Woodside Says Ethanol Industry Willing to Give Back Tax Break for Debt Reduction

by Lori Potter (Kearney Hub) The ethanol industry is willing to immediately give up $1.3 billion in tax breaks for federal debt reduction.

However, that probably can’t happen unless authorizing legislation is attached to a successful debt ceiling-budget reduction bill, said KAAPA Ethanol Chief Executive Officer Chuck Woodside, chairman of the national Renewable Fuels Association.

“Really, what we’re waiting on is a vehicle that will move this to the president’s desk,” he said Friday.

U.S. Sens. Amy Koubuchar of Minnesota and John Thune of South Dakota, along with ethanol opponent Sen. Diane Feinstein of California, proposed ending the 40.5-cents-per-gallon Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit on July 31 instead of Dec. 31.

...“Our question is, when do we talk about these things with the oil industry?” Woodside said.

...What ethanol processors need is access to customers, which is controlled by oil companies through gas station ownership or agreements with retailers, Woodside said.

...Incentives will continue through 2014 for retailers who invest in blender pumps that give customers alternatives to the standard 10 percent ethanol blend. Woodside said consumers then have the additional choices of “E15, E30, E85 or E-zero.”

...“At some point, it becomes a good agronomic practice to remove some (stalks),” Woodside said, or there will be problems with no-till planting the next spring.

...He said a strong commitment to U.S. energy independence and security is required to keep the interest of biofuel investors. “As far as I know, we’ve never had to deploy troops to protect an ethanol plant,” Woodside said, referring to ongoing turmoil in oil-producing regions of the Middle East. READ MORE and MORE (Duluth News Tribune)