Advanced BioFuels USA

2018 Farm Bill Helps Rural America Become More Resilient: Rural Economies Crucial to Combating Climate Change

(Environmental and Energy Study Institute) The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) commends the Farm Bill conferees and the House and Senate Agriculture Committees for their tireless commitment to produce a Farm Bill, the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, this year. In a year when farmers, ranchers, and rural communities are struggling, and the agricultural economy is down nearly 50 percent compared to 2014, finalizing the Farm Bill is more important than ever.

2018 Farm Bill programs – including conservation, energy and rural lending programs – are already helping rural America become more resilient to a changing climate. Reauthorizing important programs for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and bio-based alternatives to petroleum-based products helps create stability for rural communities and producers as well as offering important climate solutions. New areas included in the 2018 Farm Bill, such as industrial hemp cultivation and soil health pilot programs, will continue to help diversify and create greater resilience in rural communities.

However, we are missing opportunities to improve resilience in rural communities, farms, and forests. According to EESI Policy Associate Jessie Stolark, “Whether it’s producing a greater variety of renewable and bio-based products from forestry residues and agricultural resources, helping farmers and rural communities adapt to climate, or further supporting energy efficiency programs that help rural residents save energy and money, the Farm Bill could be doing even more to deliver economic development, climate adaptation and mitigation tools to rural America. We only get a chance to pass a Farm Bill every four years. The last four have shown us that climate change impacts are ‘here and now.’ Agriculture and forestry can be a critical part of the solution.”

Just last month, the Trump Administration released the 4th National Climate Assessment, which warns that “climate change presents numerous challenges to sustaining and enhancing crop productivity, livestock health, and the economic vitality of rural communities.” The report contains the strongest warnings about the impacts of climate change ever pronounced by the U.S. federal government, and suggests urgent action is needed.

In the 2018 Farm Bill, the Energy Title (IX) continues mandatory funding for a number of important programs that help diversify the agricultural and forestry economies and grow the number of commercially viable bio-based alternatives to petroleum-based fuels, chemicals, plastics, and other products. The bill contains significant mandatory funding for the Renewable Energy for America Program (REAP), an incredibly popular program that helps install renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies on farms, ranches and in rural businesses, and which is always oversubscribed.

EESI is disappointed at the elimination of mandatory funding for the Biomass Crop Assistance Program(BCAP) and the Biomass Research and Development Program (BRDI). Both programs are crucial to diversifying and growing the bio-based economy, and should be expanded.

EESI was pleased to see the inclusion of the Timber Innovation Act, which will help drive markets for mass timber, a sustainable long-lived wood building material that could turn our building sector from a carbon source to a carbon sink—and provide numerous other benefits as well.

The bill also reauthorizes the Rural Energy Savings Program (RESP), providing funding at $75 million per year over five years. RESP provides zero-percent loans to rural electric cooperatives and other rural electric utilities for the purpose of relending the funds to utility members/customers for energy improvements. These can include energy efficiency upgrades, beneficial electrification projects, customer-owned renewable energy, energy storage, and other measures that are projected to lower the participating member-customer’s costs over time. RESP supports “on-bill financing” programs, in which the energy upgrade loans are repaid through the beneficiary’s electric bills. EESI’s On-Bill Financing Project provides technical assistance to co-ops and public utilities seeking to tap into RESP funds for on-bill financing initiatives.

EESI looks forward to working with the new Congress and stakeholders to continue improving the resilience of rural economies in the United States. According to (Jessie) Stolark, “The Farm Bill is our best vehicle for addressing climate change in these sectors, and we should look forward to further incorporating climate adaptation, resilience, and mitigation throughout, whether it’s through research and development, the conservation title, or even a climate title.” READ MORE

Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (Farm Bill)

Senate passes 2018 Farm Bill (Biomass Magazine)

RFA CEO Cooper Testifies on the Future Role of High Octane Fuels

(Renewable Fuels Association) While draft legislation recently released by Reps. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) and Bill Flores (R-Texas) represents “an important first step in the debate about future fuels policy and the role of high octane fuels,” the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) cannot support the proposal because it “does not provide the long-term certainty and growth path” that America’s ethanol producers need.

That was the message delivered by RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper in testimony during today’s House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on the Environment hearing on the Shimkus/Flores proposal, named “The 21st Century Transportation Fuels Act.” While the proposal would establish a higher octane fuel requirement (95 RON) in 2023, the draft also would sunset the Renewable Fuel Standard’s (RFS) conventional biofuel requirements after 2022.

By eliminating the RFS for conventional biofuels, “…the draft bill would destabilize the considerable progress our nation has made toward greater energy security, economic vitality, and environmental health,” Cooper testified. “We simply cannot support eliminating the RFS program, as the draft envisions, without a much stronger signal to the market that ethanol’s role in our fuel supply will continue to grow.”

While any move toward higher octane would seem on the surface to benefit ethanol—the lowest-cost and cleanest source of octane on the market—recent analysis shows that refiners could meet the demand for 95 RON gasoline without using more ethanol. “Even though ethanol is far superior to other octane boosters in terms of cost, greenhouse gas emissions, air quality, health effects, and other factors, a 95 RON standard—when paired with elimination of the RFS conventional renewable fuel requirements—would not result in increased market opportunities for ethanol,” Cooper said. “RFA strongly believes a high octane fuel standard can work in concert with—not in conflict with—the RFS.”

“While a good conversation starter, this discussion draft does not provide the long-term certainty and growth path that America’s renewable fuel producers, farmers, automakers, and consumers need,” Cooper testified. “With proper oversight and implementation, the RFS can work in tandem with a high- octane standard to continue to drive innovation, support rural economies, and provide cleaner and cheaper fuel choices at the pump well beyond 2022,” he added.

A copy of Cooper’s prepared testimony is here. READ MORE WATCH VIDEO

RFS OVERHAUL IN THE SPOTLIGHT: (Politico’s Morning Energy)

Excerpt from Politico’s Morning Energy: Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) is using his last days as head of the Energy and Commerce Environment Subcommittee to hold a hearing on his 21st Century Transportation Fuels Act, an overhaul of renewable fuels policy. Lawmakers have filled the witness list largely with renewable fuels advocates, while only one representative of the oil industry will testify: Chet Thompson, president of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers.

The draft bill no one loves: Despite not appearing on the panel, API sent a letter to subcommittee leadership opposing the bill for locking in a fixed amount of advanced biofuels blending and approving a waiver to allow year-round sale of 15 percent ethanol fuel. Biofuels groups oppose the draft bill for pretty much the same reasons. READ MORE

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“We’ve been intervening at every point to say (a) the UN’s Special Report says bioenergy is as important as electromobility for the next four decades and (b) no policy discussion can be meaningful unless it looks at the cost of the different measures, and regular ethanol is the cheapest climate measure in transport by a long shot.” Climate Ethanol Alliances’s James Cogan describing work at COP24 this week, quoted in Biofuels Digest. READ MORE

2018 Farm Bill Helps Rural America Become More Resilient: Rural Economies Crucial to Combating Climate Change

(Environmental and Energy Study Institute) The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) commends the Farm Bill conferees and the House and Senate

December 12, 2018 Read Full Article

Scaling the Ethanol ‘Blend Wall’ Ultimately Consumers’ Decision

by John Duff (Delta Farm Press/National Sorghum Producers) … The Biofuels Infrastructure Partnership program is a grassroots effort to fund new