“As Congress recognized when it enacted the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) almost twenty years ago, biofuels offer numerous climate and other benefits. When compared with petroleum, corn ethanol emits only about half as much greenhouse gases (GHGs), and cellulosic ethanol, made from the waste components of crops, emits even less,” Growth Energy said in the amicus brief. “Ethanol and other biofuels also emit less particulate matter and other pollutants harmful to human health. And all these benefits are readily available right now, all while enhancing energy security and supporting U.S. jobs.” 

In EPA’s rule, which is designed to reduce emissions of GHGs and other pollutants in vehicles for model years 2027 and later, the agency ignored biofuels and their enormous, congressionally recognized benefits.  

“EPA’s analyses treated vehicles that operate on biofuels the same as vehicles that operate exclusively on fossil fuels. EPA failed to consider using or incentivizing higher biofuel blends in vehicles as a way to reduce emissions. And EPA’s cost-benefit analysis looked only at the employment and energy security impacts of the petroleum industry, disregarding the biofuels industry entirely,” the amicus brief said. “For the agency that Congress entrusted to promote biofuels, EPA’s total failure to acknowledge biofuels in the Rule is arbitrary and capricious.” 

Read Growth Energy’s full amicus brief here. 

The post Growth Energy Amicus Brief Points Toward EPA’s Lost Opportunity on Biofuels  appeared first on Growth Energy.

GEBS is the premier advocacy event for advancing biofuels policies and securing America’s energy future. This year, attendees will participate in more than 100 meetings on Capitol Hill, giving lawmakers and rural champions the information and support they need to drive change and progress in the bioeconomy. The event program also features a lineup of influential guest speakers, including keynotes from U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) and other sessions featuring government officials and energy industry leaders: 

• U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack will provide insights into the Administration’s vision for biofuels in its broader decarbonization strategy. 

• EPA Administrator Michael Regan and Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor will engage in a conversation about the successes and challenges facing the biofuel industry today.  

• Ernest Moniz, 13th U.S. Secretary of Energy and CEO and founder of Energy Futures Initiative Foundation (EFIF), will preview the latest research on exciting opportunities to further decarbonize bioethanol.  

“You aren’t just representatives of a crucial sector,” said Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor in her welcoming remarks to the biofuels summit this morning. “You are ambassadors for the future that our nation deserves … Because what’s good for biofuels, producers, and the entire bioeconomy is good for working families on a budget; good for energy security and independence; good for environmental stewardship and decarbonization; and good for economic development in communities that need it most.” 

In her keynote, Skor focused on policy priorities that deliver on values shared across the political spectrum. Those include finalizing timely and accurate guidance for the 45Z tax credit, setting Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) that align with current market conditions, and securing a permanent, year-round solution for E15 access nationwide. 

On driving investment in America’s rural communities: 

“If growers and producers can count on RFS requirements that are timely, ambitious, and reliable, that economic stability ripples out into entire communities … RFS, SREs, carbon capture: These aren’t wish list items to help an industry. It’s a platform to secure and strengthen the rural economy.” 

On giving American consumers greater choice and lower prices: 

“Inflation and the cost of living are dominating kitchen-table conversations around the country — and biomanufacturers deliver relief straight to Americans’ pocketbooks. Drivers across America deserve the freedom to maximize their savings at the pump. That means E15 access should be permanent, year-round, and nationwide. Period.” 

On accelerating innovation in America’s bioeconomy: 

“We are just scratching the surface of the new bioeconomy. We aren’t competing over scarcity. We’re unleashing abundance. We can’t let 21st-century innovation be held back by messy bureaucracy or special interests pushing inaccurate science.” 

On securing American dominance in hard-to-electrify sectors: 

“Air travel. Marine and freight transportation. These markets need different solutions … Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is key to decarbonizing the skies. Both Republicans and Democrats understand this. The United States can choose to lead or choose to follow.” 

On unlocking foreign markets for American bioproducts: 

“It won’t be enough to bolster our bioeconomy here at home if we lack access to global markets. America is home to the most innovative biomanufacturers in the world. We need to be proactively knocking down barriers and opening new opportunities for them to compete and win.” 

Skor’s full biofuels summit speech, as prepared for delivery, is available here. 

The post Growth Energy Brings Industry Leaders Together for Biofuels Summit in D.C. appeared first on Growth Energy.

