By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

PEORIA, Ill. — U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson’s Feb. 3 announcement that the federal government’s revised renewable fuels standard, known as RFS2, would help propel corn-based ethanol to the front of the nation’s renewable fuels plans drew swift reaction from farmer-led Illinois ag commodity groups.

In the case of the Illinois Corn Growers Assoc. (ICGA), reaction was critical of the EPA’s findings. Meanwhile, the state’s premier soybean producer’s organization welcomed the news that all biodiesel would be eligible for a government mandate some saw as make-or-break for the U.S. biodiesel industry.

“At first glance, the RFS2 rules read like good news on a sunny day for corn farmers,” said Tim Lenz, ICGA president, in a news release. “A close look at the radar screen shows the sky clouding up, with a storm hanging low over our heads.”

Jackson announced while the future energy mix will include fuels produced from biomass and yet-to-be-developed biofuel, corn ethanol should lead the way in the RFS2 market. The EPA, along with independent scientists, reexamined several criteria affecting ethanol’s relationship to greenhouse gas (GHG) production, including use of ethanol co-products, anticipated crop productivity and global “indirect” land use change. The EPA’s revised RFS rules found that corn kernel-based ethanol can be credited with a 21 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, compared to petroleum gasoline. The benchmark for advanced RFS2 eligibility is 20 percent.

The new rules also concluded that ethanol made from corn stover reduces GHGs by 130 percent, which drew the ire of the Illinois corn growers’ president.

“The corn kernel, the corncob, the corn stover, they all come from the same plant. It’s all corn. To those of us here in the heartland, where common sense rules, that means it has the same lifecycle,” Lenz opined.

“How can it be that our corn kernels grown here in the Midwest have a bigger impact on the Brazilian Amazon rain forest than new sugarcane acres that are actually being cultivated in Brazil?”
The EPA’s inclusion of the controversial international land use change study in calculating new RFS rules penalizes corn-based ethanol while extolling ethanol made from corncobs and stalks, according to Lenz.

“It looks to me like the EPA did a whole lot of crystal ball gazing to conjure up this RFS2 rule, when what they really should have done was step out of the séance and into the real world. All those computer models and predictions based on something that might happen someday in a foreign country have no place being used to determine this country’s energy future,” he stated.

“At a time when the (Obama) Administration and Congress are looking to create jobs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide our country with increased energy security, EPA’s rule smacks of the kind of environmental elitist agenda that insults hard-working men and women who are waiting for their chance at a green job.”

The Illinois Soybean Assoc. (ISA) reported it was pleased with the RFS2 final rule determined by the EPA which found that all soy biodiesel exceeds the 50 percent GHG emission threshold needed to qualify for the biodiesel mandate – even when considering “questionable” indirect land use variables.

“We have been working for a while to correct flaws in the original RFS2 proposed rule issued in 2009,” said Ron Moore, ISA chairman, in a prepared statement. “Demand for domestically-produced soybean oil and the future of the biodiesel industry in the United States hinged on solid findings. And the ruling was of particular importance to Illinois soybean farmers.

“B11 (11 percent biodiesel) is the most commonly used blend in Illinois because the state legislature created tax benefits for those who sell and use biodiesel blends above 10 percent. B11 offers comparable cost to #2 diesel fuel and increased benefits for consumers.”

The ISA, along with other state soybean associations, the American Soybean Assoc. and the biodiesel industry, were able to prove that some of the EPA’s initial calculations regarding direct and indirect biodiesel emissions were significantly flawed, according to the ISA.
Brent Scholl, new president of the Illinois Pork Producers Assoc. and a farmer from Ogle County who raises row crops, hogs, cattle and sheep, offered a message of hope and cooperation in the aftermath of the RFS2.

“(The ruling) will have an impact on our cost of production (for livestock and hogs), that’s the number one thing,” Scholl told Farm World. “I hate to get really negative on one section of agriculture. There are so few of us in agriculture these days, we all have to be in the same fight together – but it does affect us.”

Years of research into use of byproducts from ethanol and biodiesel production as feed for cattle and now hogs have helped lessen the burden on grain from corn and soybean meal to meet feed demand, Scholl said.

“We have to figure out a way that (the RFS2 final rule) benefits all of agriculture. We all need to be working together on this, because we’re all in this together,” Scholl added.