![]() No. 121, April 2, 2020 ![]() COVID-19 UPDATES Thank you.
Dear friends,
I know many of you can join me in saying that we are deeply proud and grateful to be part of an industry who is stepping up to serve during this COVID-19 crisis. Members like Absolute Energy and Green Plains, Inc. have donated ethanol to make hand sanitizer; Novozymes shared that they are "co-developing a method of washing plastic test plates for COVID-19 testing, so they can be safely reused"; and ADM pledged $1 million to organizations fighting the pandemic. These are just a few examples of the awesome work being done across the ag and biofuel industry, but certainly not all of it.
With all the uncertainty in the world, even little acts of kindness feel enormous. So if you're donating to your local food pantry, providing meals for elderly or healthcare workers, or making signs with your kids to cheer up your neighbors — whatever! — we want to know. Be sure to tag Growth Energy on social media or email us a picture at covid19@growthenergy.org.
And know that your efforts are not going unnoticed. Yesterday, USDA Secretary Perdue released a video thanking ethanol producers for all of your good deeds. Rural communities embody the American spirit of hard work and generosity. We take care of one another, and there's no better time to do that than now. So thank you for sticking with us, and for all that you're doing to make our industry, and our country, a better place.
Stay well,
Kelly Manning Vice President of Development
WORKING FOR YOU IN OPERATIONS Check our COVID-19 page for timely updatesIN REGULATIONS Important agency updates IN GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS Growth Energy joins ag partners in sending letter to Small Business Administration
On Demand: CARES Act webinar IN OUR ASSOCIATION All-member call on Wed., April 8, 2020
Working for you, from home! IN MARKET DEVELOPMENT Forging ahead with E15 expansion UPCOMING EVENTS
All-member call Wednesday, April 8th 11 AM CT / 12 PM ET Dial in: 844-467-6985
IN OPERATIONS Check our COVID-19 page for timely updates
Since last week’s Rundown, there have been several new government announcements and updates. While we will continue to distribute Member Alerts to provide information as soon as possible, our COVID-19 Resources page will house the information all in one location for you. In the last week, some of the new additions include:
Please reach out to us at covid19@growthenergy.org so we can continue to provide assistance and update this page with the information that you need and want. If you have questions, please contact Vice President of Operations Kitty Lloyd.
IN REGULATIONS Important agency updates
![]() FDA updated guidance on alcohol-based hand sanitizer
Late on March 27, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) updated its guidance for alcohol-based hand sanitizer products during the emergency response to COVID-19. On Tuesday, the FDA held a stakeholder call to outline some of the specific requirements in the guidance that broadens the ability for ethanol to meet this important need. While FDA leaves the requirement for specialty denaturant in place, they do offer some additional options for denaturing alcohol for this purpose. Additionally, FDA has guidelines for contaminants and plant sanitation. We strongly encourage any plant interested in supplying this market to closely review the updated guidance by clicking the button below.
EPA announced guidance on disinfectants, alcohol
For more information, please see the documents from EPA below:
![]() Updated market outlook from FAPRI
In a meeting this week with Seth Meyer of the University of Missouri's Food and Agriculture Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) and Growth Energy staff, Meyer shared an updated ag market outlook for 2020 following the COVID-19 pandemic. We encourage you to take a look at his slides by clicking the button below.
EPA finalizes SAFE rules/CAFE standards
This week, EPA finalized the SAFE Vehicles Rule for MY2021-2026 passenger cars and light trucks. The final rule can be found here: During the rulemaking process, Growth Energy, corn growers, and numerous other stakeholders commented in support of high octane, midlevel ethanol blends and for additional credit for the production of flex-fuel vehicles. It is disappointing that EPA didn’t take action on these provisions, which are vitally important to biofuels and agriculture.
A items to be aware of that are in the final rule:
For more details or if you have questions, contact Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Chris Bliley. IN GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS ![]() Growth Energy joins ag partners in sending letter to Small Business Administration On Wednesday, Growth Energy joined 30 of our agricultural partners in sending a letter to U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Jovita Carranza requesting the SBA clarify its guidance to include agricultural businesses as eligible to participate in the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program as modified in the CARES Act.
Read the letter from the 31 ag groups by clicking the button below.
On Demand: CARES Act Webinar On Tuesday, March 31, Growth Energy hosted a webinar with our associate member K·Coe Isom to discuss details of the CARES Act ("Phase 3" of the emergency stimulus packages), and review the benefits and provisions of the first two stimulus packages. Over 100 members joined the webinar, and asked very timely and pertinent questions regarding these new recovery laws.
If you missed it, or want to revisit key points, we encourage you to watch the webinar, which is available in full on demand by clicking the button below: If you have questions, please contact Vice President of Government Relations John Fuher. IN COMMUNICATIONS Sharing industry pain We are working on communicating industry pain to media and are finding ways for validators to tell that story. For example, in Iowa, we’re keeping allies informed and updated on how the ethanol industry is hurting during this crisis and that’s resulted in Lt. Gov. Patty Judge including that narrative in her latest op-ed.
The op-ed ran in the Des Moines Register and the Cedar Rapids Gazette and highlights broadly how rural America is going to be hit worse during this crisis as it compounds crisis after crisis for rural economies and she included our industry pain into that context.
“Rural economies are hurting, and now they’re about to get hit even harder," Judge wrote. "Recent policies in place before this crisis had already damaged the rural economy. Farm income is down 50% from 2013. Trade fights between the US and China cost Iowa billions of dollars. Thanks to Trump’s giveaways to oil, ethanol and farm machinery plants across America idled and shut down, laying off workers in rural communities.”
"I cannot help but think of the mom-and-pop businesses that may never recover from COVID-19, the layoffs happening at manufacturing and biofuel companies, and schools trying to provide online learning to students without broadband internet." If you have questions, please contact Vice President of Communications Elizabeth Funderburk. IN OUR ASSOCIATION All-member call on Wed., April 8, 2020
In an effort to keep you up to date on COVID-19 activity, we will be holding another all-member call next Wednesday, April 8, at 11 AM CT/12 PM ET with Growth Energy's senior leadership team to provide timely updates on COVID-19 and the impact on the industry.
Working for you, from home!
As we're all adjusting to this new normal, rest assured knowing that Growth Energy's team members are hunkered down at home and working hard to deliver results for our members.
Check out the photos below for how our team is adjusting to working (and even teaching our kids!) from home. And pro tip from Chris Bliley: working from home doesn't mean you have to sacrifice on style - take a look at those cufflinks! ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() For more details, contact Vice President of Development Kelly Manning. IN MARKET DEVELOPMENT Forging ahead with E15 expansion
We know that COVID-19 is in the forefront of everyone's minds, but that doesn't mean we've let up on our efforts to increase ethanol demand through E15 expansion. Check out the informational sheet we've developed by clicking here, and read more about our recent success in CSP Magazine's article: "Growth Energy Expands U.S. Ethanol Fuel Infrastructure with E15". For more details, contact Vice President of Market Development Mike O'Brien. ![]()
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. You're receiving this newsletter because you've subscribed to Growth Energy's The Weekly Rundown. Not interested anymore? Unsubscribe instantly. Copyright © 2020 Growth Energy. |