Fuels Association and Growth Energy are challenging California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) in federal court. They are charging that the LCFS violates both the Supremacy Clause and the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

“The LCFS contradicts the sound judgment of Congress when it passed the 2007 Energy Independence Security Act and singled out the importance of domestic ethanol for our nation’s environment, energy security, and economy. The LCFS erects new regulatory obstacles to ethanol, frustrates the federal Renewable Fuel Standard, and threatens the nationwide market for domestic ethanol. Because congressional policy cannot coexist with California’s regulation, the latter must give way to the former, the supreme law of the land.”

China’s Low Tariff Opens Door for Ethanol Imports

China has agreed to lower the tariff on imports of ethanol to 5 percent from the previous 30 percent, which traders said could open the door for imports of fuel ethanol from countries like Brazil. The Chinese Finance Ministry announced this week that import taxes for alcohol and other spirits denatured of any strength would be 5 percent from January 1, 2010, and traders said the tax applied to imports of ethanol for fuel use as well.

“The low tariff appears to make imports (of fuel ethanol) viable. But we are studying if there are other restrictions,” said one trader with an international house.

Brazil, the world’s largest ethanol exporter, has been pushing China to import Brazilian-made fuel ethanol as a complement to China’s own production. China does not allow grain-based ethanol production on food security concerns, and expansion of the biofuel using feedstocks other than grains is restricted due to limited farmland and water resources.

Chinese companies are working to use cellulosic materials, but commercial production will still take years.

Audi Tells Obama, “Forget Plug-Ins, Think Biodiesel”

The top executive at Audi’s U.S. offices says American political leaders need to think less about plug-in electric vehicles and more about vehicles that run on biodiesel, as well as standardizing the rules for biodiesel.

“I understand why political leaders have fallen in love with hybrids and electrics. But this may be the one time you’ll hear someone in Washington say it shouldn’t be a monogamous relationship,” de Nysschen said.

De Nysschen favors using diesel technology and allowing the marketplace to pick the winners and losers. He urged the government not to be “prejudging winning and losing technologies” and urged more work to standardize biodiesel rules.

EPA Delays Decision on E-15

The U.S. Environment Protection Agency Tuesday delayed a decision on expanding the allowable percentage of ethanol blended into regular gasoline from 10 percent to 15 percent until next year.

In a letter to Growth Energy, the ethanol group requesting the blend, Gina McCarthy, assistant EPA administrator, said “we want to make sure we have all necessary science to make the right decision.”

She said the EPA thinks it will have the necessary information by the middle of next year.

Under the Clean Air Act, EPA was required by Dec. 1 to respond to a request by Growth Energy that the current 10 percent ethanol blend limit be expanded to 15 percent.

In the letter  the agency said that while not all tests have been completed, the results of two tests indicate that engines in newer cars likely can handle an ethanol blend higher than the current 10 percent limit. The agency said it will decide whether to raise the blending limit when more testing data are available.

EPA also announced that it has begun crafting labeling requirements that will be necessary if the blending limit is raised.

Reaction from the ethanol industry was varied.

Matt Hartwig of RFA responded saying, “This delay by EPA threatens to paralyze the continued growth of America’s ethanol industry.”

Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, president of Growth Energy, took a more positive view.

“We’re pleased,” Clark said. “It shows that we’re on the way to getting approval for E15 by next year. This is a way point toward a decision.”

EPA Ethanol Blend Decision Expected Tuesday

The Environmental Protection Agency is set make a decision on Tuesday on a petition by Growth Energy to raise the blend limit in gasoline from 10 percent to 15 percent.

However, even if EPA agrees to raise the limit, there is no guarantee that gasoline with a higher blend of ethanol will be available at service stations any time soon.  According to the Des Moines Register, refiners don’t want to put more ethanol in gasoline unless Congress gives them protection from potential lawsuits from motorists or consumers who claim that ethanol hurts their engines.

