Embattled ethanol industry could go to war in 2010

Agriculture Online
Dan Looker
Successful Farming magazine Business Editor
12/23/2009, 11:22 AM CST

As 2009 wound down operating margins at ethanol plants were improving. And the industry could claim at least a partial victory when the EPA in December indicated that it's likely to approve a higher blend of 15% ethanol in gasoline sold to cars made in 2001 or later. That is if further testing confirms early results that showed no damage to cars from a higher blend.

But those signs of hope came after a year of tough losses in politics. California, long the biggest domestic market for ethanol, took steps earlier in 2009 to restrict the use of corn-based ethanol made in the U.S. Last April the California Air Resources Board adopted a low carbon fuel standard that attempts to measure the greenhouse gas emissions of different fuels. The result was that it gave gasoline a smaller carbon footprint than corn-based ethanol.

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