Two companies partner to build an ethanol distribution and storage facility to feed ethanol to blenders on the east coast. I explained earlier this year that ethanol cannot be pumped through existing pipeline networks because it is corrosive.
"Pete"
====================================================
NuStar, Eco-Energy planning D.C.-area ethanol transportation
facility
San Antonio
Business Journal by James Aldridge, Web Editor
Date: Monday,
July 30, 2012, 11:12am CDT
NuStar Energy
LP and Eco-Energy Holdings Inc. are developing an ethanol unit train and
storage facility to serve the Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., markets.
NuStar and
Eco-Energy will jointly build an ethanol unloading, storage and outbound truck
loading system at NuStar’s Dumfries, Va., facility. Each company will bear
their own development, construction and refurbishment costs. Dumfries is
located about 20 miles south of Washington, D.C.
The terminal
will have 155,000 barrels of ethanol storage capacity and will be capable of
distributing more than 400,000 barrels of ethanol per month. The terminal will
be equipped to receive up to 96 rail car units through a connection with CSX
Transportation. Operations should commence sometime during the third quarter of
2013.
San
Antonio-based NuStar (NYSE: NS) is a publicly traded, limited partnership that
owns 8,420 miles of pipeline; 84 terminal and storage facilities; two asphalt
refineries and a fuels refinery with a combined throughput capacity of 118,500
barrels per day.
Franklin,
Tenn.-based Eco-Energy markets and distributes biofuels. The company has more
than $3 billion in sales.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
The Coming Food Crisis: Blame Ethanol?
Here's an interesting article from Forbes on what they are predicting is "The Coming Food Crisis"..........many people believe that the severe drought in the corn belt States may in fact lead to a food shortage, in part because ethanol plants get first priority on corn produced, over animal feed and food products..........
PS: The reason I can't display the full article is that major news medias allow use of only the first 2-3 paragraphs into the article and the link to the full article without having to pay a very large re-use fee.
"Pete"
=================================================
The Coming Food Crisis: Blame Ethanol?
(Read full article here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampentland/2012/07/28/the-coming-food-crisis-blame-ethanol/
PS: The reason I can't display the full article is that major news medias allow use of only the first 2-3 paragraphs into the article and the link to the full article without having to pay a very large re-use fee.
"Pete"
=================================================
The Coming Food Crisis: Blame Ethanol?
ENERGY
– Forbes - William Pentland
A series of spikes in global food prices resulted in riots in 2008
and contributed to violent uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East in
2011. The culprit is a matter of considerable and frequently heated debate, but
the most commonly cited candidates include market speculators, global warming
and aggressive government renewable fuel mandates.
If you
believe the folks at the New England Complex Systems Institute in
Cambridge,
Mass., the global food supply system is stumbling into a drought-induced supply
shortage that could galvanize a global food crisis far more severe
than those implicated in the widespread uprisings known as the Arab Spring.
In an updated version of a paper first
published in September, Marco Lagi, Yavni Bar-Yam and Yaneer Bar-Yam considered
the possible consequences of the prolonged drought in the mid-western United
States, the worst in half a century, on global food prices. The analysis,
which relied on a quantitative model of historical food prices, concluded that
the drought could amplify the impact of market speculation and corn-to-ethanol
conversion policies on the impending global food crisis by an order of
magnitude. To
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
The Coming Food Crisis: Blame Ethanol?
Here's an article from Forbes magazine on what they call "The coming Food Crisis"! And, they may well be correct.........as the weltering heat and drought in the midwest worsens, some farmers are already cutting dead corn stalks as feed for their cattle. This may get ugly before it's over. More and more demands are being made for the EPA to stop the ethanol mandate for at least a year......
"Pete"
============================================
The Coming Food Crisis: Blame Ethanol?
"Pete"
============================================
The Coming Food Crisis: Blame Ethanol?
ENERGY
– Forbes - William Pentland
A series of spikes in global food prices resulted in riots in 2008
and contributed to violent uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East in
2011. The culprit is a matter of considerable and frequently heated debate, but
the most commonly cited candidates include market speculators, global warming
and aggressive government renewable fuel mandates.
If you
believe the folks at the New England Complex Systems Institute in
Cambridge,
Mass., the global food supply system is stumbling into a drought-induced supply
shortage that could galvanize a global food crisis far more severe
than those implicated in the widespread uprisings known as the Arab Spring.
