I'm sure most readers have now heard the news that LSU landed a HUGE commitment in Indiana Quarterback Gunner Kiel on Tuesday. He is a 5 * rated QB and rated as the #1 Quarterback in the Country. Thanks to strong and persistent efforts by Coach Miles and QB Coach Kragthorpe, including a visit to watch him play in his school's 4A Championship game, the work paid off. This guy put up over 2,400 yards passing and 29 TD's plus over 400 yards rushing and another 11 TD's running in his Senior year alone! I watched a video clip of him in their last game and I thought "WOW"! This guy is the real deal.........he looked like former Florida QB Tim Tebow "on steriods"! He can throw a lazer pass 60+ yards with incredible accuracy, and he can run. He's a big boy.......6'4" and 225 lbs. He has completed his High School classwork and will enroll at LSU in January. That will make him eligible to participate in Spring Practice. Together with Zack Mettenburger and Steven Rivers (Redshirt Freshman next year), LSU will have a GREAT quarterback core for several years to come.
Now to ethanol issues...........the article below indicates the ethanol industry is preparing and accepting the loss of their "golden goose" ethanol tax subsidies which are set to expire on December 31st (next week). It will be interesting to see if refineries will resume blending at least some ethanol free gas since they won't have their $0.45/gallon tax credit to offset their costs to blend the "corn gas".
Ethanol industry will survive end of tax credit
By Janet Kubat Willette
jkubat@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 12/21/2011 3:59 PM
The ethanol industry is already feeling the impact of the elimination of the volumetric ethanol excise tax credit.
The price of ethanol has dropped $1.10 in the last two months, said Randall Doyal, chief executive officer of Al-Corn Clean Fuels in Claremont. Blenders are selling the ethanol in their tanks to take advantage of the credit before it expires on Dec. 31.
He figures the price will straighten out in time and that most ethanol plants will weather the storm. After all, they knew the end of the credit was coming so they had time to prepare.
But anytime the market is upside down like it is now, it's painful, Doyal said.
The volumetric ethanol excise tax credit, which is also known as the blender's credit, was created in 2004. The amount of the credit has been reduced from 51 cents per gallon to the current 45 cents per gallon of ethanol blended with gasoline. The credit goes to blenders and fuel marketers, not to ethanol plants.
Jeff Broin, chief executive officer of Poet, said in a conference call earlier this month that the elimination of the credit may have a slight impact on ethanol plant profitability.
It will also impact drivers, increasing prices at the pump an average of 4 cents per gallon. Ethanol lowers all prices at the pump 17 cents per gallon, saving every driver in America $100 per year, he said.
The ethanol tax credit was visionary, Broin said. It nurtured a fledgling industry to where 10 percent of the nation's fuel supply is ethanol.
Ethanol is a homegrown fuel that lowers emissions leading to cleaner air and creates jobs in the United States.
Poet operates several ethanol plants in Minnesota and Iowa.
Ethanol plants have continued to improve efficiency since they began popping up across the countryside, Broin said. They have cut energy use in half and water use by 80 percent. The industry is increasing yield of ethanol per bushel of corn by nearly 20 percent.
The ethanol industry has matured to a point where it can survive without the tax credit, Broin said.
Unlike the oil industry, which has had subsidies for a hundred years, ethanol is willing to move away from its tax credit after 30 to 35 years, he said. Broin said he thinks the oil industry should give up their tax incentives and compete with ethanol on a level playing field.
Likewise, he said the ethanol industry isn't concerned about competing with other countries except in cases where those countries have a tariff.
"My concern is parity," Broin said.
Export markets for ethanol have grown in importance in the past 18 months to two years, he said. With the country locked at 10 percent ethanol use, it is exporting less expensive ethanol and importing more expensive oil.
The ethanol industry is working hard to get E15 to keep more U.S. ethanol in the country and displace more foreign oil. The Environmental Protection Agency did move to approve E15 about a year and a half ago, but there are numerous hurdles to installing E15 pumps, Broin said. He's confident that once the regulatory hurdles are cleared, E15 will be competitive in the marketplace.
