Our Response to the State of the Union Address: Ethanol Checks All the Boxes

by Geoff Cooper (Renewable Fuels Association) In his first State of the Union Address, President Joe Biden spoke about many of the challenges facing our nation and world today, from the Ukraine invasion to domestic inflation, from climate change to the COVID pandemic. And while he spoke of the need for clean energy and stressed his support for electric vehicles, President Biden missed the opportunity to tout the role that renewable fuels like ethanol could fill both immediately as well as long-term. In short, ethanol checks all the boxes.

If you are concerned about the impact of war on the nation’s fuel supply and gas prices, you should know that the blending of ethanol into our nation’s fuel supply displaced 500 million barrels of imported oil just last year. More ethanol could easily be blended simply by the Biden administration supporting and allowing for year-round availability of E15. In fact, our nation’s ethanol producers currently have enough excess production capacity to supply enough ethanol to entirely replace equivalently the amount of crude oil the U.S. currently imports from Russia.

If you are worried about the current rate of inflation and the struggles of American families to make ends meet, you should know that the ethanol industry is creating good jobs around the country and lowering fuel prices at the pump—by 22 cents on average. Today, ethanol is selling for 70 to 80 cents less than gasoline at blending terminals. Last year, the renewable fuels industry supported more than 400,000 American jobs, boosting household income by nearly $30 billion. And the ethanol industry generated more than $50 billion in gross domestic product. Further, the price of ethanol is substantially lower than that of conventional gasoline, so every additional gallon of ethanol blended and sold is lowering the price for consumers using higher blends of ethanol.

If you lie awake at night worrying about climate change and the quality of air that you breathe, you should know that ethanol reduces greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 50 percent on average, compared to gasoline—and our nation’s ethanol producers have pledged to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, or sooner. In 2021, the use of low-carbon ethanol reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 54.5 million metric tons—the equivalent of removing 12 million cars from the road for an entire year.

And the COVID pandemic has certainly been on all of our minds. During the pandemic, U.S. biorefineries innovated and pivoted in 2020 to produce ethanol for hand sanitizers and other hygiene products. We captured CO2 for dry ice, to help transport vaccines. We were part of the solution during these challenging times.

In her response to President Biden’s address, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds mentioned biofuels as helping to restore American independence. She is right, and we’re grateful for that. Gov. Reynolds has time and again shown that she understands the wide range and the importance ethanol and other biofuels can play in securing our nation’s energy security.

At the National Ethanol Conference last week in New Orleans, I was proud to lay out the many opportunities that lie ahead for ethanol producers. Despite the silence we often get from Washington, there are many reasons to be bullish about the industry’s future, and to be grateful to our farmers and ethanol producers every time we go to a station and fill up our tanks. READ MORE

Excerpt from Brownfield Ag News: (Renewable Fuels Association CEO, Geoff) Cooper says instead of releasing oil from the strategic reserves, the U.S. should be releasing the productivity and ingenuity of American farmers and ethanol producers. “If you really want to get Putin’s attention, we think you’ve got to put sanctions on his oil and gas exports, right? We get about 600-thousand barrels a day of crude oil and other petroleum products from Russia and that means we’re sending about 60-million dollars per day to a country that is attacking our friends in Ukraine, and we think that’s gotta stop.”

Cooper says the U.S. has 200-thousand barrels per day of ethanol production that is sitting idle right now that could quickly be brought back online to replace imports from Russia. READ MORE

Excerpt from Energy.AgWired.com: Acknowledging that the situation in Ukraine was causing pain at the pump here at home, President Biden’s solution was more oil. “I can announce the United States has worked with 30 other countries to release 60 million barrels of oil from reserves around the world. America will lead that effort, releasing 30 million barrels of our own Strategic Petroleum Reserve.”

In a joint statement Wednesday, the Advanced Biofuels Business Council, American Farm Bureau Federation, Clean Fuels Alliance America, Growth Energy, National Farmers Union, and Renewable Fuels Association called on the president to unleash the power of ethanol.

“American-made biofuels are the only abundant, affordable, homegrown alternative to oil that can immediately extend the domestic supply of liquid fuels…Ethanol is trading at a steep discount compared to unblended gasoline, often 50 to 60 cents per gallon, and consumers are driving out of their way every day to capture the extra 15 cents or more per gallon savings on higher blends like E15.”

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds pointed out the importance of biofuels in her Republican SOTU response. “We’re fighting to restore America’s energy independence, including biofuels.”

“While we appreciate President Biden’s appeal to ‘buy American,’ it is disappointing the State of the Union address did not highlight how increasing the use of American-made ethanol is a cost-effective and low-carbon solution to simultaneously address urgent pocketbook, energy security, and climate concerns facing the U.S.,” said American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) CEO Brian Jennings. READ MORE