Daschle: New Administration Could Put Ethanol into ‘Orbit’

by Mikkel Pates (AgWeek) Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., talks about corn ethanol opportunities in the Biden administration and reflects on the recent passing of Orrie Swayze, a farmer and former Marine fighter pilot from Wilmot, S.D., who Daschle described as a “mentor” in his passion for an industry that has transformed the region’s corn industry.

Daschle was a leader in developing a Renewable Fuels Standard that helped establish ethanol fuel. Daschle thinks the Biden administration could increase “regular” blends to 30% ethanol blend.

Swayze was one of the early voices to tout a 30% blend (E30) as a “sweet spot,” in auto efficiency, and then pushed for even higher blends.

Since leaving office, Daschle has been involved in a “high-octane, low-carbon” (HOLC) alliance to link with other organizations to develop ethanol. Among other things, he’s created the “Daschle Group,” which works with HOLC issues. Daschle sees E30 and the concept of high-octane, low carbon as a way to move into the expected future of electronic vehicles.

As partisanship and gridlock in Congress has escalated, it seems doubtful that any legislation will move ethanol forward.

“We haven’t really received a definitive characterization of the administration’s position,” he said. “I think it’s going to be all the more important with this administration, with its Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient Vehicles Rule (SAFE rules) for tailpipe emissions."

Daschle said the Biden administration has ambitious goals for electronic vehicles. EVs are “unquestionably a part of the future of transportation in America” and may become a “dominant form” of personal transportation.

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“What I do know is — for the foreseeable future, and I would say several decades yet to come — the internal combustion engine is still going to play a role and will be part of the transportation landscape,” he said. “We see E30 and high-octane, low carbon fuel as a segue fuel, a segue to EVs. The more we can adapt, as early as possible, to the recognition of the need for segue fuels, eliminating aromatics, greenhouse gases, ultrafine particles, the more we can meet the administration’s objectives and aspirations for dealing with the environmental and health questions we’re now facing.”

Daschle said Swayze promoted ethanol for health benefits, which resonates with the current administration.

“We have to recognize that there is a real health threat to minority communities in particular that we think ethanol can address effectively if we make this ‘segue’ fuel the reality as soon as possible,” he said.

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Ethanol was called “gasohol,” and small ”stills” were being built in Daschle’s hometown of Aberdeen and elsewhere in the region. Ethanol initially was viewed as “somewhat of a parochial issue,” but the advantages later become “much more comprehensive and relevant to the rest of the country.”

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Among the policy turning points were 1990 Clean Air Act amendments Sen. Robert Dole, R-Kan., included in the Dole-Daschle (or Daschle-Dole) amendment, which built a “launch pad” for ethanol. It required an oxygenate level in gasoline.

“We gave EPA enormous regulatory authority to determine how the formulation of gasoline would be created and regulated,” he said.

In 1997, Daschle worked with Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., to establish the Renewable Fuels Standard.

If the Clean Air Act created a “launch pad” for ethanol, RFS was “launch vehicle.” And E30? That’s the “orbiting mechanism,” Daschle said.

“We know, in particular, that the fine particulate matter and aromatics are just as bad for us as lead was in the 1980s,” he said. “We’ve got to phase out aromatics. And there is no substitute for aromatics that is able to address health and environment as much as E30.”

The policy priority that drives ethanol “may have to migrate away from the RFS,” and toward the health issues.

Daschle said Swayze saw ethanol’s value first from a national security point of view, then an environmental and agricultural point of view, and then a health point of view. "He was able to see far into the future,” he said.