http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110626/BUSINESS/106260327/Green-Fields-Vilsack-uses-Paris-trip-to-promote-biofuels
Written by Dan Piller
June 25, 2011
In a move that surprised no one, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday cut the proposed target for cellulosic (read: noncorn) ethanol from the original 500 million gallons to 15.7 million gallons.
For this year, the EPA had slashed the original 250 million-gallon target to 6 million gallons.
The reason is the same: Efforts to make ethanol out of grass, corn residue, algae or other noncorn feedstocks are coming along much more slowly than anticipated. The U.S. this year will use an amount of ethanol just short of 14 billion gallons, of the 130 billion gallons of motor gasoline consumed.
"Biofuel producers face not only the challenge of the scale-up of innovative, first-of-a-kind technology, but also the challenge of securing funding in a difficult economy," the EPA stated.
Iowa has two cellulosic ethanol plants in the planning stage, by Poet in Emmetsburg and DuPont-Danisco in either Nevada or Fort Dodge. DuPont-Danisco, which received a $9 million grant from the Iowa Power Fund, has said it will go ahead with financing on its own but Poet is awaiting federal grants to add to the $20 million in state money it already has received.
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