EPA May Not Meet Deadline on Blend Wall Decision

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency may miss a Dec. 1 deadline for a decision on an industry request to raise the amount of ethanol that can be blended into gasoline, Reuters reported.

On March 6, 54 ethanol manufactures asked the EPA to bump up the percentage of ethanol allowed in gasoline to 15 percent from 10 percent.

But the EPA is still studying how a higher blend rate would affect the engines of cars, trucks and smaller vehicles, so the agency may have to extend its work past the deadline, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson was quoted as saying.

In March, Growth Energy submitted a waiver to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to lift the arbitrary regulatory cap on ethanol from a 10 percent blend of ethanol to a 15 percent blend of ethanol in our gas supply.
Blending higher percentages of ethanol into gas is a way to create American jobs, increase our energy independence, and improve our environment.

Colorado YF&R Member on Biodiesel

CFB YF&R Member Grant Allen sits down and talks to NPA Reporter Adam Burke about switching to Sunflowers on his Dove Creek Colorado farm. YF&R members visited the bio-diesel plant during their State Leadership Conference in Cortez last year.

Harkin Acquiesces to EPA, Pulls ILUC Amendment

Acting on blind faith in an agency that deserves to be viewed only with suspicion, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) has withdrawn his amendment to the annual Interior spending bill that would have barred the Environmental Protection Agency from considering indirect land use overseas when implementing the Renewable Fuels Standard.

Harkin received a letter Wednesday from EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson in which she acknowledged the uncertainty in calculating the indirect effects on land use change from greater biofuels production. She agreed to quantify and consider these uncertainties surrounding lifecycle greenhouse gases for biofuels in the agency’s formulation of regulations for the renewable fuel standard.

Relying on a highly compromised peer review of draft RFS rules, Jackson said that “that it is important to take into account indirect emissions from biofuels when looking at the lifecycle emissions as required by EISA…it is also clear that there are significant uncertainties associated with these estimates,” and that the agency will be conducting an “uncertainty analysis” of the calculation.

“This analysis will allow us to quantify the impact of uncertainty on the lifecycle emissions,” Jackson wrote. “We will present these estimates in the final rule, and I plan to incorporate those estimates of uncertainty in my regulatory decisions.”

Harkin Floats Indirect Land Use Amendment

Sens. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and John Thune (R-S.D.) filed an amendment on Tuesday to the annual funding bill for the Interior Department and related agencies that would bar the Environmental Protection Agency from considering indirect land use overseas when implementing provisions of the Clean Air Act for biofuels.

AFBF and other groups sent a joint letter to urge the Senate to support the Harkin amendment.

Farm groups and ethanol makers say the EPA indirect land use formula on cropland converted to ethanol production overseas has little or no connection between U.S. production of crops for biofuels.

The one-year delay would prohibit EPA from using international indirect land changes to the renewable fuel standard the agency proposed on May 26.

Meanwhile, a study commissioned by the National Corn Growers Association finds that the up-front cost to the ethanol industry for compliance with the expanded Renewable Fuel Standard could reach $30 million, with annually recurring compliance costs reaching up to $420 million.

TIME Writer Admits Piece was Slanted

Bryan Walsh, who wrote a damning article on modern agriculture in Time magazine, admitted in an AgriTalk interview with Mike Adams Monday morning that the story took the angle he wanted to pursue rather than presenting both sides in a balanced, objective manner.

He said it’s been a trend at Time to have “more stories angled toward the point of view of the writer.” In other words, TIME Magazine is no longer a news outlet, but an opinion journal.

“Rather than just doing the sort of story where you do 50 percent on one side, 50 percent on the other, you allow the writer to look at it and make some of his own judgments,” Walsh said.

He said he looked at the information and thought, “This is the angle I’d like to take.”

His article wasn’t just critical of big, corporate farms, but rather a system that includes many family farms as well. In the radio interview Monday morning, Walsh said he understands the concern that many family farms could have about his story.

