Managing for Profit

The renewable fuels industry is healthy

The renewable fuels industry has gone through some rather challenging times.  Just when it looked like the future was bright, the economic collapse of 2008 came along pushing crude oil prices down and putting the renewable fuels industry into an economic quagmire as well.  Then came the drought of 2012 and tight corn supplies pushing corn prices to record highs.  Events like these have fueled a call for an end to the use of ethanol in the nation’s fuel supply and Congress to drop the Renewable Fuels Standard.  Complicating the matter has been the EPA’s failure to deliver a Renewable Fuels Standard since 2013.

Geoff Cooper is senior vice president with the Renewable Fuels Association, he says despite all of this, the renewable fuels industry is in good shape.