E15 sales in Minnesota in February totaled 9.97 million gallons, according to data from the Minnesota Department of Commerce.  This represented a 15 percent increase from the 8.65 million gallons of E15 sold in February 2023.  The volume for February this year was lower than the volume in January, which was 10.85 million gallons.  However, it should be noted that only 299 stations reported their E15 sales in February compared to 390 stations in January.  In fact, the average volume per station in February was 33,372 gallons compared to 27,842 gallons in January. The tota ..read more

The strong E15 sales momentum in 2023 continued in 2024 with 10.72 million gallons sold in January, according to data from the Minnesota Department of Commerce. The volume sold in January represented an 11 percent increase over the volume sold in January 2023 (9.66 million gallons). E15 sales in January this year was slightly lower than the 11.28 million gallons recorded in December 2023. However, it is worth noting that only 372 stations reported their volumes in January 2024 compared to 390 stations in December 2023.  With a volume of 10.72 million gallons, the volume sold in January ..read more

Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association (MN Bio-Fuels) executive director, Brian Werner, testified yesterday at the Minnesota Senate's Transportation Committee on amendments to the Clean Transportation Standard (CTS) act. In his testimony, Werner said results of the CTS working group report showed that the carbon intensity reduction schedule in the CTS cannot be met without biofuels. "For a CTS program to be successful, it needs to provide fairness to farmers and biofuel producers by leveling the playing field for all fuels, technologies, and feedstocks that can demonstrate lifecycle greenhou ..read more

Minnesota's ethanol consumption ratio in 2022 was 12.71 percent - the highest in the country - according to the latest information by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).  Data from the EIA shows ethanol consumption in Minnesota in 2022 totaled 6.84 million barrels (287.53 million gallons). Total gasoline consumption in Minnesota that year was 53.83 million barrels (2.26 billion gallons), giving the state an ethanol consumption ratio of 12.71 percent (up from 12.58 percent in 2021). Minnesota has consistently led the nation in ethanol consumption. After Minnesota, the state wit ..read more

The Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association's (MN Bio-Fuels) executive director, Brian Werner, was a panelist at Growth Energy's Executive Leadership Conference in Florida yesterday. Titled, Driving Progress In States, Werner provided updates on policies and opportunities for the ethanol industry in Minnesota.  "We secured nearly $7 million for biofuel infrastructure grants to expand upon our nation-leading 12.57 blend rate. We also passed a law to require all fuel retailers in Minnesota that offer E15 to report their monthly gallons so that we can better track consumer sales and highlight ou ..read more

The Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association's executive director, Brian Werner, was at an Infrastructure Roundtable with Rep. Ilhan Omar in Minneapolis yesterday. During the roundtable discussions, Werner highlighted the commitment by Minnesota's ethanol industry to produce net-zero biofuel by 2050 and federal investment in low-carbon biofuels under the Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law in August 2022. "The law includes performance-based tax credits to produce clean fuels, funding for higher biofuel blend infrastructure, and tax credits for carbon capture and utilization. One conce ..read more

Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association's (MN Bio-Fuels) executive director, Brian Werner, was among the participants at a panel at the 2024 Minnesota Ag Expo in Mankato on Jan 18.    Titled, Lowering the Carbon Footprint of MN's Biofuels, the panel also featured Matt Herman, chief officer, demand and advocacy, at the Iowa Soybean Association, Mike Reese, renewable energy director at the University of Minnesota West Center Research and Outreach Center. The panel was moderated by Kent Thiesse, senior vice president and chief ag loan officer at MinnStar Bank. During the panel discussion, We ..read more

The volume of E15 sold in August 2023 has been revised by the Minnesota Department of Commerce from 10.54 million gallons to 11.05 million gallons - a new record. It was also the first time E15 sales have breached the 11-million-gallon mark in Minnesota.  At 11.05 million gallons, the volume sold in August 2023 was 15.8 percent higher than the 9.54 million gallons sold in August 2022. The Minnesota Department of Commerce has also revised its E15 sales figures for June, July, September and October. The new volumes are (previously reported volumes in parenthesis): June: 10.59 million gal ..read more

The US Department of the Treasury will include an updated lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions model from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory known as the Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Technologies (GREET) as one of the methodologies that farmers and biofuel producers may use to determine eligibility for the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) tax credit under the Inflation Reduction Act.  In guidance released today, the Treasury said the updated GREET model will be released by the Department of Energy and other collaborating federal agencie ..read more

Minnesota's Rep. Brad Finstad, along with Rep. Nikki Budzinski, Sen. Joni Ernst and Sen. Tammy Baldwin, led a bipartisan, bicameral follow-up letter urging the White House to act on implementing the availability of E15 year-round. The letter comes more than 300 days after Finstad and Ernst’s initial letter requesting the EPA and the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) act on a request made by several Midwest governors to lift restrictions on the year-round sale of ethanol, and more than 500 days since the statutory deadline of the governors’ April 2022 request. Other ..read more