The article quotes numerous entities critical of modern farming, such as the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, several disenfranchised farmers dismayed about how agriculture has changed, organic advocates and others who sell their farm and food products based on criticizing the products and processes of mainstream farming and ranching.

Many groups have condemned the article, including the NCBA and the American Meat Institute. Farm and ranch broadcaster and host of the daily show Loo’s Tales Trent Loos also released a blistering commentary about the article.

Lisa M. Keefe of Meatingplace.com has also posted an interview with Bryan Walsh TIME Magazine.

COOL for Fuel

Growth Energy has today announced its launch of a new initiative to require the Country of Origin Labeling of fuel.

The Label My Fuel initiative would create a COOL standard similar to requirements already in place for common consumer items, including apples, beef, cars and coffee.  The goal is to help create consumer awareness of the costs and national security implications of the nation’s addiction to foreign oil.

General Wesley Clark, Co-chairman of Growth Energy, made today’s announcement at the 2009 Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Ill., the nation’s leading exhibition of advanced technology, business practices and manufacturing for today’s agricultural producers.

Clark also unveiled Growth Energy’s labelmyfuel.com, which showcases the costs of American dependence on foreign oil, and serves to rally grassroots support for Congressional action on COOL for fuel legislation.

“Most Americans don’t want their paychecks going to Venezuela and other regimes that don’t agree with and support the U.S. Requiring country of origin labeling of our fuel supply will empower consumers with the knowledge and ability to make informed decisions,” said Clark.

Meat Groups Blast Time Article

Meat industry groups are airing discontent with the Aug. 31 Time magazine cover story “The Real Cost of Cheap Food” that is loaded with inaccurate information and has no hint of objectivity.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the only meat industry group quoted in the article, lashed out with a press release outlining the steps it took to provide information to Bryan Walsh, the article’s writer. The vast majority of the information was not included in the final piece. The Cattlemen indicated they were called late in the reporting and writing process, and that the writer discussed the angle of his story only when pressed for details.

Patrick Boyle, president and CEO of the American Meat Institute, wrote a letter to the editor of Time. “In a world of 7 billion people and expanding, where malnutrition, hunger or outright famine are commonplace, it’s dumbfounding that Time magazine would take one of the great American success stories—the efficient agricultural production of an abundant variety of healthy, safe and affordable foods for consumers in the U.S. and throughout the world—and turn it into an unrecognizable story of exploitation, manipulation and greed,” Boyle wrote.

In AFBF President Bob Stallman’s letter to the editor of Time, he called the article “a vicious attack on modern farmers and the processes they use to care for the land, their animals, their neighbors and communities, all while producing safe, affordable, healthy and abundant food for consumers.”

Farm Bureau members are encouraged to write a letter to the editor by clicking here.

Trent Loos Responds to TIME Hitpiece on Ag

From Feedstuffs, Ag broadcaster and commentator Trent Loos responds to the Time article on modern agriculture.

Time Magazine Attacks Modern Farming

Without even a hint of objectivity, Time magazine is using the cover story of its Aug. 31 print edition to attack modern agriculture. The story is a wide-ranging frontal assault on all aspects of modern food production, and the story is written in a manner that the very few words included to give agriculture a token voice are quickly trampled by an onslaught of anti-modern-agriculture rhetoric. The American Farm Bureau Federation will be responding.

Update: AFBF has responded to the article. Read President Stallman’s letter to the editor.

The first paragraph pretty much sets the tone.

“Somewhere in Iowa, a pig is being raised in a confined pen, packed in so tightly with other swine that their curly tails have been chopped off so they won’t bite one another. To prevent him from getting sick in such close quarters, he is dosed with antibiotics. The waste produced by the pig and his thousands of pen mates on the factory farm where they live goes into manure lagoons that blanket neighboring communities with air pollution and a stomach-churning stench. He’s fed on American corn that was grown with the help of government subsidies and millions of tons of chemical fertilizer. When the pig is slaughtered, at about 5 months of age, he’ll become sausage or bacon that will sell cheap, feeding an American addiction to meat that has contributed to an obesity epidemic currently afflicting more than two-thirds of the population. And when the rains come, the excess fertilizer that coaxed so much corn from the ground will be washed into the Mississippi River and down into the Gulf of Mexico, where it will help kill fish for miles and miles around. That’s the state of your bacon—circa 2009.”

