On March 15, Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association (MN Bio-Fuels) executive director, Brian Werner, testified at the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee on HF 2761 – Biofuel Monitoring.
In particular, the bill will require monitoring and testing for treated seeds and PFAS at biofuel facilities. In his testimony, Werner told the commitee that none of the ethanol plants in Minnesota accepts pesticide-treated seed corn as a feedstock for biofuel production.
“Guidance by the Pollution Control Agency and Department of Agriculture in March 2022 specifically prohibits treated seeds from being used for ethanol, biodiesel, or other fermentation or oil processing,” he said.
Werner said ethanol plants in Minnesota are highly committed to following all federal and state laws, regulatory requirements, guidance and protocols.
“To protect against the unintentional introduction of treated seeds into the ethanol production process, ethanol production facilities inspect all grain shipments upon arrival and reject any inbound shipment if treated corn is detected,” he said.
As for PFAS monitoring and testing, Werner said methods for determining the presence of PFAS in air emissions, biofuels and biofuel co-products are still undergoing testing and have yet to be validated by the EPA.
“We have concerns subjecting ethanol production plants to monitoring requirements based on draft testing methods that have not been through a complete federal rulemaking process,” he said.
Read Werner’s full testimony here.