The first petition seeks to have the court correct errors that led to its rejection of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to deny several oil refiners’ SRE petitions. The second petition asserts Growth Energy’s standing to challenge EPA’s decision to excuse some of those same refiners from RFS biofuel blending obligations.

“These petitions are consistent with how the RFS should work,” said Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor. “Congress clearly intended for SREs to provide rare relief for refineries, and only those seeking to comply in good faith with their RFS blending obligations. If the D.C. Circuit’s opinion stands, guardrails to ensure good faith compliance will disappear, allowing refineries to gamble on RIN markets, pocket any windfalls, and lean on the U.S. government when those gambles don’t go their way.”

Skor stated further that it’s clear that Growth and other biofuels producers have standing to participate in RFS disputes, including disputes about SREs. “Every SRE granted by EPA directly and negatively impacts biofuels blending, biofuels production, and our industry’s bottom line,” she added. “That type of competitive injury can’t be ignored, and we deserve to be able to protect our members’ interests in court.”

Read the first petition here and the second one here.

The post Growth Energy Files Two Petitions for Rehearing on Refinery Exemption Decisions appeared first on Growth Energy.

In his opening remarks before the groundbreaking, Conestoga CEO (and current Growth Energy Chairman) Tom Willis called on attendees to “remember today.”

“This is a day where western Kansas goes from producing natural gas energy, to the start of producing sustainable aviation fuel with our partner SAFFiRE,” he said. “This is transformational for western Kansas. This is transformational for the airline industry. This is transformational for agriculture and the value that it brings. It started here.”

Skor echoed Willis in her remarks, saying that the Conestoga and SAFFiRE plant “has the potential to be a big step for Kansas—and a huge leap for the entire biofuels industry.” She also called on policymakers to help support the project through the 45Z clean fuel production tax credit, for which guidance from the U.S. Treasury is still pending.

“SAF is a multi-billion-dollar opportunity,” she added. “Getting to that future will take all of us. It will take innovators like Conestoga and SAFFiRE. It will take policymakers like our champions here today, creating the right conditions and sending the right market signals. That means a 45Z clean fuel production credit that allows rural America to prosper at the speed of innovation, not the snail’s pace of bureaucracy.”

Growth Energy congratulates both of our members—Conestoga and SAFFiRE—for this exciting and potentially game-changing development for the future of cellulosic biofuel and SAF. You can read more about the plant on Southwest Airlines’ website (SAFFiRE Renewables is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Southwest).

The post Growth Energy Members Conestoga and SAFFiRE Break Ground on New Corn Stover Bioethanol Plant appeared first on Growth Energy.

“The [economic impact analysis] (EIA) acknowledges potential direct and indirect land use change (LUC) ‘is at least partially (and potentially fully) accounted for by the LUC scores added to crop-derived pathways,’” said Growth Energy Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Chris Bliley in the comments. “This acknowledgement renders the need for a sustainability certification moot as potential LUC concerns for crop-based feedstocks are addressed.” 

Furthermore, farmers that produce corn and other crops used in the production of biofuels would be required to use climate smart agriculture practices to qualify for the “sustainability certification.” However, those same farmers would still not receive any credit for the emissions-reducing impact of deploying those practices under the LCFS. 

“While the most recent proposal details the ‘best environmental management practices’ required for biomass used in fuel pathways, and those CSA practices result in the reduction of carbon emissions, CARB continues to disregard these and other practices when factoring carbon intensity (CI) scores,” Bliley added. “The use of these practices for measured carbon reduction is not new. Other state agencies are using some of these same practices to reduce the release of soil carbon in the state’s natural and working lands.” 

“CSA practices are an important component to bioethanol’s continued efforts to get to net-zero,” Bliley added. “We urge CARB to recognize these practices and their carbon-reduction potential and allow CSA practices to be considered when determining a pathway’s CI.” 

Read more about the sustainability certification and climate smart agriculture in the full comments as submitted here. 

The post Growth Energy: California LCFS Updates Stack the Deck against American Biofuels appeared first on Growth Energy.

Few topics received as much attention as the 45Z clean fuels credit, which is slated to take effect in 2025. The credit was signed into law two years ago, and will become the primary incentive for the production of low-carbon fuels in transportation on the ground and in the air.

