Mr. Fuchs has a deep understanding of the vital role the STB serves in the American supply chain given its charge to provide economic regulation for the freight rail industry. As a board member since 2019 he has intelligently shaped many rulemakings to help the rail industry better serve its customers and the American public.

Before his time on the Board, Mr. Fuchs served as senior professional staff member for surface transportation and merchant marine for the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and was instrumental in drafting the STB Reauthorization Act of 2015, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act of 2015, and the Positive Train Control Enforcement and Implementation Act of 2015.

We strongly urge you to confirm Patrick Fuchs for a second term at the STB.

Sincerely,
Agricultural Retailers Association
American Chemistry Council
American Cotton Shippers Association
American Farm Bureau Federation
American Feed Industry Association
American Malting Barley Association
American Soybean Association
AmericanHort
Consumer Brands Association
Growth Energy
International Dairy Foods Association
International Fresh Produce Association
National Association of Wheat Growers
National Cotton Council
National Council of Farmer Cooperatives
National Farmers Union

National Grain and Feed Association
National Milk Producers Federation
National Oilseed Processors Association
North American Millers’ Association
North American Renderers Association
Pet Food Institute
The Fertilizer Institute
US Rice Producers Association
USA Rice

The post Growth Energy Signs Trade Letter in Support of Transportation Board Confirmation appeared first on Growth Energy.

The 117th Congress enacted a suite of essential, widely supported enhancements to the federal Section 45Q tax credit, the foundational policy mechanism to incentivize the deployment of carbon management projects. These measures, coupled with the incremental enactment of additional supportive policies over the course of the past several years, underscores Congress’ commitment to enabling carbon management projects to fulfill their emissions reduction and job creation potential. That said, remaining small-scale gaps in federal policy threaten to impede the economywide deployment of these technologies – imperiling American jobs, economic development, energy security and the prospect of urgently needed – and achievable – greenhouse gas emissions reductions.

Thanks to robust and sustained bipartisan congressional support, the United States now provides the most forward-looking policies in the world for the deployment of carbon management technologies and many organizations stand ready to act. However, there is still work to be done to ensure the historic investments made in carbon management over the past several years translate to widescale project deployment. Congress now has the immediate opportunity to provide a set of targeted, pragmatic adjustments to the 45Q tax credit to underpin and grow the role of American leadership in the development and deployment of these technologies throughout the remainder of this crucial decade of deployment and beyond, including:

• Indexing 45Q for inflation immediately: Increased credit values provided to projects developed in the industry, power and direct air capture sectors are the cornerstone of the recent enhancements made to the 45Q program in 2022. However, unlike other low- and zero-emissions technology tax credits recently reformed or created by the 117th Congress, the 45Q tax credit value is not adjusted for inflation until 2027. Already, much of the value increase realized in recent 45Q enhancements has been eroded due to significant inflation in both capital goods costs and energy price increases. To prevent further reduction of the credit
  value in today’s dollars, 45Q should be adjusted for inflation immediately.
• Creating parity between carbon utilization credit levels and those associated with geologic storage:
  Under the current statute, there is a $25 per ton disparity between those projects that reuse carbon emissions to manufacture valuable products versus those that securely and permanently store the captured carbon. This disparity effectively disincentivizes the development and deployment of relatively nascent carbon reuse technologies. This disparity rises to $50 per ton in relation to direct air capture projects. Removing policy barriers like the credit level disparity between carbon reuse and geologic storage in 45Q is a critical factor in boosting the availability of carbon feedstocks for reuse applications across the value chain of carbon-based commodities, specialty products, and chemicals.

As you consider the inclusion of tax-based policies in upcoming bipartisan legislation, there remains broad support among lawmakers and external partners to ensure these technologies can scale at the rate necessary to provide tangible emissions reductions and climate benefits, while securing American energy reliability and technology leadership. We stand ready to work with you to advance necessary policies to catalyze the deployment of carbon management and broader clean energy technologies included as part of an end of the year package or in another moving legislative vehicle this Congress.

The post Joint Letter to Congress: Adjust 45Q Tax Credit appeared first on Growth Energy.

