The American Coalition for Ethanol member plant Siouxland Ethanol LLC brought biofuels to the forefront at this week’s 15th annual Tri-State Governors’ Conference in Sioux City, Iowa. The governors of Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota get together for this biannual event to discuss the issues impacting their respective states and the Siouxland region.

“These governors play a critically important role as persuasive spokespeople for biofuels and rural America,” said Brian Jennings, executive vice president of ACE. “We commend the governors for leveraging their position to work on addressing our priorities with this administration’s White House and EPA.”

Each of the governors shared initiatives their states are implementing to support the use of ethanol-blended fuels during the conference. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds mentioned a test program for E30 in the Iowa Energy Plan. Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, who recently keynoted ACE’s 30th annual conference in Omaha, expressed his optimism in working with the administration and the opportunity the biofuels industry possesses to further grow rural economies. South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard mentioned a state bid to bring E30 into the main state fleet fuel locations in Pierre, Brookings and Sioux Falls. He also mentioned that a greenfield ethanol plant, Ringneck Energy, is being constructed in Onida, South Dakota.

“It’s still a growth industry,” Gov. Daugaard said. “The ethanol plants’ balance sheets are strong, ready to grow, if we can just let the nation unleash them.”

The direct economic impact of the ethanol industry is calculated to be a combined total of more than $12 billion annually for Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota, with more than 80 plants in the tristate region producing more than 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol each year—almost half of the total annual production of ethanol nationwide.

Pam Miller, Siouxland Ethanol’s Board Chair and Director of Industry and Investor Relations, thanked the governors for their ethanol industry advocacy through their involvement on the Governors’ Biofuels Coalition and asked for their consideration of a plan to lead a Midwestern-focused E30 demonstration program in which states would receive a waiver from the EPA, which has already been requested, to allow E30 use in legacy (non-flex fuel) vehicles.

“We believe we can show positive results that will give consumers the confidence to benefit from using E30 in their cars today and look forward to cars that are optimized for E30 in the future,” Miller said. “Years ago, it took the leadership of our Midwestern governors to show that E10 was safe for our vehicles through similar demonstration projects.”