Advanced BioFuels USA

by Matt Russell and Robert Leonard (Fern’s Ag Insider) … The GOP has framed the shift Biden seeks as a zero-sum game, pitting ethanol and the petroleum industry against electric vehicles. If Biden and Democrats are for electric vehicles, their argument goes, they must be against biofuels.

“President Biden’s short-sighted stance on electric vehicles is undermining Iowa’s renewable fuel industry while simultaneously jeopardizing America’s energy independence,” Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said in response to Biden’s announcement. The message resonated. A headline on AgWeb blared: “Ethanol ditched as Biden unveils plan to phase out gas cars.”

So far, the administration and congressional Democrats have offered little retort. Once again, Republicans are winning the messaging war in rural America.

It’s a missed opportunity, because the GOP is offering a false choice. Here’s what the future-of-fuel narrative should be: petroleum industry vs. electric vehicles and renewables, including biofuels. For obvious political reasons, Republicans want to keep ethanol tethered to the dying petroleum industry in the public debate. But with the political will, there is a future for biofuels independent of the petroleum industry.

The goal should be to make advanced biofuels, instead of petroleum, the fuel of choice in all remaining internal combustion engines and all hybrid vehicles. Because even as electric vehicles catch on, there will continue to be a market for liquid fuel. Light vehicles purchased with internal combustion engines in the next decade will stay on the road for many years, for instance. But the most durable market for liquid fuel will be in heavy equipment, aviation and container ships. The fuel will need to be sustainable through the entire lifecycle, including growing the feedstock. And that feedstock will need to be more than just corn, utilizing a diverse mix of plants and cover crops.

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Josh Mandelbaum, a member of the Des Moines City Council, tells us the city is moving to electric vehicles for its light-duty fleet, and biofuels for its heavy-duty fleet, through a partnership with Renewable Energy Group (REG), the nation’s largest supplier of biodiesel. As a first step, REG is installing dual-fuel systems on the city’s 35 garbage trucks. “The dual-fuel technology will allow the trucks to run on 100 percent biodiesel,” he said. “The switch is estimated to reduce our CO2 emissions almost 85 percent, from 2,600 tons annually to 400 tons annually once we get it fully implemented.”

Des Moines isn’t alone in betting on biofuels to reduce emissions. Up the road in Ames, the city announced late last year that it would expand a pilot dual-fuel program from five to 12 all-purpose dump trucks. Washington, D.C.’s Department of Public Works, meanwhile, has mandated the use of 100-percent biodiesel in most of the district’s diesel fleet.

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Iowa congresswoman Cindy Axne, who co-chairs the bipartisan biofuels caucus, is trying to shift the biofuel narrative. … But the GOP has targeted her seat as one of the best opportunities to flip in next year’s midterms, so she can only do so much. The Iowa Republican party blamed Axne for Biden’s embrace of electric vehicles in a press release titled Biden Abandoned Iowa and Axne Let Him. She needs help from her party and from the White House. READ MORE

Federal fleet electrification faces delays (E&E News/Climatewire)

ACE Counters Electric Vehicle Push: Leaders of American Coalition for Ethanol Make Case for Low-Carbon Ethanol Policies (DTN Progressive Farmer)

ACE and Minnesota Congressional Leadership Kick Off Annual Ethanol Conference in Minneapolis (GrainNet)

Radically Rural: Many Rural Regions Finding More Reasons to Fasttrack EV Infrastructure — The electric vehicle revolution turned out to be more of a slow, but inevitable transition. Creating the infrastructure to lure the EV traffic could be a crucial economic decision for many rural areas dependent on tourism and drive-through visitors. (Daily Yonder)