Properly implemented, 45Z could unlock major new investments in Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), climate-smart agriculture, and other low-carbon innovations. That’s why Growth Energy has been working hand-in-hand with our leaders on Capitol Hill to ensure that the Biden Administration gives producers and our farm partners the certainty and flexibility we need to find the path that works best for American agriculture.

Speakers on hand who echoed that message included Jolene Riessen, President of the Iowa Corn Growers Association, and Steve Sukup, President and CEO, Sukup Manufacturing – a Growth Energy member.

For more insights from these witnesses — and our allies in Congress — check out some highlights below.

Rep. Zach Nunn: “I am proud that on day one as a freshman, I went against the establishment to make sure we fought for key tax credits that impact our state. Working with this team here, we held together that we made sure that biofuels were part of America’s energy solution and our national security solution.

Rep. Randy Feenstra: Right now, over 50% of our crop, corn and soybeans, goes to biofuels. Right now, if you look at our commodity prices, corn is under $5 and soybeans are under $10. Now, we could export more or we could use more of it. How do you use more? You do it through biofuels, ethanol, and biodiesel. To do that, we have to grow our markets through sustainable aviation fuel and other things. So I want to talk about 45Z. This is a tax credit that can dramatically expand markets. Right now, we have a thumb on the scale for electric vehicles and not liquid fuels. This gives us an opportunity to compete. And if we don’t, we’re going to probably see our commodity prices cut nearly in half again. Ms. Riessen can you talk about this?

Jolene Riessen: That 45Z is going to be a gamechanger for us when it comes to grain price. With 45Z, consumers are asking for low-carbon, so, one way of doing that is through carbon sequestration and 45Z helps ethanol plants get set up to be able to do that. When we do that, my corn goes to that ethanol plant, and we make better markets and prices.

In a recent study I saw, for every dollar invested in 45Z, it will return $4-$6.

Rep. Randy Feenstra: When our farmers are successful, our main streets are successful, our hospitals are successful, our schools, everything is successful.

Rep. Darin LaHood: I mentioned that I have a heavy ag district, and the potential economic growth around the biofuels industry. Again, I have been very engaged and spent a lot of time talking about it. As we look to future tax policy proposals, can you comment on the specific pro-growth initiatives that can better support our farmers and biofuel producers?

Steve Sukup: Well, practically one of every two rows of corn goes to biofuels. It provides us with energy self-sufficiency here in the U.S., which I think is absolutely critical and it can provide, going into 45Z, more incentives to reduce carbon emissions.

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis: Can you talk as farmers about how energy drives up the cost of food for the people I represent in New York? And also maybe you want to touch on some of the renewable energy sources that we can derive from corn?

Jolene Riessen: Ethanol is available – and you can put it right in the gas tank. We are pushing for the Next Generation Fuels Act to be passed to increase the amount of ethanol in the tank. This is from the American Lung Association, for every percent of ethanol that we are able to put into that fuel tank, we are also reducing our healthcare costs because we are taking particulates out of the air.

Steve Sukup: Biofuels are critical across the U.S. for energy efficiency and self-sustainability. That is what we have to increase. It lowers prices throughout.

The post On Display at the Iowa State Fair: Benefits of Biofuel Tax Credits appeared first on Growth Energy.

“After two long years, we’re eager to see this administration’s clean fuel incentive reach its full potential,” said Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor. “That’s why we’ve been working closely with the administration and our bipartisan champions on Capitol Hill to ensure the Department of Treasury finalizes flexible guidance for 45Z, so farmers and biofuel producers can plan and invest ahead of the next harvest.

“Properly implemented, 45Z could be the starting pistol for rural communities waiting to access new economic opportunities and deliver on the promise of climate-smart agriculture. To unlock those investments, the White House must avoid pitfalls that encumbered its approach to the 40B sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) credit. That means setting the new guidelines without delay, and sending a strong market signal that all low-carbon innovations on the farm and at the plant will be properly rewarded.

“President Biden said that farmers would provide 95 percent of SAF over the next two decades, and this anniversary is a wonderful opportunity to move us closer to that goal.”

