Special Report

Ethanol exports ramping up

Some 800-million gallons of U.S. ethanol have been exported – this past year – through a cooperative program that involves the U.S. Grains Council (USGC). Alan Tiemann, past chair of the Nebraska Corn Board and Vice Chair of the USGC board, tells Brownfield it’s about increasing markets for U.S. corn production, “We’ve got a partnership with the Renewable Fuels Association, Growth Energy and the Foreign Ag Service, F-A-S, that are funding the opportunity to move ethanol outside the U.S. borders. We see that as a great opportunity in markets like China, Japan. Especially those neighboring markets like Canada and Mexico.”

Tiemann says it involves some educating, “To teach these other countries what we already know. That ethanol is a clean fuel, a healthy fuel. That’s one of our messages going out, you know, we’ve got a great product for you to use that’s a healthy product.” He says many of those countries still use MTBE as an oxygenate in gasoline, which has greater environmental risks.

And, he says, it’s what those countries need, especially places like Beijing, China where pollution and smog are big problems.

Tiemann says it’s frustrating when there are still doubts and delays in the U.S. to move domestic ethanol forward while other countries are opening up to the renewable fuel.

AUDIO:  Interview with Alan Tiemann (6:30 mp3):