USDA Under Secretary: Need to push past E10 blend wall; time for biodiesel industry to think beyond soy

USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development Tom Dorr, speaking at the NAFB’s Trade Talk event, told the Brownfield Network “Everybody that wants to invest has to have assurance that we can get past this E10 blend wall. The Department of Energy … and EPA are aggressively pursuing how to get to …. E15 or and E20.”

He added that it was time for the biodiesel industry to think beyond soybean oil as a primary feedstock, citing the effects of competition between the food and fuel industries for consumable fats and oils.

The news on E20 continues a strong uptick in E20-related development activity.

Last week, the assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy, Alexander Karsner, said that the Department of Energy would explore the feasibility of high ethanol blends, noting that Brazil has a baseline blend of E22, compared to the US E10 baseline. “We will be testing for E12, E15 and eventually E20 and working together with the Environment Protection Agency and others,” he said.

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley recently called on President Bush to direct the Environmental Protection Agency to approve E15, E20, E30 blends. Grassley said that with E85 not gaining acceptance, the US had to find other ways to ensure a market for higher blends of ethanol.

South Dakota Senator John Thune met earlier this year with the director of President Bush’s economic council to push for an E20 mandate to increase demand for ethanol. Thune said that lack of support from automakers was unimportant compared to the importance of reducing US dependence on foreign oil.

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