The article quotes numerous entities critical of modern farming, such as the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, several disenfranchised farmers dismayed about how agriculture has changed, organic advocates and others who sell their farm and food products based on criticizing the products and processes of mainstream farming and ranching.

Letters regarding this opinion article, which Time unfortunately cloaked as a news magazine cover story, may be sent using this link: http://bit.ly/19LOXL. You will need to input the headline of the article—America’s Food Crisis and How to Fix It—when you submit your online letter.

As Deadline Looms, Support for 15 Percent Ethanol Blend Builds

With one week remaining in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) public comment period on Growth Energy’s Green Jobs Waiver asking the EPA to allow gasoline blended with as much as 15 percent ethanol (E15), the support for higher blends of ethanol continues to build.   Since February, President Obama, Administration officials, governors, Members of Congress, state and local elected officials and groups across the country have all come out in support of increasing the blend to E15.

Earlier this month President Barack Obama said, “We want to be able to compete with countries like Brazil that now are running basically their entire automobile fleet on biofuels.  If Brazil can do it, there’s no reason why America can’t do it.”

Sec. of Agriculture Tom Vilsack

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said, “We can, we believe, move fairly quickly to move the blend rate to 12 or 13 percent in the interim.” He went on to add that it could eventually be boosted to 15 percent to 20 percent.

“I don’t want to prejudge what they’re going to find, but if the existing automobile fleet can handle 15 percent, I would say let’s make that a target and go to 15 percent.”
Energy Secretary Steven Chu

“Lifting that intermediate blends is what we have to do to maximize domestic biofuels undercutting our addiction to oil…Our national labs have been testing for immediate blends in our cars for more than a year and the intermediate results are already out and this is a commercial issue, not a technical issue.”
Former Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy Andy Karsner

SD Governor Michael Rounds

“This is a practical move in the right direction. E15 will create thousands of new jobs and increase our tax base while decreasing our dependence for foreign oil. If we are serious about energy independence, EPA needs to act quickly and rule E15 viable for use.”
Governor Michael Rounds (R-SD)

“As the Governor of Indiana, I strongly support the initiative to increase the base fuel blend for ethanol from 10 percent to 15 percent … I support an increase of the base fuel blend cap as a measure to open markets to biofuels, allow attainment of renewable fuel standard and decrease our dependency on foreign energy sources.”
Governor Mitch Daniels (R-IN)

Sen. Tom Harkin

“I commend the ethanol companies for submitting this waiver request and hope EPA will move forward expeditiously with a positive ruling. This waiver is necessary to open ethanol markets and enable us to stay on a path towards decreasing the use of petroleum-based fuels and increasing the use of alternative biofuels produced from domestic resources.”
Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA)

“Higher blends of ethanol can help solve two of the challenges facing our nation: our overdependence on imported oil and the need to expand the use of renewable fuels. Renewable fuels production continues to be an important economic engine for rural America, and moving to higher blends of ethanol is absolutely necessary to keep this industry growing and moving toward advanced biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol.”
Senator John Thune (R-SD)

Jump in Corn Plantings Biggest News in Acreage Report

The biggest news out of the planted acreage report released today by the Agriculture Department’s National Agricultural Statistics Service is the big jump in planted corn acreage. NASS puts corn plantings at 87.05 million acres, up nearly 3 million acres from the pre-report average estimate.

NASS pegs total U.S. crop area down 1.2 percent from last year, but soybean acres are up 2.3 percent. Overall, farmers planted 320.9 million acres to principal crops in 2009, down 3.9 million from last year, but 3.9 million acres more than indicated in the March prospective plantings report.

• Full text of report