In an updated version of a paper first
published in September, Marco Lagi, Yavni Bar-Yam and Yaneer Bar-Yam considered
the possible consequences of the prolonged drought in the mid-western United
States, the worst in half a century, on global food prices. The analysis,
which relied on a quantitative model of historical food prices, concluded that
the drought could amplify the impact of market speculation and corn-to-ethanol
conversion policies on the impending global food crisis by an order of
magnitude. To
(Read full article here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampentland/2012/07/28/the-coming-food-crisis-blame-ethanol/)
Monday, July 30, 2012
MORE PRESSURE TO STOP ETHANOL MANDATE!
Pressure continues to grow from many different sources to get EPA to slow or stop the ethanol mandate due to food shortages and animal feed. Due to the mandate, ethanol plants get first priority on corn for their plants. However, with an estimated 40-50% crop loss due to the worst drought in nearly 50 years, more and more groups and Congressmen are pushing to STOP the mandate. Some want it stopped for the rest of this year and also next year.
"Pete"
====================================
Groups ask for ethanol law break as corn hits record
Bloomberg News
July 30, 2012
Livestock and poultry producers formally asked the Obama administration Monday to suspend the nation’s renewable fuels standard because it is causing “severe economic harm” as corn prices surged to a record.
A coalition including the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and National Pork Producers Council sent a petition to the Environmental Protection Agency asking for a waiver “in whole or in substantial part” the output requirements under the Renewable Fuels Standard for 12 months.
(Read full article here: http://www.ibj.com/groups-ask-for-ethanol-law-change-as-corn-hits-record/PARAMS/article/35816
Friday, July 27, 2012
Ethanol 'One of the Most Hated Industries
Here's a rather interesting article I ran across today. No doubt, to those of us who have suffered through the damage and cost to equipment by ethanol gas, most who have experienced this would probably agree with the title of this article.
Have a GREAT weekend readers! Enjoy the Olympics over the upcoming week.
"Pete"
===========================================
Ethanol
'One of the Most Hated Industries': CEO
Lately, as corn prices have shot up in what some are calling the worst drought in a half century, there is more criticism than acclaim for ethanol.It's also been criticized as a huge waste of food resources, benefiting corn farmers at the expense of livestock producers, all for a fuel that isn't very clean.
Have a GREAT weekend readers! Enjoy the Olympics over the upcoming week.
"Pete"
===========================================
Ethanol
'One of the Most Hated Industries': CEO
·
Ethanol has been held up
as a homegrown fuel which creates jobs and replaces foreign oil.
Lately, as corn prices have shot up in what some are calling the worst drought in a half century, there is more criticism than acclaim for ethanol.It's also been criticized as a huge waste of food resources, benefiting corn farmers at the expense of livestock producers, all for a fuel that isn't very clean.
"When you're in one of the most hated industries in the
world, it's always interesting and always challenging," says Todd Becker,
President and CEO of Green Plains Renewable Energy[GPRE 4.25 
0.64 (+17.73%) 
] in Omaha, Nebraska.
0.64 (+17.73%) ] in Omaha, Nebraska.
The company buys up to 3 percent of the nation's corn supply to
make ethanol, an unprofitable business lately due to high corn costs. Green Plains swung to a loss in the second quarter,
and on Thursday, it's stock plummeted to a 52-week low, trading below the
company's cash value.
"There really is a big need for this fuel," Becker
insisted.
The company is getting through the downturn by reducing production
7 percent, sitting on $137 million in cash, and increasing its dependence on
its non-ethanol businesses, including leasing out rail cars to help deliver oil
from the Bakken Shale. Its goal is to generate enough revenue from these other
businesses to cover all debt servicing.
Green Plains has also
locked in prices for about 40 percent of the corn it will buy and the ethanol
it will sell in the fourth quarter, at a margin Becker believes will return the
company to profitability no matter what happens with the other 60
percent.
But the biggest political issue facing the industry right
now is pressure by ethanol critics, especially livestock producers, to reduce
the federal government's mandate on how much ethanol must be purchased
by gasoline refiners. Proponents say refiners can use past spending splurges on
ethanol as credits against this year's purchasing requirements, and exports
will also probably be cut. This should leave more corn for everyone else.
However, that may not happen. Becker thinks refiners will still
keep buying a lot of ethanol as needed. Why? Many have come to depend on the
corn-based fuel's high octane level of 113 to raise overall gasoline octane to
87 and higher.
"What we've seen over the last 18 months is that the refining
community has kind of scaled back to an 84 octane subgrade gasoline — which you
can't put in your car — because they saw the benefit and the opportunity that
they can use ethanol as their blend stock," Becker said. "If you want
to replace this octane, you're going to have to buy something much more
expensive than ethanol today, and it's not in big supply."
