Growth Energy CEO Talks Climate Smart Ag at Truterra Event |
This week, Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor was invited to speak at Truterra's Partners in Excellence Summit in Clearwater, Fla. The Summit is a three-day educational event that recognizes ag retailers and farmers for their leadership in agricultural sustainability and provides a forum where farmers, ag retailers, conservation professionals, and consumer packaged goods companies across the country can come together and network. Skor spoke to attendees about sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and how important climate smart agriculture is to achieving net-zero emissions
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Last week, domestic ethanol demand was 12.8 BGY, down 7.3% compared to a week ago. The EIA-reported gas demand was down 7.3% from last week, at 125.2 BGY. The 4-week average ethanol and gas demand are 13.0 and 126.5 BGY (-1.0% YoY).
Ethanol production was 16.6 BGY last week, up 4.8% versus the week before, and 6.7% more than the 4-week average in 2019. Midwest production was up 5.0% (+14.4 MG) versus a week ago, and average production in the other regions was up 2.0% (+0.3 MG). Capacity utilization of plants online was 93.8% overall, 95.6% in the Midwest, and 68.9% on average, elsewhere, excluding 1,197 MGY of capacity shutdown at 25 ethanol plants for other than maintenance. On an installed capacity basis, utilization was 87.9% overall, 93.1% in the Midwest and 41.4% in the other regions.
Exports were an estimated 29.0 MG last week based on 120 MG of exports forecast for February. The EIA reported no ethanol imports last week.
Overall inventory was up 39.3 MG last week. EIA-counted stocks increased 43.3 MG, and regional changes were: East (+24 MG), Gulf (+11 MG) and West (-10 MG) Coasts and the Midwest (+17 MG). In-transit inventory decreased 4.0 MG.
Based on the total inventory of 1,875 MG on February 9th and the 4-week avg. domestic demand, there were 51.9 days of supply, up 0.4 days versus a week ago. Including the 4-week avg. of net exports, there were 46.4 days of supply, up 0.3 days versus a week ago. |
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Growth Energy: Changing GREET Would Undermine Climate Goals, Harm U.S. Biofuel Producers Growth Energy Fact Checks Opposition to Low-Carbon Biofuels |
USDA's Secretary Vilsack Testifies Before U.S. House Agriculture Committee |
Send Us Photos of E15 Cost Savings in Your Area |
New Mexico Senate Passes Clean Transportation Fuel Standard Legislation |
Growth Energy SVP to Speak on USDA Ag Outlook Panel |
Dept. of Energy Announces $29 Million Feedstock Innovation Funding Opportunity |
Preview the Get Bioethanol #3 Chevy Scheme for 2024 |
| Get Bioethanol NASCAR Paint Out
Austin, Texas March 24, 2024 2024 International Fuel Ethanol Workshop Minneapolis, Minn. June 10-12, 2024 |
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Growth Energy: Changing GREET Would Undermine Climate Goals, Harm U.S. Biofuel Producers |
Growth Energy continues to urge the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to follow the science
, and the law, when developing greenhouse gas (GHG) lifecycle analysis (LCA) models used to assess eligibility for tax incentives under the biofuels provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). In comments on proposed Section 45V hydrogen regulations
submitted this week to the IRS and forwarded to the IRA Interagency Working Group, Growth Energy called on the IRS to follow Congress’s intent and ensure that any “successor” LCA model developed to assess eligibility for IRA biofuels tax incentives, such as those governing hydrogen in Section 45V, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in Section 40B, and biofuels generally in Section 45Z, “closely adheres in function and conceptual approach to the Argonne GREET model in existence at the time Congress enacted the IRA.”
Growth Energy then offered a framework for “evaluating the best available science that the IRS should incorporate into any successor GREET model.” Adopting Growth Energy’s recommendations, the comment argued, will “create stability and certainty regarding the significant investments being made in low-carbon energy and fuel sources.” Failing to do so would jeopardize the ability of American biofuels to participate in next generation opportunities like SAF. This week's comment letter referred specifically to the IRS’ proposal for 45V but echoed many similar statements made previously
by Growth Energy about the importance of modeling and the accuracy of the Argonne National Lab’s Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation (GREET) model. Read more of our statement here
and find the full version of the letter here.
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Growth Energy: Changing GREET Would Undermine Climate Goals, Harm U.S. Biofuel Producers |
For years, Growth Energy has warned
that special interests are seeking to use political attacks to derail sound science. And once again, these same parties are trying to pressure policymakers to set the best science aside when it comes to Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). If their efforts succeed, it will effectively end any serious hope of decarbonizing air travel and directly contradict President Biden’s promise that “farmers are going to provide 95 percent of all the sustainable airline fuel.”
The latest round of misinformation about SAF has taken the form of a letter from several national groups regarding the climate models that will determine eligibility for new SAF tax credits. They urge the administration to inject false and outdated assumptions into the Department of Energy’s GREET model
from Argonne National Laboratory – a model that is already recognized as the gold standard for measuring carbon intensity in the transportation sector and beyond.
