Monday, December 2, 2013

Take Action: EPA Slashes 2014 RFS Requirements

The National Corn Growers Association is asking its members, friends in the agriculture community and the general public to tell the EPA that they oppose EPA's proposed rule to slash the amount of ethanol in 2014.

Use this link to submit your comments


For 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a 1.4 billion gallon reduction in how much corn ethanol will be required under the Renewable Fuel Standard, the federal law that helps get domestic, renewable, cleaner-burning corn ethanol blended in the nation’s fuel supply. This will reduce already-low corn prices and negatively affect planting decisions in 2014.

We need your help today. The EPA is accepting comments on the proposal until 11:59 p.m. EST January 28, 2014. Please use the links below to send a response and tell the EPA it needs to maintain the RFS for corn ethanol at 14.4 billion gallons. Your comment will be public and discoverable on the Internet. Please click on one of the links below and take five minutes to send a brief response directly to the EPA.
 
 http://www.ncga.com/rfs

Source: National Corn Growers Association / RFS

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Take a Stand for Lower Gas Prices

The EPA's recent decision to drastically reduce the amount of renewable fuels needs to be overturned.

Renewable fuels like ethanol are cleaner burning, perform better and reduce costs.  And it helps to reduce the foreign oil we purchase.

Tell the EPA that their new proposed rule is a bad, bad idea.  Every comment counts.  You can bet the oil companies will be sending their dirty, oil-covered comments too.

FuelsAmerica has an online form to allow you to send your comments to the EPA.

The Obama Administration is proposing to drastically reduce the amount of renewable fuel blended into the nation’s gas supply next year. This draft plan would raise gas prices and undermine the growing American industry that is helping to move us off oil. Reducing the amount of renewable fuel in our gas means replacing it with oil. Since renewable fuel is cheaper than petroleum, this proposal would cost American drivers more than $7 billion in higher gas prices. It would also give a huge handout to the oil companies, more than $10 billion in new profits. President Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) need to know that you oppose plans to use less clean fuel. Please leave a comment below to make your voice heard, and we will send them to the EPA. America can't afford to spend more at the pump. 
To help you write your comment, we've shared some suggested language you can use, or you can write in some of your own messaging in support of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS): Recent analyses have shown that cutting renewable fuel use will hand over $10 billion to the oil companies – that’s money out of everyday Americans pockets. If this proposal goes through, American jobs are at risk, and we will lose the chance to attract new companies and investments to the U.S. It’s not just gas prices and jobs that have me worried. Oil is bad for the environment. Using more oil – and less clean renewable fuel – will increase pollution.  
 Help keep access to cleaner, cheaper fuel that is good for our economy and our environment.
Send your comments to the EPA

Source: FuelsAmerica


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Friday, November 22, 2013

Stop RFS Erosion, Protect the RFS


Sign the Petition!

Washington, D.C. bureaucrats at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under the stranglehold of big oil, have issued a ruling hoping to slash the amount of renewable fuel in America’s energy portfolio. Not only will this terrible decision from the federal government increase America’s dependence on foreign oil, it will also hurt American families by decreasing the value of commodities, increasing prices at the pump, eliminating thousands of jobs and sink the price of corn below the cost of production. 

It’s time to stand against the unelected Washington, D.C. bureaucrats.

Share your comments below and we will send them to the EPA!

Make your voice heard!

Source: Protect The RFS


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How America Is Feeding & Fueling the Country, In 60 Seconds

A good quick video on how American farmers are feeding and fueling the country.


Source: FuelsAmerica


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Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Friday, November 15, 2013

EPA's Bad Call on Ethanol

In a win for big international oil companies, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its proposal for the 2014 Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) as required by the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for the amount of renewable fuels to be blended into gasoline and diesel in the coming year.

More dirty oil.  Less clean American-grown ethanol.

Big Oil must be dancing in the streets.

The EPA proposes to set the cellulosic biofuel category at 17 million gallons, biomass-based diesel at 1.28 billion gallons, advanced biofuel at 2.20 billion gallons and renewable fuel at 15.21 billion.

The proposed rule caps corn-based (or conventional) ethanol at 13.01 billion gallons.

But the deal's not done yet.

The proposal still  requires input from the public after the proposed rule is published in the federal register.

We'll share how you can comment when we know the details.

Source: EPA

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Tuesday, November 12, 2013

NASCAR Hits 5 Million Miles on E15 Ethanol

NASCAR announced today that it surpassed more that five million competition miles across its three national series on Sunoco Green E15, a biofuel blended with 15 percent American Ethanol made from American-grown corn.

The five million miles have been accumulated across practice, qualifying and racing laps dating to 2011 when the biofuel was introduced to the sport.

This is a resounding endorsement of the performance fuel.  It is a performance fuel that easily handles the NASCAR racing conditions.

And if it's good for NASCAR, it's good for all American drivers.

Source: NASCAR

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The Secret, Dirty Facts on AP's Ethanol Reporting

In a widely published article today, The Secret, Dirty Cost of Obama's Green Power Push, by the Associated Press (AP), reporters Dina Cappiellow and Matt Apuzzo lay out their views on the shortcomings of ethanol

In their article, they claim that the production of ethanol is responsible for a vast American wasteland:
"The hills of southern Iowa bear the scars of America's push for green energy: The brown gashes where rain has washed away the soil. The polluted streams that dump fertilizer into the water supply."

The reporters list everything they see wrong with ethanol: spoiled lands, polluted water and damaged environmental habitat.

But the real problem is with the article itself.  It appears to be junk journalism, filled with inaccurate and wild accusations.  It's less about accurate reporting and more about extreme environmentalists getting a lot of free ink.  Facts be damned.