If that's the case, then the fight will be on in earnest between
all the users of corn this fall, assuming the worst about the drought. Yet the
octane issue shows how the ethanol industry has tried to expand its value
proposition in the nation's fuel supply. That's a change from four years ago,
when many declared the death of ethanol as corn topped $7 and several producers
went bankrupt. Like a zombie, ethanol won't die.
"The industry this time around is much healthier to withstand
this. We will see some guys go down, but in general it's a much different
experience than '08," Todd Becker said. "We're still in business
today, our lights are still on, we're still going to be in business at the end
of the year."
Thursday, July 26, 2012
EPA'S "FANTASY BIOFUEL"
Here's an earlier article on the EPA's "Fantasy" biofuel that does not exist.........and why the oil companies are suing the EPA over fines they are trying to impose on oil companies for not blending a "fuel that does not exist"!
"Pete"
============================================
DEROY MURDOCK COLUMN, 7-15-12: EPA, WHY FINE OIL FIRMS OVER FANTASY BIOFUEL?
Published: July 15, 2012 8:00AM
Why does America's economy feel like an SUV running on fumes? The Obama administration's laughably rigid enforcement of a Baby Bush-era ethanol mandate typifies today's regulatory climate. When Uncle Sam governs with a tire iron in his hand, U.S. companies wisely pull off the road and pray for new management.
The Environmental Protection Agency has slapped a $6.8 million penalty on oil refiners for not blending cellulosic ethanol into gasoline, jet fuel and other products. These dastardly petroleum mongers are being so intransigent because cellulosic ethanol does not exist. It remains a fantasy fuel. EPA might as well mandate that Exxon hire leprechauns. So far this year, just as in 201l, the supply of cellulosic biofuel in gallons totals zero.
"EPA's decision is arbitrary and capricious. We fail to understand how EPA can maintain a requirement to purchase a type of fuel that simply doesn't exist," said Charles Drevna, president of American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, the Washington-based association representing the oil-refining industry.
President George W. Bush idiotically signed the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Beyond prohibiting Thomas Edison's groundbreaking incandescent light bulb by 2014, the act's renewable fuel standard (RFS) mandated cellulosic ethanol. Under that standard, refiners had to blend 6.6 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol in 2011. Although this substance is not extant, EPA then demanded to see 31 percent more of it. This year's quota is 8.65 million gallons. Somehow, EPA expects cellulosic ethanol to leap magically from test tubes into storage tanks.
Bush and President Barack Obama have pumped some $1.5 billion in grants and guarantees into converting cellulosic ethanol from dream into reality. As Thomas Pyle of the Institute for Energy Research reports, Team Obama handed a $105 million loan guarantee to POET, a leading U.S. ethanol producer, to create cellulosic fuel. (The South Dakota-based firm turned it down.) Last September, Abengoa Bioenergia scored a $134 million loan to build a Kansas cellulosic factory. Last August, Obama gave the Navy $510 million to develop biofuels for the U.S. armed forces.
Way back in 2010, some 70 percent of fantasy fuel was supposed to spring from Cello Energy in Alabama. Unfortunately, in 2009, a jury determined that Cello falsified its production capacity. Cello went dark in October 2010 when it filed for bankruptcy.
The National Academy of Sciences predicted last year that by 2022, EPA's mandated cellulosic supplies would not materialize "unless innovative technologies are developed that unexpectedly improve the cellulosic biofuels production process." In other words, if you don't build it, they will not come.
The oil refiners absorbed all of this and chose, at first, to play nice. The fuel-manufacturing association and the American Petroleum Institute petitioned EPA in February 2011 and, again, on Jan. 20, 2012 -- this time joined by the Western States Petroleum Association. As the administration gave labor unions and entire states waivers from the Affordable Care Act, the refiners asked for waivers from the RFS mandate.
Fully 15 months after the first petition and four months beyond the second, EPA administrator Lisa Jackson finally rejected the refiners' appeals, reaffirming that they must obey this regulation -- never mind that they more easily could defy gravity. "We thank you for your interest in these issues," Jackson's May 22 letter cheerily added.
Thus, on June 11, the fuel manufacturers (AFPM) and Western States Petroleum Association sued EPA in D.C. Circuit Court. The plaintiffs hope that a federal judge will blend some sanity into a scenario that resembles the work of Salvador Dali.
Rather than focus on expanding operations and creating jobs, lawful American companies now must spend money to sue the federal government for relief from unobservable rules. This fact demonstrates how boneheaded and bullheaded Washington has become. Even worse, business people beyond the oil industry watch this charade and wonder when the regulatory tumbrels will roll by for them.
