WASHINGTON – Back in 2007, Congress approved the Energy Independence and Security Act, which expanded the Renewable Fuel Standard.
Today, Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen says ethanol production has more than doubled, while advanced biofuel production has more than tripled.
“We have reduced our dependence on imported oil,” says Dinnen. “We have revitalized rural America and increased corn prices, and rural income; we have dramatically reduced greenhouse gas emissions; we have lower consumer gasoline prices by providing options at the pump.”
Even more importantly, Dinneen says the RFS has led to investments in new technologies and feedstocks. 2014 saw the first commercial production of cellulosic ethanol from corn plant residues in Iowa.
But there are challenges ahead, as the EPA still considers adjusting the RFS, and with so many new members elected to Congress who weren?t around in 2007.
“They don’t appreciate that the RFS has driven down our dependence on imported oil to the extent that it has,” he explains, “and they’re willing to buy the narrative of the oil companies that all of that is attributable to our increased fracking in the [Bakken Formation]. No! A good part of that is because ten percent of our liquid transportation fuels is now renewable.”
Produced from U.S. grain that is actually less expensive than it was when the 2007 law was passed, proving, Dinneen argues, that ethanol can?t be blamed for food inflation.
In the meantime, the RFA chief admits ethanol is getting hit by the plummeting price of oil.
“[In 2015,] the industry is not going to be seeing the margins we saw in 2014,” says Dinneen. “And demand for E-85 is probably going to suffer, but the benefit of ethanol is really not in its displacement of gasoline; it’s in its octane value, and from an octane perspective ethanol continues to be a great benefit to refiners and consumers.”
And with gasoline prices on the way down more people are driving and buying blended gas, making for a brighter holiday season for the ethanol industry, according to Dinneen.
To hear more about the challenges ahead for ethanol in the coming new year, click the audio player above this story.