For example, the article claims that millions of acres of conservation land has been destroyed in the rush to plant corn for ethanol.  But the total number of acres were reduced by other legislation, not ethanol production.

The reporters also claim that corn prices have been near $7 per bushel for all of this year.  But that's just not true.

And the big one, the reporter claim that ethanol is the number one use of corn surpassing animal feed.  But the reporters conveniently omit that the numbers are not the whole picture.  Through the ethanol production process, 1/3 of the corn is returned to the animal feed market as Dried Distillers Grains (DDGs), a highly desired animal feed product for it's protein and mineral value.

The list of falsehoods in the article are just long to post here, so here's a summary from others so you can fact check the article:

Ethanol, Oil and the Facts - RFA Answers AP Q&A

Fact Checking AP Ethanol Story

What the AP Got Wrong on Ethanol

RFA Challenges AP Story on Ethanol

#apfactcheck #ethanol #rfs #corn

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Thursday, August 29, 2013

McDonald's Behind Missing Wings

You may remember that we alerted you earlier this year to the National Chicken Council's chicken-crap filled press release blaming higher chicken wing prices on the back of ethanol.

They conveniently ignored higher energy, marketing and profit costs.

They distorted the actual use of ethanol to slant their story.

And they timed their clucky release to scare consumers buying chicken wings for the Super Bowl.

That's a crappy thing to do.

It was a chicken crap story then and remains so today.

But new revelations show that there was another major reason for higher chicken costs this year.

Apparently, McDonald's has been hording chicken for their new national release of chicken wings.

According to this report in The Week,
To prepare for the tsunami of chicken wings, McDonald's has probably been stockpiling them for 18 months, analyst Nick Setyan told Vanessa Wong at Bloomberg Businessweek.
The national roll out of chicken wings at McDonald's is expected to be a winner with over 250 million wings sold in the first few weeks alone.

That demand, bundled with skyrocketing fuel costs, can explain the higher costs.

Source: The Week, "is McDonald's to blame for last year's chicken wing shortage?"

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Monday, August 19, 2013

The Need for the Renewable Fuel Standard

Senator Chuck Grassley has defended the Renewable Fuel Standard to make the case that biofuels have succeeded in environmental, economic and national security gains.
"During the past 30 years, we’ve witnessed tremendous growth in the renewable biofuel industry. It has developed from almost non-existent in 1980 to a significant contributor to our transportation fuel today.

Because of the success of America’s biofuel producers, renewable fuels now account for ten percent of our nation’s transportation fuel supply.  
Homegrown biofuels are extending our fuel supply and lowering prices at the pump for consumers. 
 Biofuels are reducing our dependence on finite fossil fuels. They keep more money at home rather than sending it to Persian Gulf countries that may wish to do us harm. 
 And, it’s primarily due to the success of the Renewable Fuel Standard."

Source: Sen. Grassley

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Monday, August 5, 2013

RFS Hasn't Hurt the Poultry Industry

Great article in The Hill newspaper today regarding the poultry industry and the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

After laying out the facts amid the false claims of the poultry industry, the authors concludes:
The facts presented by the poultry and livestock industry simply don’t add up. The only sensible conclusion is that they want to turn back a successful policy so that they can profit from cheap feed paid for in part by the American taxpayer. The arguments of the livestock industry are irresponsible and unfounded. They do not provide a sound rationale to support repeal or modification of the Renewable Fuel Standard. 

Source: The Hill

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Thursday, February 21, 2013

Gas Prices Soar in 2013

It's been 35 straight days of higher gasoline prices in the United States in 2013.

Higher gasoline prices means higher food prices and less spending money for hard hit consumers across the country.

The average US unleaded gasoline price rose .136 this past week.  And compared to a year ago, it's up nearly 16 cents.  But in some parts of the country, the price is up nearly 30 cents from a year ago.

And there's no sign that the prices are going to slow or even decline.

In fact, many analysts speculate that gasoline prices will continue to soar as we approach the summer driving season when prices are typically always higher.

So expect higher costs of everything---except wages--- as the impact of this year's soaring gas prices get passed along to the real victims of Big Oil.

Companies will pass on theses higher fuel costs to consumers.  And as we all have experienced, consumer prices are "quick to rise and slow to fall".

So many companies will enjoy higher prices and higher profits.  But who to blame?  They will again use renewable fuels as their scapegoat.  When in fact, renewable fuels like ethanol have increased the fuel supply.

But then Big Oil and Big Food don't worry about facts.

Source: US Energy Information Agency


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Sunday, February 3, 2013

Super Bowl Chicken Crap

Chicken Little Chicken Wings Crap
The National Chicken Council is stirring up Super Bowl Chicken Crap this football Super Bowl Sunday.

And it is the tired old Chicken Little story about how renewable fuels is ruining your game day chicken wings.

No, they want you to believe it's all about renewable fuels.

"40% of the nation's corn crop" is going for ethanol proclaims their news release.

But it's chicken crap.

The National Chicken Council conveniently forgets to mention the real drivers of higher consumer food prices, like energy, marketing costs and higher profits.

Strong demand for corn means more corn is planted for all users.  And strong demand means continued innovation in seed technologies and increased productivity while protecting the environment with less inputs and modern farming practices.

They are so off-base with their numbers they purposeful do not include the Dried Distillers Grains (DDGs) that are a co-product of the ethanol process that are returned to the feed industry as a nutritious animal feed.

That's about a third of every bushel of corn is returned as animal feed.

So to use the 40% level and not include the DDGs is just plain deceptive.

Or as we like to call it, "chicken crap".

Form more information, check out the following articles:


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