Ethanol Play

[Hanger]

Hahha, Ethanol still on CNBC....unbelievable. I like it....

They said 13,000 for it right? No way this is going to catch on....if anything it gives the producers of ethanol an opening to say it is costing more to make it...

[chinaman711]

announces aggressive new renewable fuel effort
05/11/2006 03:30:25 PM



DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, announced a renewable fuels program Thursday, calling for ethanol use in the nation to increase to 60 billion gallons a year by 2030.

Ethanol use currently is 4.5 billion gallons each year, and Harkin said increasing gasoline prices underscores the need for a sharp turn in the nation's energy policy.

"The more I look at it, maybe we're being a little bit too modest," Harkin said in a conference call with Iowa reporters. "We're refining it as we go along."


Harkin's proposal also includes:

--Requiring major oil companies to install pumps to offer 85 percent blended ethanol, increasing by 5 percent a year until 25 percent of stations offer E85 within a decade.

--Increasing by 10 percent a year the number of vehicles that can operate on E85 blended fuel. Only about 2 percent of vehicles currently can operate on E85.

Harkin said he would introduce legislation next week.

"We must do much more to increase our use of homegrown ethanol and biodiesel," he said. "This proposal lays the roadmap to a long-term ramp-up in domestically produced renewable fuels."

Harkin's proposal is only the latest in what is shaping up as a bipartisan push for rapid expansion of the renewable fuels industry at both the federal and state level.

"It's one of those issues that everybody agrees on," said state Sen. Jeff Angelo, R-Creston, one of the heads of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. "I think that government can create an incentive for the marketplace."

The Legislature this year approved a measure setting a goal of having 25 percent of the fuel sold in the state be renewable by 2020, and would spend $13 million over three years to help retailers install special tanks needed to offer E85.

Aides said Gov. Tom Vilsack plans to sign those measures into law within the next couple of weeks.

There's a delicate balancing act in the marketplace because only about 30 stations in the state offer E85, and retailers are reluctant to make the big investments to install the tanks because there are relatively few vehicles which can operate on the fuel.

"We've got this chicken and egg thing going," Angelo said. "Our role is to make it fiscally sane to put E85 tanks in and hope the vehicles will follow."

Harkin said his proposal would assure that virtually every vehicle in the state would be able to operate on E85 within 10 years.

"We can and we must achieve these aggressive goals to attain the energy security that we so critically need to have national and economic security for America," he said.

Monte Shaw, a spokesman for the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, said that while there is a lot of activity to increase ethanol use, Harkin's plan "takes a more comprehensive approach."

He lauded the package for not only focusing on using renewable fuels, but also increasing availability of E85 and pushing to expand production of flexible fuel vehicles.

"There's no reason that every vehicle out there can't be flexible fueled," Shaw said.

[chinaman711]

St. Louis, Missouri [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] The American Soybean Association (ASA), which has long advocated that soybean farmers can help the U.S. meet its energy needs through producing soy biodiesel, outlined its biodiesel legislative priorities for Congress to consider as it drafts another energy bill.

"With each fill-up, Americans are reminded of our energy challenges. While there are no simple answers to this problem, one can safely conclude that the country needs more fuel. And that's a need soybean farmers stand ready to fill through the production of more soybean-based biodiesel."

-- Bob Metz, American Soybean Association, president "Two key government programs have fueled biodiesel's growth," said Bob Metz, ASA President, during a national media teleconference. "They are the biodiesel tax incentive, enacted by Congress in 2004, and the CCC Bioenergy Program, initiated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2001. The small biodiesel producer tax credit that was included in last summer's energy bill is also beginning to contribute."

The importance of these programs cannot be overemphasized, especially in a climate where the domestic biodiesel industry is expanding exponentially: Production of biodiesel fuel has grown from 2 million gallons in 2000, to more than 150 million gallons projected in 2006. Today, there are 65 operational biodiesel plants, while 50 more are under construction. Nevertheless, both the biodiesel tax incentive and the small producer credit will expire at the end 2008, and the CCC Bioenergy Program terminates at the end of this fiscal year.

Because biodiesel needs these programs to recognize its potential as a renewable fuel, ASA is asking Congress to include these three points in any energy-package legislation: extending the volumetric biodiesel tax incentive, extending small agri-biodiesel producer credit, and authoring and funding a CCC Biodiesel program.

"By taking these actions, we estimate on-road diesel supplies could be increased by 2 percent by 2015," Metz said. "With each fill-up, Americans are reminded of our energy challenges. While there are no simple answers to this problem, one can safely conclude that the country needs more fuel. And that's a need soybean farmers stand ready to fill through the production of more soybean-based biodiesel."

[chinaman711]

State Backs Cellulosic Ethanol
May 12, 2006


Albany, New York [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] A $20 million program in the New York state budget is slotted for the development of a cellulosic ethanol pilot facility in New York State, Governor George E. Pataki announced, renewing his call for the adoption of his energy independence plan to reduce U.S. dependence on imported energy by boosting the production of clean, renewable fuels.

"I believe development of this industry is among the most promising opportunities for the success of agriculture in the future and, with these initiatives, New York is among the nation's leaders in developing aggressive alternative fuels incentives."

-- Patrick H. Brennan, State Agriculture Commissioner "It is imperative that our State and nation work aggressively to transition from high-cost, imported petroleum to clean, renewable fuels like ethanol," Governor Pataki said, during a visit to the State University of New York - College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) in Syracuse. "The development of cellulosic ethanol is already underway at SUNY-ESF and other institutions, and has shown great promise to be an energy-efficient fuel that can be produced in large quantities from materials abundant in New York."

Cellulosic ethanol is made from plant tissue, in a process that breaks down a fraction of the plant fiber into sugars that are then converted into ethanol. Cellulose materials are the most common organic sources on earth, and can be derived from willow, switchgrass, agricultural and forestry residues, pulp and paper mill wastes, and corn stalks. Since these plants and organic wastes are abundant in New York, their use in making ethanol could significantly increase the volume of ethanol production.

The Governor, who noted that Americans spend a quarter trillion dollars a year on imported energy, announced State Department of Agriculture and Markets' Food and Agricultural Industry Development (FAID) grants, which will produce feedstocks for cellulosic ethanol production: $60,000 for SUNY-ESF to develop its first commercial willow plantation, and $22,385 for Dutchess County Cornell Cooperative Extension and Cornell University to begin 15-acre growing trials of switchgrass. Both of these projects will establish feedstocks that can be used in the production of cellulosic ethanol.

State Agriculture Commissioner Patrick H. Brennan said, "I believe development of this industry is among the most promising opportunities for the success of agriculture in the future and, with these initiatives, New York is among the nation's leaders in developing aggressive alternative fuels incentives."

Other proposals in Governor Pataki's energy independence plan provide incentives for the use of hybrid vehicles, siting and development of an advanced "clean coal" plant in New York State, and the New York State Thruway Authority's initiative to install renewable fuel pumps at all 27 travel plazas.

[BuyOnDips]

I think the oil companies can easily install ethanol pumps in at least 10% of their stations a year for the next 5 years. It would also help if the US ended the 54 cents a gallon tariff on Ethanol. I don't think Harkin(from Iowa) would go for that. :)

[stockviper]

I think the oil companies can easily install ethanol pumps in at least 10% of their stations a year for the next 5 years. It would also help if the US ended the 54 cents a gallon tariff on Ethanol. I don't think Harkin(from Iowa) would go for that. :)
Hey, who makes pumps? A bull market in pumps and rubber hoses for the pumps. BUY BUY BUY! I wonder if the chemicals in Ethanol cause the need for any special/different equipment compared to regular gas?