Omaha World-Herald. November 8, 2017

Stability is key for the biofuel industry

Nebraska and Iowa elected officials have done well in securing commitments from Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt to set mandates that support the American biofuels industry.

All four U.S. senators met with Pruitt last month about his agency's approach to the Renewable Fuel Standard. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds traveled to Washington to speak with Pruitt and President Donald Trump about the issue. Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts lobbied the Trump administration, too.

Pruitt sent a letter to Sen. Joni Ernst, who sits on the Public Works Committee, stating the EPA's commitment to adopt fuel volumes for the mandates by the end of November that are at or above levels proposed this year.

That's good news for Nebraska and Iowa. Iowa is the nation's top ethanol producer and Nebraska is second. Both states enjoy an economic impact of more than $5 billion a year from biofuels and related industries, including many high-paying rural jobs.

Agriculturally astute Midlanders had reacted with surprise and concern to earlier indications that Pruitt might significantly alter biofuels mandates, such as allowing imported ethanol to count toward domestic requirements. This seemed to contradict Trump's commitments about the biofuels industry during the presidential campaign in Iowa.

Maintaining or strengthening the Renewable Fuel Standard gives needed stability to the biofuels market, which many workers and communities rely on in states such as Nebraska and Iowa. These elected leaders did the right thing by holding the president to his word.

The Lawrence Journal-World, Nov. 13

Farmland deal still going sour

What the city of Lawrence wouldn't give to go back in time and renegotiate the terms of taking over the former Farmland Industries fertilizer plant. Never has something billed as free been so expensive.

The city took ownership of the former fertilizer plant in 2010 with the plan of using part of the 467-acre site for a new business park, VenturePark. The city paid nothing for the property, but agreed to accept responsibility for cleaning up environmental issues left behind by the bankrupt fertilizer plant. The city would get an $8.6 million trust fund that Farmland had set aside for cleanup.

Problem is, cleanup is expected to exceed $13.6 million and the city's plan to use interest on the trust fund to make up the difference isn't exactly working out.

Not only did the city vastly overestimate the interest it would receive on investing the $8.6 million, but also the city recently discovered that more than half of the trust fund has been sitting in a noninterest-bearing account for the past couple of years, drawing no interest.

The original plan for the cleanup of the property involved pumping groundwater through an existing pipeline system to North Lawrence, where the fertilizer-contaminated water could be spread on farm fields.

But City Manager Tom Markus, who inherited the Farmland mess when he was hired in 2016, said changes in the land and farming have made it impractical to use the pipeline system.

``Over time, the farming uses on those properties have changed,'' Markus said. ``We've lost some of those properties, and we don't have enough places to apply that nitrogen-aided water.''

Now comes word that the city will begin releasing the nitrogen-contaminated water from the fertilizer plant into the Kansas River. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has authorized the release over the next several months, saying the impacts should be minimal.

The city is authorized to release up to 30 million gallons of nitrogen-contaminated water from now until April 1. No more than 500,000 gallons of nitrogen water can be released per day.

Markus said releasing the water into the river is significantly less expensive and less dangerous than trying to truck it off site. The KDHE agreed.

``The volume of water that ultimately might have had to be trucked out meant that we were potentially talking thousands of truckloads moving in and out of the Farmland site,'' said Tom Stiles, assistant director of the KDHE Bureau of Water. ``We felt like that might represent a greater safety and environmental impact than authorizing this discharge through the existing permit under certain conditions.''

Let's hope Stiles and Markus are right, and that there are no harmful impacts from the release.

Meanwhile, it has been three years since VenturePark opened and the park is still seeking its first tenant. Some deal Farmland Industries has turned out to be for the city.

The (Fort Wayne) Journal Gazette. November 8, 2017

Power surge

As the end of the year nears, business is booming in Indiana's solar power industry. It has nothing to do with the holiday season.

At Renewable Energy LLC, in Avilla, home and commercial installations are up 50 percent.

``Everybody's seeing an increase in their business this year,'' said Eric Hesher, president and owner.

This should be good news. The move to solar and other clean-energy, renewable alternatives to coal-produced electricity is growing new industries and jobs across America even as it helps preserve the environment.

The rush to solar in Indiana, though, is almost certainly a short-lived phenomenon. As the Indianapolis Star reported last weekend, solar companies are already worried about what will happen after Jan. 1, when a law aimed at discouraging private solar power production begins to take effect.

Senate Bill 309 waters down the state's net-metering system, which allows customers who produce electricity through solar power to be credited for the unused power they produce. Those who have a solar system installed and operating by Dec. 31 will be grandfathered for the next 30 years under present rules, which require utilities to offer credit for solar-produced power at their retail electric rates.

Beginning Jan. 1, new solar users will be grandfathered in for 15 years, and the length of grandfathering time for new customers will continue to drop for the next five years. After that, new customers will receive credit at a drastically reduced rate.

It's difficult to gauge how much the phaseout of net-metering credit will affect potential solar users as they balance the cost of installation against the potential savings a solar system might produce for them. Legislators who pushed SB 309 through over strong objections from environmentalists and consumers predicted its effect would be minimal. The Star reports, though, that some companies are anticipating a big drop-off in orders after Jan. 1.

Noble County-based Renewable Energy, which serves customers within a 100-mile radius in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan, has been growing for years. ``For the next three to four years,'' Hesher said in an interview Tuesday, ``the outlook is pretty bright.'' But he acknowledged things will change after a 30 percent federal tax credit for installation costs expires in 2020 and the rate of credit for unused electricity continues to drop.

``Short-term gain, long-term loss is how we're looking at it,'' Hesher said.

The economics of electricity generation are complex. During the debate over SB 309, utility companies argued net metering forced other electric customers to ``subsidize'' solar users. Solar advocates made a strong counter-case. But rather than punt the matter to the experts at the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, the legislature pushed ahead.

Even SB 309, though, may not be enough to stifle solar power. Eventually, Hesher said, ``New technology and mass production will prevail in the solar industry and make it a part of everyone's life.''