As you know, our ability to attract investment and build out U.S. SAF capacity will depend on how the program determines credit eligibility and valuation. This is especially true for a performance-based tax regime that ties the size of the incentive to a product’s lifecycle carbon score.

While the statute rightly recognizes the carbon lifecycle assessment (LCA) model developed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as a method for determining SAF credit eligibility and valuation, Congress was right to explicitly allow for the use of “any similar methodology.” The Department should immediately recognize Argonne GREET as a similar methodology for several reasons.

First, Argonne GREET incorporates the latest biorefining and feedstock production efficiencies and is updated regularly. Accuracy, transparency, and predictability are vital to securing private capital in a policy-driven marketplace. Second, and unlike the ICAO model, Argonne GREET allows users to account for climate smart and regenerative feedstock production practices. The IRA could unleash a new wave of U.S. bio-innovation practices but will not reach its full potential if those practices cannot be accounted for. Finally, tying a U.S. SAF credit to only one international model – in an inherently uncertain technical field – increases investment risk in direct contravention of the interagency SAF Roadmap’s goal to “reduce [industry] risk during scale-up and operations.”

As to whether Argonne GREET meets the statutory requirements for recognition as a similar methodology to ICAO/CORSIA, the models use the same tools to quantify lifecycle carbon emissions from SAF. Both approaches rely primarily on GREET data for direct (supply-chain) emissions and a general equilibrium economic model called GTAP to estimate indirect emissions (i.e., indirect land use change). Argonne GREET clearly complies with CAA § 211(o)(1)(H) because the model includes every aspect of the “full fuel lifecycle,” including both “direct emissions and significant indirect emissions.” It also includes the only example of significant indirect emissions cited (“land use changes”) and “all stages of fuel and feedstock production and distribution … adjusted to account for their relative global warming potential.”

While the scientific community’s understanding of different aspects of lifecycle carbon accounting is constantly evolving, particularly with regard to indirect emissions, proposed significant modifications should be run through the normal scientific, agency and public processes – and should not be added hastily as part of Treasury guidance.

We are aware that Argonne GREET is undergoing an update. Science-based updates are a normal course of business for lifecycle modeling and should not be cause for delay. Our companies are already engaged in discussions and commercial efforts to ramp up SAF production and feedstocks to meet the goals set forth by the U.S. and global climate leaders. With the right market signals, we can de-carbonize aviation and spur a new wave of U.S. innovation and clean energy jobs. However, modeling uncertainty today is a multiyear development problem due to the buildout schedules of SAF production facilities. To this end, we underscore the urgency for providing clarity on this issue as soon as possible to ensure the effective implementation and utilization of IRA Section 40B.

Respectfully, we encourage the administration to immediately recognize “the most recent version” of the Argonne GREET model – as the statute does for ICAO/CORSIA – as a similar methodology. Unlike any new carbon modeling regime that would invite further delay, recognizing Argonne GREET now gives SAF investors a well-settled, durable, and predictable framework for assessing program eligibility and risk without undercutting ongoing and future modeling updates.

Our companies are committed to a sustainable future and are focused on accelerating the commercial deployment of SAF. We look forward to the opportunity to rely on this vitally important program.

The post SAF Leaders Letter to Biden Administration Calling for Argonne GREET Model appeared first on Growth Energy.

Our members are committed to developing a robust sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) market in the United States, consistent with national climate goals and commitments. A number of our members have already made substantial investments in SAF production, and the IRA’s Section 40B and 45Z tax credits have the potential to greatly accelerate this trend.

Scaling up SAF production will be critical to the decarbonization and future economic competitiveness of the U.S. aviation sector. The SAF Grand Challenge pledges to reach 3 billion gallons of SAF production per year by 2030 and 35 billion gallons per year by 2050. To meet these goals, it will be necessary to harness 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. Ethanol is one of the few readily-available feedstocks for SAF production that can be utilized in the aviation sector if the proper economic conditions are in place and if the process for certifying SAF for tax credits under the IRA is reasonable and workable for ethanol-to-jet (ETJ) SAF.

