No. 250, November 10, 2022

TOP STORY

Late last week, Growth Energy sent a letter to the U.S. Department of the Treasury on implementation of Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) tax credits for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). In her letter, CEO Emily Skor calls on regulators to ensure that policies reflect the most updated and accurate science-based lifecycle carbon assessment methods, specifically those in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Technologies (GREET) model.

“Harnessing the U.S. ethanol industry – which at 17.4 billion gallons per year accounts for over 80% of biofuels production capacity in the U.S. - will be necessary to achieve these goals because ethanol is one of the few readily available feedstocks for SAF production,” wrote Skor. “Growth Energy appreciates Treasury’s consideration of this input as it implements the IRA’s tax credit provisions in a manner that ensures the best available science is used to calculate eligibility for and amount of credits.” 

Skor’s letter reflects conclusions shared by Growth Energy and other clean energy leaders since the White House first announced its SAF goals. Following this letter, Skor participated in virtual roundtable with Treasury on implementation of IRA. The agency invited participants to provide perspective as it seeks to maximize the impact of the IRA's climate and clean energy provisions.

For more information, please contact Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Chris Bliley.

WORKING FOR YOU

UPCOMING EVENTS

NAFB Trade Talk
November 16-17

Kansas City, Mo.

Growth Energy Regional Member Meeting

November 17

Kansas City, Mo.

NAAE Convention

November 29 - December 3 Las Vegas, NV

IN OUR ASSOCIATION

Join the Growth Energy Team in Kansas City for information on the Inflation Reduction Act, The Set, state issues, and impacts of mid-term elections for the ethanol industry.

Thursday, November 17, 2022

3:00 - 5:00 p.m.: Presentations and discussion

Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center

2345 McGee St, Kansas City, MO 64108

Optional: BBQ Dinner at Boulevard Brewing

Catered by Joe's Kansas City BBQ

2534 Madison Avenue, Kansas City, MO 64108

6:00 - 9:00 p.m. CST

Whitefox, the leading bioethanol membrane engineering innovator, has announced that Western Plains Energy will be the first U.S. ethanol producer to install Whitefox ICE®-XL system at its 50 million gallons per year ethanol plant in Kansas. Both are Growth Energy members.

Derek Peine, CEO at Western Plains Energy said: “Since beginning operations in 2004, Western Plains has always been on the forefront of innovation and an early adaptor of technologies that deliver step-changes in energy efficiency and operational yield. In our discussion with Whitefox we found that its ICE-XL integrated membrane solution would serve as a cornerstone in fully decarbonizing our production process. Our quest to achieve net-zero emissions is something that we are passionate about, and we are excited to partner with Whitefox to help us achieve our goal.”  

Gillian Harrison, CEO at Whitefox said "I first met Derek in 2016 and it was inspiring to hear how focussed he was on reducing the carbon footprint of ethanol production. We began discussing how we could expand the Whitefox ICE solution to a full replacement of molecular sieves, given their propensity to crack, so it's exciting to now be working with Western Plains to install our first ICE-XL and support them on their journey to Net Zero ethanol"  

Engineering phase 1 is already in progress and the project has an estimated start-up and commissioning date towards the end of 2023.  

For more information, please contact Senior Vice President of Development Kelly Manning.

IN GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

While we are still awaiting some determinative outcomes on who controls the U.S. House and Senate, below is a update on Tuesday night's election results:

• Democrats performed better than many expected, leaving many of our Democrat champions in office. While Rep. Cindy Axne (D-IA) appears to have lost a very close race, Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) won her race last night by a larger margin than she won by in 2020. 
• The seat of retiring Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL) stayed with Democrats, while Republicans flipped the seat of retiring Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI). We also have a new Illinois member, Rep.-Elect Nikki Budzinksi (D-IL), who won a somewhat rural district in central Illinois that was created in redistricting. In short, our industry did not lose too many champions on the left side of the aisle.
• While the House seems likely to flip to Republican control, we are not certain how large that advantage will be. There are a lot of races that have no been called.
• The Senate still has 5 undecided races, 3 of which are incredibly close (AZ, NV, and GA) and one of which may not be decided until December (GA).  We should not expect to know who controls the Senate for some time.

Support for biofuels is bipartisan, whether you’re looking to reduce gas prices, lowering emissions, and bolstering American energy. We look forward to continuing to work with Congress and state level leaders up and down the ballot on these issues that are top of mind for Americans today.

For more information, please contact Vice President of Government Affairs John Fuher.

IN REGULATORY AFFAIRS

Following a letter to President Biden, Growth Energy joined the Ag Transportation Working Group in sending a letter to Congress urging action in the absence of a negotiated resolution by November 19th. 

"On behalf of our collective food and agricultural memberships, we write to urge swift action to avert a rail strike or lockout that would lead to shutdowns or slowdowns of rail-dependent facilities resulting in devastating consequences to our national and global food security," wrote the group. "A strike or lockout combined with existing challenges in the rail system, at our ports, with trucking and with record low water levels on the Mississippi River impacting numerous barge shipments would be catastrophic for the agricultural and broader U.S. economies. Congress must act to prevent this from occurring if the parties cannot reach agreement."

Additionally, the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division (BMWED) has extended its "status quo" period to December 4th, in concert with the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, which also rejected the tentative agreement. This means the potential for a rail strike is off the table until early December at the earliest. Currently, 7 out of 12 unions have already ratified their agreements. It will take all 12 unions to ratify to prevent a strike, and we will continue to monitor the situation and update you here.

Yesterday, Growth Energy Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Chris Bliley participated in the California Air Resources Board (CARB) during its workshop on the state's Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). The workshop focused on "options for increasing the stringency of the carbon intensity (CI) targets for 2030 and beyond, the design of initial scenarios for modeling, describing the modeling approach, and soliciting alternatives." Of note, CARB continues to express concern about crop-based biofuels. We plan on submitting comments in response before their written comment deadline of December 9th. Additional information on the modeling and link for submission can be found here under the November 9th workshop.

This week, Growth Energy Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Chris Bliley attended the National Carbon Capture Conference and Expo in Des Moines, Iowa. Bliley spoke on a panel titled, "Game Changer: A Discussion about the Impact of Carbon Capture and Storage on the Heartland's Vital Renewable Fuel Industry and engaged in a discussion with other fuel and pipeline representatives to assess the promise and progress of this transformative technology on the Midwest’s critical renewable fuels sector.

“Carbon sequestration represents a huge opportunity in scale for these plants to really drop their carbon intensity,” said Bliley.

For more information, please contact Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Chris Bliley.

IN LEGAL

For more information, please contact General Counsel Joe Kakesh.

IN COMMUNICATIONS

For more information, please Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs Elizabeth Funderburk.

VETERANS DAY

The Weekly Rundown is the weekly newsletter for Growth Energy's members. It is published weekly by the communications staff at Growth Energy. For more information, email team@growthenergy.org or visit our website GrowthEnergy.org. 

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