GoodFuels

Launching BYO Program for Ethanol

Corn growers and ethanol producers are giving a new meaning to the association between BYO and alcohol. Instead of BRING your own, it’s BLEND your own - ethanol, that is.

The BYOethanol partnership between the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE), Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) and state corn grower groups has the goal of installing 5,000 blender pumps nationwide over the next three years.

Ron Lamberty with ACE (left) says the program will educate retailers about the benefits of installing blender pumps and assist them with funding opportunities. “It’s a program to get out and inform petroleum marketers about the value of being able to see E85 and other blends of fuel using a blender pump.”

NCGA First Vice President Darrin Ihnen (center), a corn farmer from South Dakota says ethanol is a very important market for corn. “We need to take it (promoting ethanol) to the next level beyond just the E15 campaign. This blender pump program shows that you can use a higher percentage of ethanol in our motor vehicles.”

Robert White of RFA says the program will have many strategies for reaching retailers. “We’re throwing the whole kitchen sink at this one. The strongest piece will be information dissemination.” As part of the program, they will be at petroleum trade shows and conferences, advertise in trade magazines and develop a website. The website - BYOethanol.org - is expected to be launched next month.

The announcement of the initiative was made at the opening of the 22nd Ethanol Conference & Trade Show in Milwaukee this week where reporter Joanna Schroeder was on hand to interview Ron, Darrin and Robert about it. Portions of those interviews are included in this week’s “Ethanol Report.”

You can listen to “The Ethanol Report” on-line here:

Or you can subscribe to this regular podcast by following this link.

Watch video of the announcement here from YouTube.

Biofuel FOEs

“Friends of the Earth” - or FOE, for short - are foes of biofuels.

Following Friday’s release of the Environmental Protection Agency peer review of its proposed renewable fuel standards lifecycle analysis method, the organization that champions “a healthy and just world,” sent out a news release with some pretty harsh words. “It is time for the dirty corn ethanol industry and its congressional cronies to face reality: biofuels are destabilizing our climate,” said FOE’s Energy and Transportation Policy Campaigner Kate McMahon. That seems kind of mean to me for someone who, according to the FOE website, “likes biking through traffic, eating tofu, growing things, using oil paints with her fingers and playing with her cat.”

Obviously, the FOE is pleased that the peer review analysis appears to support EPA’s methodology that uses indirect land use changes to determine lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions. The corn and ethanol industries, however, are calling into question the objectivity of the peer reviewers, which include “several noted anti-ethanol and anti-agriculture activists, including environmental lawyer Timothy Searchinger.”

“EPA has asked the foxes to guard the hen house on this issue,” said Renewable Fuels Association President Bob Dinneen. “By adding lawyers and advocates to a scientific review panel, EPA bureaucrats have made a mockery of the Administration’s commitment to sound science.”

National Corn Growers Association president Bob Dickey says they are “dismayed by EPA’s complete disregard for an approach that is fair and balanced. We are also puzzled as to why the United States Department of Agriculture, which has extensive knowledge related to this issue, was in no way included in the peer review process.”

Most farmers know more about being friends of the earth than the average person and are the original environmentalists because they depend on the land and its natural resources for their livelihood. Dirty oil is much worse for our environment than “dirty corn ethanol.” We need to focus on the real enemy to our environment and our energy security and it’s not corn ethanol.

Ethanol at Sturgis

The Renewable Fuels Association’s Marketing Team has been riding along with the Sturgis motorcycle rally this week in South Dakota.

Sturgis volunteers wear an ethanol sponsored t-shirt when they’re setting up, and the RFA team has been handing out koozies, pamphlets and t-shirts, not to mention having lots of great conversations about homegrown, renewable ethanol.

To follow all the action, check out Robert White’s twitter here, and follow the Flickr stream here.

How cool!