The core requirement for SAF to be eligible for 40B and 45Z tax credits is that it achieves the required 50% or greater reduction in lifecycle greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions as compared to petroleum-based jet fuel.1 SAF must also be certified as meeting the requirements in Section 40B (and corresponding Section 45Z) in order to be eligible for the tax credits.2 In both the calculation of lifecycle GHG emissions and the certification of SAF, the IRA provides for flexibility — a producer may apply the
methodologies and requirements in the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) or “any similar methodology which satisfies the criteria” set out in the RFS under the Clean Air Act.3 The Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Technologies (GREET) model, for example, is one such “similar methodology” for calculating lifecycle GHG emissions that satisfies the criteria set out in the RFS, as elaborated in our prior letters attached here for ease of reference.

Similarly, the 40B and 45Z SAF certification provision allows for demonstrating compliance either with (1) certain CORSIA eligibility requirements or (2) if using an alternative lifecycle emissions methodology that satisfies the RFS criteria (such as GREET), compliance with “requirements similar to” those set out in CORSIA.

The post Growth Energy Letter on the Certification Criteria for Sustainable Aviation Fuel under Sections 40B and 45Z appeared first on Growth Energy.

While U.S. domestic initiatives are essential in encouraging SAF production and utilization, we must not disregard the global market’s influence on curating SAF supply and demand and the U.S. bioethanol industry’s competitiveness on the international stage. Under the current ICAO CORSIA methodology, U.S. corn ethanol SAF appears uncompetitive on the world market compared to SAF produced from alternative sources in other regions, due to ICAO’s use of outdated data from over a decade ago such as their excessive indirect land use change (iLUC) penalties.

We strongly support the adoption of the DOE’s GREET model by the U.S. Treasury as the standard for carbon intensity scoring of conventional aviation fuels and SAF. The latest DOE GREET model relies on the most current information and highest-resolution data regarding the energy use, carbon emissions and potential land use impacts associated with the corn ethanol-based SAF process. By incorporating the DOE GREET model into its evaluation framework, the Treasury can unlock the full potential of agriculture to meet the growing demands of the global aviation industry while simultaneously reducing its carbon footprint.

Furthermore, we strongly urge the U.S. Treasury and interagency officials to collaborate closely with the ICAO to rectify the discrepancies in its CORSIA model. We believe the U.S. should communicate with ICAO to undertake the necessary adjustments to its methodology and ensure timely scientific updates. These efforts are essential to create a level playing field for U.S. SAF producers, allowing them to effectively compete in supplying the rapidly expanding global SAF market.

The economic and environmental benefits of U.S. SAF cannot be overstated. Corn ethanol-based SAF holds the potential to contribute substantively to both decarbonization and economic growth in the U.S. aviation sector, and President Biden’s recent statement that farmers will provide 95 percent of all SAF in the next two decades underscores the significant role agriculture will play in the sector’s transformation.

We sincerely appreciate your engagement and support in ensuring U.S. corn ethanol-based SAF can participate and compete in the growing global marketplace. By recognizing the current DOE GREET model as the most scientifically robust, most transparent, and most current carbon scoring mechanism, and ensuring a fair scoring mechanism under ICAO’s CORSIA, we can fully appreciate the contributions of the American bioethanol industry, enhance agricultural exports, and lead the way in global aviation sustainability.

Read the full letter here.

The post Ethanol Industry Associations Ask Treasury Secretary To Use GREET Model For Scientific Accuracy appeared first on Growth Energy.

The post Letter to the House Ways & Means Committee appeared first on Growth Energy.

“To meet these goals, it will be necessary to harness 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.,” said Growth Energy in the letter. “Ethanol is one of the few readily available feedstocks for SAF production that can be utilized in the aviation sector if the proper economic conditions are in place and if lifecycle analysis of greenhouse gas emissions associated with ethanol-to-jet (ETJ) SAF is conducted properly.”

Under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), IRS is responsible for the implementation of the bill’s SAF tax credits included in sections 40B and 45Z. How large these incentives are, and who is eligible to receive them, will be determined by what lifecycle analysis (LCA) model IRS chooses to use in its assessments of potential SAF sources and feedstocks. In its letter, Growth Energy called on IRS to rely on the best available science to accurately account for the emissions profile of biofuels, in particular by using the Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Technologies (GREET) model developed by the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory.