Washington's unyielding, heavy-handed and nonsensical behavior nonetheless may obscure a sliver of silver lining. The Bush-Obama administration indeed has invented a hybrid fuel: cellulosic ethanol is one-half industrial policy and one-half comedy routine.
(Deroy Murdock is a columnist with Scripps Howard News Service and a media fellow with the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University.)
"Pete"
============================================
DEROY MURDOCK COLUMN, 7-15-12: EPA, WHY FINE OIL FIRMS OVER FANTASY BIOFUEL?
Published: July 15, 2012 8:00AM
Why does America's economy feel like an SUV running on fumes? The Obama administration's laughably rigid enforcement of a Baby Bush-era ethanol mandate typifies today's regulatory climate. When Uncle Sam governs with a tire iron in his hand, U.S. companies wisely pull off the road and pray for new management.
The Environmental Protection Agency has slapped a $6.8 million penalty on oil refiners for not blending cellulosic ethanol into gasoline, jet fuel and other products. These dastardly petroleum mongers are being so intransigent because cellulosic ethanol does not exist. It remains a fantasy fuel. EPA might as well mandate that Exxon hire leprechauns. So far this year, just as in 201l, the supply of cellulosic biofuel in gallons totals zero.
"EPA's decision is arbitrary and capricious. We fail to understand how EPA can maintain a requirement to purchase a type of fuel that simply doesn't exist," said Charles Drevna, president of American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, the Washington-based association representing the oil-refining industry.
President George W. Bush idiotically signed the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Beyond prohibiting Thomas Edison's groundbreaking incandescent light bulb by 2014, the act's renewable fuel standard (RFS) mandated cellulosic ethanol. Under that standard, refiners had to blend 6.6 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol in 2011. Although this substance is not extant, EPA then demanded to see 31 percent more of it. This year's quota is 8.65 million gallons. Somehow, EPA expects cellulosic ethanol to leap magically from test tubes into storage tanks.
Bush and President Barack Obama have pumped some $1.5 billion in grants and guarantees into converting cellulosic ethanol from dream into reality. As Thomas Pyle of the Institute for Energy Research reports, Team Obama handed a $105 million loan guarantee to POET, a leading U.S. ethanol producer, to create cellulosic fuel. (The South Dakota-based firm turned it down.) Last September, Abengoa Bioenergia scored a $134 million loan to build a Kansas cellulosic factory. Last August, Obama gave the Navy $510 million to develop biofuels for the U.S. armed forces.
Way back in 2010, some 70 percent of fantasy fuel was supposed to spring from Cello Energy in Alabama. Unfortunately, in 2009, a jury determined that Cello falsified its production capacity. Cello went dark in October 2010 when it filed for bankruptcy.
The National Academy of Sciences predicted last year that by 2022, EPA's mandated cellulosic supplies would not materialize "unless innovative technologies are developed that unexpectedly improve the cellulosic biofuels production process." In other words, if you don't build it, they will not come.
The oil refiners absorbed all of this and chose, at first, to play nice. The fuel-manufacturing association and the American Petroleum Institute petitioned EPA in February 2011 and, again, on Jan. 20, 2012 -- this time joined by the Western States Petroleum Association. As the administration gave labor unions and entire states waivers from the Affordable Care Act, the refiners asked for waivers from the RFS mandate.
Fully 15 months after the first petition and four months beyond the second, EPA administrator Lisa Jackson finally rejected the refiners' appeals, reaffirming that they must obey this regulation -- never mind that they more easily could defy gravity. "We thank you for your interest in these issues," Jackson's May 22 letter cheerily added.
Thus, on June 11, the fuel manufacturers (AFPM) and Western States Petroleum Association sued EPA in D.C. Circuit Court. The plaintiffs hope that a federal judge will blend some sanity into a scenario that resembles the work of Salvador Dali.
Rather than focus on expanding operations and creating jobs, lawful American companies now must spend money to sue the federal government for relief from unobservable rules. This fact demonstrates how boneheaded and bullheaded Washington has become. Even worse, business people beyond the oil industry watch this charade and wonder when the regulatory tumbrels will roll by for them.
Washington's unyielding, heavy-handed and nonsensical behavior nonetheless may obscure a sliver of silver lining. The Bush-Obama administration indeed has invented a hybrid fuel: cellulosic ethanol is one-half industrial policy and one-half comedy routine.
(Deroy Murdock is a columnist with Scripps Howard News Service and a media fellow with the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University.)
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
"DUMB AND DUMBER"?
