I recently attended a Sustainable Aviation Fuel conference, which was at the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum near Ashland, Nebraska.
Overwhelmingly, the message from presenters, in my opinion, was, “this is great fuel technology; we just can’t afford it yet. We need big government funds.” Most concerning was the person who called for the meeting and kicked it off, U.S. Rep. Mike Flood, of Nebraska, who plans to champion the authorization of more tax credits to make this happen.
To put this into context, supporters suggested that 27 million gallons of SAF would be generated in 2025, a measly portion of what the entire airline travel industry uses at 126 billion gallons per year. Let me cut right to the chase, despite how they try to position this, it requires the farmer and ethanol plants to increase costs and comply with emission standards that allow the airline industry to offset these savings for their own emissions.
No matter how you shake this moving target, that is what is planned. Let’s not forget that this plan is 100% driven by tax credits, something only the wealthy care about, not the farmer who will be selling corn for $2 a bushel this year.
We can’t blame just one agency for this situation. From the Department of Energy website, you will find this rhetoric:
The SAF Grand Challenge is the result of DOE, DOT, and USDA launching a government-wide Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will attempt to reduce the cost, enhance energy security, and expand the production and use of SAF while meeting the following goals:
- A minimum of a 50% reduction in life cycle emissions compared to conventional fuel.
- 3 billion gallons per year of domestic SAF by 2030.
- 35 billion gallons of SAF to satisfy 100% of domestic demand by 2050.
For all that to happen, the farmers and ethanol plants will need to comply with the 45ZCF-GREET model that has been adopted by the U.S. Treasury. I don’t even know how many times presenters at this conference referenced that, “We are waiting on Treasury to give us guidance on this.”
Once again looking at the Department of Energy website, I encourage all of you that think this is good for the farmer to look at closely should you choose to comply:
45ZCF-GREET is available at: https://www.energy.gov/eere/GREET. The 45ZCF GREET model was developed as a specific version of the GREET model to determine emissions rates that also meet three key parameters: (1) user-friendliness and consistency, (2) technical robustness of the pathways represented, and (3) consistency with the requirements of section 45Z. The model includes transportation fuel production pathways that are of sufficient methodological certainty to be appropriate for determining eligibility for the 45Z tax credit.
At the end of the day, the story is the same as the Renewable Fuel Standard. The concept is correct, but requires government involvement. In the same week that our national debt blows past $38 trillion, we are talking about spending massive amounts for subsidies.
The gut punch, which is still not brought to light in these discussions, is the fact that the petroleum industry still controls distribution of all fuel. Why is no one talking about the fact that E-15 is selling at the pump for 50 cents less than 100% gasoline? That is because the gasoline manufacturers are making more per gallon of ethanol sold than the farmers who raise the grain.
If the farmer does not regain leverage in the marketplace and come up with a distribution system that does not including the Prince of Saudi Arabia, we will continue to lose farmers. No farmers, no food, no fuel. Share that with your friends, neighbors and policy-makers before it’s too late.
Editor’s note: The views expressed here are the author’s own and do not represent the views of High Plains Journal. Trent Loos is a sixth-generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show “Loos Tales” and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.LoosTales.com, or email Trent at [email protected].
