The words from Environmental Protection Agency Stephen Johnson Thursday were music to the ears of the corn and ethanol industries.
“Today, EPA has denied a request submitted by the state of Texas to reduce the nationwide Renewable Fuels Standard,” Johnson said. “As a result, the required total volume of renewable fuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, mandated by law to be blended into the fuel supply will remain at nine billion gallons in 2008 and 11.1 billion gallons in 2009.”
According to EPA’s justification for the decision, “implementation of the RFS would have no significant impact in the relevant time frame (the 2008/2009 corn season), and the most likely result is that a waiver would have no impact on ethanol production volumes in the relevant time frame, and therefore no impact on corn, food, or fuel prices.”
EPA also determined that the evidence also indicates that even if the RFS mandate were to have an impact on the economy during the 2008/2009 corn marketing year, it would not be of a nature or magnitude that could be characterized as severe. Even in the modeled scenarios where a waiver of the RFS mandate might reduce the production of ethanol, the resulting decrease in corn prices is anticipated to be small (on average $0.30 per bushel of corn), and there would be an accompanying small increase in the price of fuel (on average $0.01 per gallon in fuel costs). The average increase in corn prices in all modeled scenarios, including scenarios where the RFS mandate would and would not have an impact, was $0.07 per bushel of corn. Such levels of potential impacts from the RFS program do not satisfy the high threshold of harm to the economy to be considered severe.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it would deny a request by Texas Governor Rick Perry to reduce the Renewable Fuels Standard.
EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson says they carefully considered the more than 15,000 comments on the issue and found that “the RFS is not causing economic harm but is strengthening our nation’s energy security and supporting American farming communities.”
Stay tuned for more – the press conference is underway.
Corn growers and ethanol producers are holding their collective breath today as the highly-anticipated decision by the Environmental Protection Agency on whether to grant a partial waiver of the Renewable Fuels Standard will be announced this afternoon.
EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson and Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator Robert Meyers will hold a press conference at noon central to officially answer the request from Texas Governor Rick Perry to cut the RFS ethanol blending requirements by 50 percent after delaying the decision by two weeks due to the massive volume of comments received.
According to the Houston Chronicle, Gov. Perry sent a letter to EPA this week with 55 pages of attachments to Johnson responding “to challenges to his request filed with the environmental agency after the public comment period ended July 23.”
In his letter, Perry acknowledged that corn, diesel and crude oil prices have “retreated” in the past month. But, he wrote, “the fundamental problems adversely affecting our well-being remain and could worsen when those prices begin to escalate again, as they probably will.”
He also pointed to information he got from two “expert” economists who claim that the ethanol mandate “contributes materially to higher diesel fuel and and crude oil prices by suppressing gasoline production,” Perry wrote.
“This view is contrary to what would seem to be conventional wisdom and as espoused by the proponents of the ethanol mandates who claim that ethanol is suppressing the price of gasoline at the pump. But it is true nonetheless.”
Both candidates for Missouri governor this fall now support ethanol.
The Missouri Corn Growers are breathing a sigh of relief today as pro-ethanol Republican gubernatorial candidate Kenny Hulshof defeated Sarah Steelman, who had vowed to cancel the state’s 10 percent ethanol standard for gasoline. In November, Hulshof will face Democrat Jay Nixon, who also supports the ethanol standard.
“Some candidates have tried to drive a wedge in Missouri’s agricultural community for political gain,” states Missouri Corn Growers Association President Mike Geske. “But farmers understand the market cycles and consumers aren’t buying the scapegoat tactics being used by ethanol’s critics.”
“At a time when families are facing tough budget decisions and canceling vacation plans, Exxon Mobile reported second-quarter earnings of $11.68 billion, the largest quarterly profit ever by a U.S. corporation,” Geske said. “Our wealth is going overseas and our businesses are being bought out by foreign investors, yet Missouri’s ethanol industry remains farmer owned. Members of the agriculture community have built this industry from the ground up and those dollars are staying here at home. In today’s economic environment, it is really one of the few bright spots.”
Missouri is home to six farmer-owned ethanol plants, producing over 250 million gallons of ethanol annually.
One of the latest companies to make use of a corn product to be more “green” is Microsoft. They’re using cups made from corn on their Fargo, ND campus and according to the video version of the story it looks like the cups are actually green.
The story is posted on WDAY, Fargo, ND.
These utensils just melt away in the sun. The plates and bowls derived from sugarcane, paper cups from corn, the cutlery is from potatoes.
These are not recycled; they are composted like grass clippings. The garbage bags even melt away.
You can watch the video of the story with this link. The story says Microsoft goes through 24 million cups a year. Sounds like a smart move for the environment!
Nebraska corn producers have seen the value of their corn drop dramatically over the past month, and that begs the question as to whether consumers will see a corresponding drop in their grocery bill, since grocery manufacturers have argued that higher corn was behind their rising prices.
The state corn board also points out that Kraft’s profits are up significantly this quarter, compared to a year ago, due to higher prices that more than offset rising costs.
“Today, EPA has denied a request submitted by the state of Texas to reduce the nationwide Renewable Fuels Standard,” Johnson said. “As a result, the required total volume of renewable fuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, mandated by law to be blended into the fuel supply will remain at nine billion gallons in 2008 and 11.1 billion gallons in 2009.” 
The Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it would deny a request by Texas Governor Rick Perry to reduce the Renewable Fuels Standard.
Both candidates for Missouri governor this fall now support ethanol.
“Some candidates have tried to drive a wedge in Missouri’s agricultural community for political gain,” states Missouri Corn Growers Association President Mike Geske. “But farmers understand the market cycles and consumers aren’t buying the scapegoat tactics being used by ethanol’s critics.”