Starting in 2025, the president’s 45Z clean fuel production tax credit will become the primary incentive for the production of low-carbon fuels in transportation on the ground and in the air. According to an analysis published by Growth Energy on the first anniversary of the IRA, a properly implemented 45Z tax credit could add $21.2 billion to the U.S. economy, generate nearly $13.4 billion in household income, support more than 192,000 jobs across all sectors of the national economy, and provide farmers with a 10 percent premium price on low carbon corn used at a bioethanol plant.

The post Growth Energy Marks IRA’s Birthday with Call for Action on 45Z appeared first on Growth Energy.

EPA is required by law to finalize RFS volumes for 2026 by November 1, 2024. However, the White House’s recently-published Spring 2024 unified agenda indicates that the agency will not finalize the delayed 2026 RFS Set Rule until December 2025, more than a year late. 

“The law doesn’t change just because EPA gives advance notice of its failure to comply,” said Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor. “America’s biofuel producers and their farm partners rely on the certainty the RFS provides in order to make investments that bear fruit in the form of lower fuel costs for consumers, more jobs in rural communities, and lower carbon emissions. Growth Energy has held EPA accountable for its delays in the past, and we will continue to do so in order to ensure that the agency follows the law and that biofuel producers can plan for the future.” 

Growth Energy has filed similar lawsuits to force EPA to comply with its statutory deadlines in 2020 and in 2021. In 2022, Growth Energy and EPA submitted a consent decree agreement to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that required EPA to propose the 2023 renewable fuel volume requirements no later than November 16, 2022, and to finalize those requirements no later than June 14, 2023. On November 4, 2022, Growth Energy agreed to a two-week extension on the proposal, and EPA filed its proposed RVOs for 2023-2025 on December 1, 2022. That proposal was ultimately revised and finalized by the agency in June 2023, following another one-week delay to which Growth Energy also consented. 

Read the notice of intent to sue regarding the delayed 2026 RFS Set Rule here. Learn more about the Renewable Fuel Standard and its importance to the biofuel industry here. 

The post Growth Energy Files Notice of Intent to Sue EPA for Delayed 2026 RFS Set Rule appeared first on Growth Energy.

The following is a joint statement in response to the court decision on small refinery exemptions from Growth Energy, the Renewable Fuels Association, and the American Coalition for Ethanol, all of whom intervened on EPA’s behalf in the litigation:

“We are extremely disappointed in today’s decision to vacate and remand EPA’s denial of dozens of small refinery exemption petitions. EPA’s decision in 2022 to deny the petitions was well-reasoned, based on sound economic analysis, and consistent with both the Clean Air Act and the objectives of the Renewable Fuel Standard. We will evaluate our next steps, which may include seeking further review of today’s decision. Our coalition remains resolute and committed to protecting and defending the proper implementation of the RFS.”

The post Biofuel Leaders Respond to Court Decision on Small Refinery Exemptions appeared first on Growth Energy.

“While our biorefineries are focused on a range of innovative technologies to reduce carbon intensity at the plant, agriculture represents more than 50 percent of bioethanol’s carbon intensity (CI) score,” said Growth Energy Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Chris Bliley in the comment. “It is therefore essential to recognize the full range of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) innovation taking place on the farm – including farm applications such as cover crops, reduced tillage, manure application, crop nutrient management and other ag innovations – that can reduce the lifecycle CI score of bioethanol.” 

As it has in previous comments to other agencies, Growth Energy emphasized the importance of giving farmers flexibility that allows them to get credit for each and every CSA practice they deploy. Specifically, Growth Energy reiterated how the U.S. Treasury’s guidance on the 40B sustainable aviation fuel tax credit was too restrictive, and would steer farmers away from climate smart ag by requiring them to use three specific practices before they could qualify for the credit at all. 

“Using this restrictive all-or-nothing approach to recognizing the value of CSA practices will limit innovation and make farmers, blenders, and producers less – not more – likely to invest in emissions-reducing technologies,” Bliley said. “Numerous factors including local weather patterns, soil type and health, growing seasons, and equipment costs determine which CSA practices are feasible for a particular farm—and farmers should have the flexibility to implement the CSA practices that are most effective for their unique circumstances and allow producers the ability to maximize carbon reductions based on their specific farm.” 

Read Growth Energy’s full comment here. Learn more about the importance of carbon reduction tax incentives to the future of biofuels here. 

The post Growth Energy to USDA: Give Farmers Flexibility on CSA appeared first on Growth Energy.