Read the full piece by Senator Fischer on yorknewstimes.com
Last week, I spoke at an exciting ceremony in York. Ethanol and agri-tech company Green Plains partnered with oil company Shell to open a new facility for biofuels research and innovation. It’s a collaboration across industries that builds on the unique strengths and resources housed in Nebraska.
This new demonstration facility will combine fermentation, mechanical separation, and fiber conversion technologies into one platform. The goal is to get as much out of the corn kernel as possible. The technologies will liberate corn oil, produce ethanol, and yield feed. This work will enhance our use and understanding of both plant and kernel. It will strengthen our nation’s domestic energy resources and generate quality high-protein, high-energy feed for our livestock.
The facility is a remarkable collaboration that demonstrates how the liquid fuel industry can work together to create sustainable fuels for cars on the road today. We know that biofuels like ethanol benefit our environment. Emissions from ethanol are 46 percent lower than from traditional gasoline, and one study found that corn ethanol contributed to a reduction of 500 million tons in emissions between 2005 and 2019. Not only do higher ethanol blends of gasoline emit less greenhouse gases, but the corn used in ethanol production soaks up massive amounts of additional carbon dioxide. During the summer, the Corn Belt of the United States has more photosynthetic activity than even the Amazon rainforest.
