Reuters – Biden poised to ship win for ethanol makers on Sustainable Aviation Gasoline credit.
The Biden administration is anticipated this week to acknowledge a soon-to-be-updated methodology favored by the ethanol business in steerage to firms trying to declare tax credit for sustainable aviation gasoline (SAF), three individuals accustomed to the matter advised Reuters.
For months the administration has been divided over whether or not to acknowledge the Division of Power’s Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions and Power Use in Applied sciences (GREET) mannequin.
Because it stands, that mannequin would allow ethanol-based SAF to qualify for tax credit below the Inflation Discount Act, President Joe Biden’s signature local weather regulation.
The information, which was first reported by Reuters, is a win for the ethanol business and the U.S. Corn Belt, a strong constituency forward of the 2024 presidential election.
The group sees SAF as one of many solely routes to develop ethanol demand amid rising gross sales of electrical automobiles. Biden, a Democrat, is looking for re-election and can rely on votes from intently contested Midwestern states which might be the heaviest corn producers.
The administration, nevertheless, can be anticipated to announce it would replace the GREET methodology by March 1, the sources stated.
That leaves some uncertainty for corn-based ethanol producers, because the administration is anticipated to finally tighten necessities round SAF feedstocks.
Till the updates are introduced, a fierce lobbying push is anticipated. Ethanol teams have been at odds with environmentalists who need requirements that elevate feedstocks like used cooking oil and animal fats.
The Treasury Division declined to remark for this story, whereas the White Home didn’t reply to a request for remark.
SAF producers looking for tax credit below the IRA should reveal, with an accredited scientific mannequin, that their gasoline generates 50% much less greenhouse gasoline emissions over its lifecycle than petroleum gasoline.
The ethanol business argues the U.S. wants to make use of prepared expertise like ethanol to shortly cut back carbon dioxide emissions. Renewable Fuels Affiliation President Geoff Cooper referred to as the administration’s resolution “a pivotal second for the way forward for sustainable aviation fuels” earlier this week.
One among environmental teams’ central issues about using the GREET mannequin – that it will underestimate the emissions generated by tilling land for crops – seems to be unresolved, stated Nikita Pavlenko, fuels workforce lead on the Worldwide Council on Clear Transportation.
The lifecycle emissions calculated by GREET for any given gasoline can fluctuate extensively relying on what knowledge sources and assumptions are plugged into the mannequin, and any future replace on how producers ought to use the GREET mannequin must take a stringent strategy, he stated.
Geoff Cooper, Renewable Fuels Affiliation President stated:
A number of the values (for land-use change) favored by business haven’t gone by way of the regulatory course of, and don’t line up with the tutorial consensus.
White Home adviser John Podesta stated on the SAF steerage can be launched very quickly.
“We expect, in an effort to benefit from the credit score, that emissions must be 50% under what oil-based aviation gasoline seems to be like,” Podesta advised reporters on Thursday.
Unique: Biden poised to ship win for ethanol makers on SAF credit, New York, December 14, 2023
