As Chuck Woodside, General Manager of farmer-owned KAAPA Ethanol in Minden, Nebraska, settles into his new position as RFA Chairman, he addresses issues and challenges that the ethanol is currently facing and will take on in the future. Woodside sat down with Chuck Zimmerman of ZimmComm Media to discuss these matters and listen to how Woodside sees the future of the ethanol industry.
Woodside has many goals for the coming year and the keys issues that the RFA will face down the road. "It's an exciting time for American ethanol production," said Woodside. "Short term, our focus is to get the extension of the Volumetric Excise Tax Credit (VEETC), which we think is important for the industry. The other issue is going to be focus on the expansion of the marketplace. This comes not only from higher level blends, but certainly from blender pumps and infrastructure."
To achieve these goals, Woodside says that he plans on utilizing all areas of the RFA from the Market Development team to the Press Office and the Technical Committee, which Woodside mentions serves as "an important part of the mix."
Woodside wants the industry to know that The Renewable Fuels Association is an association working for the ethanol producer members, working hard toward the goal of energy independence. "There is a tremendous amount of innovation that's going on with ethanol today. Some of the challenges that we are going to have to address would be in greenhouse gas regulations, some of the indirect land use issues as well as the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard. But the innovation in the feedstock and the innovation in continuing to look at the some of the current production there and how we've become more efficient, how we've become better stewards, it's an exciting time."
To listen to Woodside discuss these matters, click the sound bites below provided by ZimmComm Media.
Goals for the coming year
Reaching goals
About the RFA