These pressure groups are attacking the rigorous GREET model simply because they don’t like what the data show: that U.S. ethanol is a sustainable fuel, and that the most updated science continues to show that bioethanol on a lifecycle basis delivers a nearly 50% reduction compared to gasoline, while using around the same number of corn acres that farmers have used over the last century. These same groups also object to any model that rewards farmers for implementing climate-smart agriculture – despite robust science showing that these practices will play a vital role in achieving a net-zero future.
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USDA's Secretary Vilsack Testifies Before U.S. House Agriculture Committee
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Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack testified before the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture. Among the topics covered was sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), GREET modeling, and year-round E15. During the hearing, Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) raised the upcoming March 1st deadline for the Biden Administration to finalize details on the 40B Sustainable Aviation Fuel tax credit.
“We have a unique opportunity in front of us to get sustainable aviation fuel off the ground and in places like my district and in rural America into this emerging market that we fought for in the Inflation Reduction Act,” asked Rep. Craig. “I know you’re enthusiastic and I want to thank you so much for your support of renewable fuels over the years and for your championship of SAF. It does not go unnoticed by my family farmers and by myself. However, it’s frustrating to hear that there’s still some uncertainty about the updated GREET model. I know the President has a goal of hitting 35 billion gallons of SAF by 2050 which is laudable, but we’re still waiting on a determination from the interagency working group on GREET modeling. So let me just push you here, how have the discussions been in that interagency working group to update the model, and can we expect those updates to be announced on March 1st as originally directed in the December guidance from Treasury? And if not, when should we expect them?”
Secretary Vilsack in response shared the conversations around this issue have been positive and he is confident that there is genuine desire on the part of all agencies to meet that March 1st deadline.
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Send Us Photos of E15 Cost Savings in Your Area |
As we continue to make our argument for year-round E15 to the EPA, on Capitol Hill, and in state legislatures around the country, we've found that a picture really is worth a thousand words. If you see an example of significant cost savings at a fuel station near you, take a picture (like the one above) and share it with us! We'll put your photos to good use telling the story of how E15 saves drivers money. Email them to hcullen@growthenergy.org.
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For more information, please contact Vice President of Government Affairs John Fuher. |
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New Mexico Senate Passes Clean Transportation Fuel Standard Legislation |
New Mexico's Clean Transportation Fuel Standard bill HB41
has now passed both the House and the Senate. The bill sets a 20% reduction from 2018 levels by 2030 and a 30% reduction by 2040. We provided the Senate Conservation Committee written testimony detailing what we found positive in the bill and areas that needed to be considered. We also provided comments for the Finance Committee. The bill now moves on to New Mexico Governor Lujan Grisham for her to sign.
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Growth Energy SVP to Speak on USDA Ag Outlook Panel |
Today, Growth Energy Senior Vice President Chris Bliley will be speaking on a panel at the 2024 USDA's Agriculture Outlook Forum. Bliley will join esteemed colleagues to discuss advancing the bioeconomy in rural areas.
The panel will be a discussion of the current status of USDA’s portion of the Administration’s bold goals for U.S. Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing. Speakers will discuss the biobased products economic impact report that will be released shortly before the Forum, along with research, training, and other BioPreferred-related resources intended to improve recognition of the program and adherence to the federal purchasing requirements. Bliley's panel will be from 3:30-5 pm EST. Virtual registration is free and open to the public. Learn more and register
here.
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Dept. of Energy Announces $29 Million Feedstock Innovation Funding Opportunity |
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announced last week $29 million in funding to drive research, development, and demonstration of low carbon intensity, purpose-grown energy crops critical to accelerating a clean energy economy. BETO announced its notice of intent in December 2023, and made the funding opportunity public last week. The
Regional Resource Hubs for Purpose-Grown Energy Crops funding opportunity announcement will advance a domestic supply chain of alternative carbon sources necessary to produce biofuels and bioproducts to decarbonize the transportation and industry sectors, as well as spur innovation and growth across the U.S. agricultural industry. This funding will support DOE’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Grand Challenge goal of enabling production of three billion gallons of SAF annually by 2030 and 35 billion gallons annually by 2050, enough to meet 100% of the projected U.S. aviation fuel demand. The deadline to apply for this opportunity is June 13, 2024. Learn more here.
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For more information, please contact Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Chris Bliley. |
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Preview the Get Bioethanol #3 Chevy Scheme for 2024 |
The 2024 NASCAR series is officially underway, and we're sharing a preview of the new look for the Get Bioethanol No. 3 Chevy. Take a look at the video and keep an eye out the car in March for Circuit of the Americas. If you're attending the Daytona 500 this weekend, enjoy the race!
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For more information, please contact Senior Vice President of Development Kelly Manning.
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