We all know how our beloved government does so many "stupid" and costly "blunders", right? Well, here's another classic example. The EPA's "Ethanol Mandate" requires oil companies to blend a certain percentage of ethanol gas with ethanol made from something other than corn. The "cellulosic biofuel" mandate requirement can't be met, because THERE ARE NO PLANTS IN EXISTENCE that make cellulosic biofuel. The EPA even admits that. The very first "pilot" plant to make this biofuel (from corn stalks, cobs and shucks) is just starting construction to try to prove the technology. So what does EPA do? They fine the oil companies for not blending a fuel for which the ethanol is "non existent"! Make sense? This is far worse than "Dumb and Dumber"!
"Pete"
=========================================
1:16 PM, July 25, 2012
Big Oil sues over cellulosic ethanol mandate
Oil companies have never liked the federal Renewable Fuels Standard, but they have a special ire for the requirement for the use of non-corn, cellulosic ethanol that is virtually nonexistent.
The American Petroleum Institute, which represents the largest oil companies, filed a lawsuit with the D.C. Circuit Court late Tuesday challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s mandated use of cellulosic biofuels in the 2011 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).
Cellulosic biofuels, made from crop residue or grasses, have been slower to develop than originally hoped and for the last two years the EPA has acknowledged that federal targets for the non corn ethanol have not been met.
In Iowa, two corn stover plants at Emmetsburg and Nevada are scheduled to begin construction this year in time for the 2013 harvest. They will be the first noncorn ethanol plants in what is the nation’s largest ethanol producing state.
“EPA’s unattainable and absurd mandate forces refiners to pay a penalty for failing to use biofuels that don’t even exist,” said API Director of Downstream and Industry Operations Bob Greco. “The mandate is effectively an added tax on gasoline manufacturers that could ultimately burden consumers.”
The Clean Air Act requires EPA to determine the mandated volume of cellulosic biofuels each year at “the projected volume available.” There was no commercial supply of the fuel in 2011, according to EPA’s own records. However, EPA required refiners and importers of gasoline and diesel to use or pay for credits to cover 6.6 million gallons of the nonexistent biofuels.
The Renewable Fuel Standard has become a target by livestock producers as corn prices reached record levels this summer due to the drought, causing fears of shortages and high food prices. A bill introduced this week in the U.S. House of Representatives by Reps. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Jim Costa (D-Calif.) would cut the RFS by as much as 50 percent if corn surplus stocks fall below certain levels.
Corn surpluses have been at 15-year lows for most of the last two years due both to export demand and the fact that ethanol now consumes about 35 percent of the U.S. corn crop. In Iowa, home of the nation-leading 41 ethanol plants, ethanol consumes about 60 percent of the crop.
"Pete"
=========================================
1:16 PM, July 25, 2012
Big Oil sues over cellulosic ethanol mandate
Oil companies have never liked the federal Renewable Fuels Standard, but they have a special ire for the requirement for the use of non-corn, cellulosic ethanol that is virtually nonexistent.
The American Petroleum Institute, which represents the largest oil companies, filed a lawsuit with the D.C. Circuit Court late Tuesday challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s mandated use of cellulosic biofuels in the 2011 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).
Cellulosic biofuels, made from crop residue or grasses, have been slower to develop than originally hoped and for the last two years the EPA has acknowledged that federal targets for the non corn ethanol have not been met.
In Iowa, two corn stover plants at Emmetsburg and Nevada are scheduled to begin construction this year in time for the 2013 harvest. They will be the first noncorn ethanol plants in what is the nation’s largest ethanol producing state.
“EPA’s unattainable and absurd mandate forces refiners to pay a penalty for failing to use biofuels that don’t even exist,” said API Director of Downstream and Industry Operations Bob Greco. “The mandate is effectively an added tax on gasoline manufacturers that could ultimately burden consumers.”
The Clean Air Act requires EPA to determine the mandated volume of cellulosic biofuels each year at “the projected volume available.” There was no commercial supply of the fuel in 2011, according to EPA’s own records. However, EPA required refiners and importers of gasoline and diesel to use or pay for credits to cover 6.6 million gallons of the nonexistent biofuels.
The Renewable Fuel Standard has become a target by livestock producers as corn prices reached record levels this summer due to the drought, causing fears of shortages and high food prices. A bill introduced this week in the U.S. House of Representatives by Reps. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Jim Costa (D-Calif.) would cut the RFS by as much as 50 percent if corn surplus stocks fall below certain levels.
Corn surpluses have been at 15-year lows for most of the last two years due both to export demand and the fact that ethanol now consumes about 35 percent of the U.S. corn crop. In Iowa, home of the nation-leading 41 ethanol plants, ethanol consumes about 60 percent of the crop.
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