Des Moines Register
11-06-07
Ethanol industry official calls attacks ridiculous
By LYNN HICKS
Register business Writer
Don't believe everything you read about ethanol, warned one of the largest plant
operators in the nation.
Doug Berven, director of corporate affairs for Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Poet,
reacted to recent headlines blaming ethanol for rising food prices and
environmental damage, just as Congress debates whether to require more use of
biofuels. A U.N. official last week said producing biofuels from food crops was "a
crime against humanity."
"These attacks are ridiculous. With oil at $95, we have to have this debate?"
Berven said Monday at the Biobased Industry Outlook Conference at Iowa
State University in Ames. "The campaign against ethanol is unjust, unfounded
and untrue. We have nothing to apologize for."
Other speakers discussed the huge challenges facing the biofuels industry in its
quest to move beyond corn-based ethanol. Ethanol made from biomass sources,
such as crop waste and switchgrass, can reduce the nation's oil use and cut
greenhouse gas emissions, Berven and other speakers said.
Poet is building a plant in Emmetsburg to produce ethanol from corn cobs and
other material.
But logistical challenges stand in the way of using biofuels to fulfill President
Bush's call to cut gasoline use by 20 percent in 10 years:
- Suzanne Hunt, biofuels consultant for groups including the Worldwatch
Institute, warned that alternative fuels that are less environmentally friendly could
benefit from Bush's push. Oil from tar sands in Canada and coal-derived fuels
face fewer challenges than biofuels.
She said the agriculture and ethanol industries should lobby for strong climate
control legislation "as a self-preservation policy."
- The nation faces high costs in shipping biofuels from the Midwest to major
coastal cities with an aging rail and highway system, said Stephen Brand, senior
vice president of technology at ConocoPhillips.
"It's all about infrastructure and logistics," Brand said. "It will be a massive
exercise."
The logjam has been blamed, in part, for a price-depressing glut of ethanol.
Berven argued for blending a higher percentage of ethanol in gasoline.
He said research will show engines can perform optimally on blends above 10
percent, which is now used at many pumps. He said the ethanol industry can
produce a 30 percent blend without affecting the grain supply, particularly after
advancements in converting biomass into ethanol.