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GREET model, year-round E15 focus of ACE Washington DC visits

Ethanol leaders are in Washington DC urging the EPA to move forward on the updated GREET model and year-round E15.

Brian Jennings with the American Coalition for Ethanol says the industry needs the updated Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation or the GREET model for carbon emissions. “This GREET model can really either open up a great big new market for ethanol to help supply sustainable aviation fuel, or it could shut the door forever on that market, and that’s a huge market. We’re talking 30-40 billion gallons.”

An interagency task force was to have a decision on the GREET model by March 1st, and Jennings tells Brownfield coalition members are meeting with task force members this week to urge them to finish and get the details right. “We need Climate Smart Agriculture to count. We need real-world observations of land use change versus some inflated arbitrary figure that some sort of unreliable economic model wants to crank out.”

Jennings says there’s a lot at stake for ethanol and corn growers who want to tap into the sustainable aviation fuel market.

He says they have many priority issues pending with the Environmental Protection Agency and with Congress, and the list is long. “We’re going to be meeting with EPA to impress upon them the importance of doing those emergency waivers as they did back in 2022 and 2023. We’ll also be meeting with Congress because ultimately, we don’t want to rely on emergency steps, or emergency waivers. We need a national solution.”

And as for EPA granting the necessary E15 waivers for this summer,  Jennings says the conditions are right to grant them. “I feel cautiously optimistic we are going to get these waivers. Some of the conditions in the market that have existed the last couple of years due to the geopolitical problems with the war in Ukraine (still exist) and now we have some Red Sea tensions.”

Jennings says the Next Generation Fuels Act being considered by both the House and Senate would create a new high-octane standard, “Which would help boost support for mid-level blends like E25 or E30 in the future. It would help make sure those vehicles that are produced are compatible with E85 and mid-level blends. It would take care of this E85 year-round issue.”

Jennings says their coalition members have more than 80 agency and congressional meetings this week to discuss these issues.

AUDIO: Brian Jennings discusses his Washington DC trip with Brownfield’s Larry Lee