Now is a time to evaluate the role the government plays in renewable fuels going forward, Broin said.
Maintaining the Renewable Fuels Standard and continued investment in cellulosic ethanol are critical, he said. Cellulosic ethanol has the potential to produce 80 billions gallons of ethanol per year, but no one is producing it yet on a commercial scale. The cellulosic ethanol tax credit expires at the end of 2012 and it's important that this be extended, he said.
The biofuels loan guarantee program is vital to getting the fledgling industry off the ground, Broin said.
Now to ethanol issues...........the article below indicates the ethanol industry is preparing and accepting the loss of their "golden goose" ethanol tax subsidies which are set to expire on December 31st (next week). It will be interesting to see if refineries will resume blending at least some ethanol free gas since they won't have their $0.45/gallon tax credit to offset their costs to blend the "corn gas".
Ethanol industry will survive end of tax credit
By Janet Kubat Willette
jkubat@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 12/21/2011 3:59 PM
The ethanol industry is already feeling the impact of the elimination of the volumetric ethanol excise tax credit.
The price of ethanol has dropped $1.10 in the last two months, said Randall Doyal, chief executive officer of Al-Corn Clean Fuels in Claremont. Blenders are selling the ethanol in their tanks to take advantage of the credit before it expires on Dec. 31.
He figures the price will straighten out in time and that most ethanol plants will weather the storm. After all, they knew the end of the credit was coming so they had time to prepare.
But anytime the market is upside down like it is now, it's painful, Doyal said.
The volumetric ethanol excise tax credit, which is also known as the blender's credit, was created in 2004. The amount of the credit has been reduced from 51 cents per gallon to the current 45 cents per gallon of ethanol blended with gasoline. The credit goes to blenders and fuel marketers, not to ethanol plants.
Jeff Broin, chief executive officer of Poet, said in a conference call earlier this month that the elimination of the credit may have a slight impact on ethanol plant profitability.
It will also impact drivers, increasing prices at the pump an average of 4 cents per gallon. Ethanol lowers all prices at the pump 17 cents per gallon, saving every driver in America $100 per year, he said.
The ethanol tax credit was visionary, Broin said. It nurtured a fledgling industry to where 10 percent of the nation's fuel supply is ethanol.
Ethanol is a homegrown fuel that lowers emissions leading to cleaner air and creates jobs in the United States.
Poet operates several ethanol plants in Minnesota and Iowa.
Ethanol plants have continued to improve efficiency since they began popping up across the countryside, Broin said. They have cut energy use in half and water use by 80 percent. The industry is increasing yield of ethanol per bushel of corn by nearly 20 percent.
The ethanol industry has matured to a point where it can survive without the tax credit, Broin said.
Unlike the oil industry, which has had subsidies for a hundred years, ethanol is willing to move away from its tax credit after 30 to 35 years, he said. Broin said he thinks the oil industry should give up their tax incentives and compete with ethanol on a level playing field.
Likewise, he said the ethanol industry isn't concerned about competing with other countries except in cases where those countries have a tariff.
"My concern is parity," Broin said.
Export markets for ethanol have grown in importance in the past 18 months to two years, he said. With the country locked at 10 percent ethanol use, it is exporting less expensive ethanol and importing more expensive oil.
The ethanol industry is working hard to get E15 to keep more U.S. ethanol in the country and displace more foreign oil. The Environmental Protection Agency did move to approve E15 about a year and a half ago, but there are numerous hurdles to installing E15 pumps, Broin said. He's confident that once the regulatory hurdles are cleared, E15 will be competitive in the marketplace.
Now is a time to evaluate the role the government plays in renewable fuels going forward, Broin said.
Maintaining the Renewable Fuels Standard and continued investment in cellulosic ethanol are critical, he said. Cellulosic ethanol has the potential to produce 80 billions gallons of ethanol per year, but no one is producing it yet on a commercial scale. The cellulosic ethanol tax credit expires at the end of 2012 and it's important that this be extended, he said.
The biofuels loan guarantee program is vital to getting the fledgling industry off the ground, Broin said.
"Pete" Landry........comments welcome..........at way2gopete@yahoo.com
