Web exclusive posted March 9, 2009, at 5:00 p.m. CST

The American Coalition for Ethanol organized lobbying efforts for ethanol supporters March 2-3 in Washington, D.C., in order to provide a forum for discussion of several issues of great importance to the industry. ACE Executive Vice President Brian Jennings said approximately 35 people attended the event and were addressed by more than 70 members of Congress and policy leaders. The attendees were "a good, committed group," who were willing to pay their own way to travel to Washington to have their voices heard, according to Jennings. Farmers, producers, bankers, engineers, rural electric representatives and others were able to offer their varied areas of expertise to Congressional members and provide examples of how ethanol specifically impacts their area of business.

The group had three specific goals for the lobby trip, Jennings said. The highest priority was to talk about the looming "blend wall" - the point at which no more ethanol can enter into the nation's fuel supply. Jennings was pleased to discover that many members of Congress were already aware of this issue and were interested to learn more about the industry's collective efforts to extend the blend wall past the E10 level. "Some were not [familiar with the blend wall] and it provided a chance for us to bring them up to speed on that issue," Jennings added.

The group was also encouraged to learn that many Congressional members were able to make the connection between moving the blend wall and the future success of advanced biofuels. Of particular importance was the acknowledgement of that issue by U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. She briefly addressed the group, specifically mentioning the blend wall and greenhouse gas reduction efforts by the administration and the treatment of the corn-based ethanol industry by the language in the renewable fuel standard (RFS) as related to carbon footprints. "She made it clear that these decisions will be driven by scientific data, and we agree with that," Jennings said.

Indirect land use change was another discussion priority for the group as was restoring the reputation of corn-based ethanol. Jennings said they made of point of discussing with government officials the fact that advanced biofuels cannot be commercialized without a market, and the survival of corn-based ethanol is directly related to the survival of that market.

Feedback from the event has so far been positive. Jennings said this was the first type of "fly-in" event ACE has hosted and it plans to do more lobby trips in the future, perhaps as early as this fall.

Blogs from ACE's recent event can be read at www.ethanol.typepad.com. For more information on ACE, visit www.ethanol.org.