“When implementing the Section 40B and 45Z SAF tax credits, IRS must ensure LCA methodologies used for calculation of credits reflect the best available science so as to incentivize increased production of low carbon-intensity SAF in order to further Congress’ core objective of accelerating the reduction of GHG emissions from the U.S transportation system,” the letter said. “Implementing the statute in this matter is critical to the decarbonization and continued economic competitiveness of the U.S. aviation sector.”

The letter also highlighted the increasing efficiency of the U.S. biofuels sector and outlined the reasons why other LCA models aren’t as accurate as GREET. Read the full letter here.

The post Growth Energy to IRS: Ethanol Ready for SAF Spotlight appeared first on Growth Energy.

“The ongoing conflict in Ukraine, now extending into its second year, continues to reverberate across global energy markets,” said the letter, whose signatories were Growth Energy, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), the National Sorghum Producers, the American Farm Bureau Federation, and the National Farmers Union. “At home, this conflict continues to cause fuel supply disruptions, high gasoline prices, and ongoing uncertainty for millions of Americans. To help remedy these disruptions, provide stability for American families, and support domestic energy and economic security, we urge the administration to authorize the summer sale of gasoline blended with up to 15 percent ethanol (E15).”

Advocates also outlined a range of “extreme and unusual” factors impacting the stability of U.S. fuel markets, including historically low domestic fuel inventories, record exports of U.S. fuel to allies overseas, and continued inflationary pressures on fuel consumers. Protecting summer access to E15 would help relieve pressure on U.S. fuel supplies, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, lowering evaporative emissions, and supporting America’s farmers and rural economies, they argued.

“While a permanent solution that would allow E15 sales year-round remains an important necessity, we urge you to take action on a temporary, emergency RVP waiver as soon as possible to remedy current and expected supply challenges resulting from ongoing conflict in Ukraine,” concluded the letter.

View the full text of the letter here.

The post Biofuel and Farm Leaders Press White House for Immediate Action on E15 appeared first on Growth Energy.

Growth Energy is the nation’s largest association of biofuel producers, representing 90 U.S. plants that each year produce almost 9 billion gallons of low-carbon, renewable fuel; 107 businesses associated with the production process; and tens of thousands of biofuel supporters around the country. As we have noted previously, we view U.S. leadership in the global sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) market to be vital to the decarbonization and future economic competitiveness of the U.S. aviation sector, and a number of our members have already made substantial investments in SAF production.

To that end, we reiterate the points that we made in our November 4th letter to Secretary Yellen on SAF as well as our December 2nd comment to you on Notice 2022-58; Request for Comments on Credits for Clean Hydrogen and Clean Fuel Production. Specifically, the IRS must allow ethanol to jet producers to use the U.S. Department of Energy’s Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Technologies (GREET) model in determining the fuel’s lifecycle GHG emissions. Further, the IRS’ implementation of the 40B and 45Z tax credits must rely on accurate and complete GHG lifecycle emissions accounting to determine credit eligibility and amount. Further details on our views can be found in our earlier comment and letter both of which are attached here.

Growth Energy appreciates your input as you implement the IRA tax credit provisions in a manner that ensures the best available science is used to calculate eligibility for and amount of credits. We look forward to our continued engagement on this important work and are happy to meet and discuss these issues in greater detail.

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

The post Growth Energy February 2023 Comment to IRS on SAF Tax Credits appeared first on Growth Energy.

“Given the profound implications of this year’s ‘Set’ rulemaking, there has never been a more important time for EPA officials to hear directly from stakeholders in the Midwest who will be most directly impacted by the agency’s decisions,” wrote Skor.

In her letter, Skor notes that the agency hasn’t held a major in-person hearing on the nation’s biofuel ambitions since July 31, 2019 in Michigan.

“We hope you will agree that the time has come to restore a prized opportunity for rural communities to share their views. The teleconference now scheduled for January 10, 2023 is an expedient option, but we cannot allow a temporary alterative to become a permanent habit. Simply put, there is no substitute for the perspective EPA can gain from visiting with local innovators in communities where renewable energy goes from farm field to fuel tank every day,” added Skor.

View the full letter here.

The post Growth Energy Calls on EPA to Hold Midwest Hearing for Rural Biofuel Stakeholders appeared first on Growth Energy.