RICHARDTON, N.D. – U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp today toured Red Trail Energy to discuss her bipartisan work to successfully expand a tax credit the facility intends to use to capture the carbon it produces, and her effort to protect the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to support facilities like Red Trail and the farmers who grow crops for biofuel production.

Red Trail is a biofuel plant that converts corn into renewable ethanol, supporting North Dakota farmers and playing a critical role in an all-of-the-above energy strategy that boosts North Dakota’s economy.

Heitkamp discussed her bipartisan FUTURE Act – now signed into law – which gives plants like Red Trail access to tax credits to install systems that capture and sequester or utilize carbon emissions. Red Trail plans to use the tax credit expanded by Heitkamp’s bill to sequester the carbon it captures from the process of producing ethanol.

Red Trail also supports North Dakota corn growers – nearly 50 percent of all corn in North Dakota can be used in the production of ethanol. Heitkamp has been fighting against the administration’s efforts to weaken the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which is essential to a strong biofuel industry and farm economy in North Dakota.

“Red Trail Energy is a great example of North Dakota ingenuity and what’s possible when our energy and agriculture industries work in tandem to support jobs and growth in our rural communities,” Heitkamp said. “I worked hard for years to pass the bipartisan FUTURE Act so facilities like Red Trail could find innovative ways to reduce their carbon footprints and forge a viable path forward for all of our energy resources. I’ll also continue to fight for a strong RFS amid efforts to undermine it, because the last thing our farmers need amid low commodity prices and trade wars is another leg kicked out from underneath them. North Dakota’s all-of-the-above approach to energy makes our state so unique, and at the forefront are facilities like Red Trail which are forging a bright future for our rural communities.”

Heitkamp was given a tour of the facility by Red Trail CEO Gerald Bachmeier, who showed her how they plan to use the tax credit expanded and extended by her FUTURE Act to sequester the carbon they capture to make their renewable ethanol an even cleaner source of fuel – allowing Red Trail to sell its product into lucrative markets in California, Oregon, and British Columbia.

Heitkamp worked for years to pass the bipartisan FUTURE Act, which extends and expands the 45Q tax credit to provide certainty to utilities and other industrial sources, and incentivizes the build-out of industrial carbon capture projects that plan to use carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery and carbon utilization—the conversion of carbon dioxide into useable products. Click here for more info about the FUTURE Act.

Heitkamp has also successfully pushed to give North Dakota regulatory authority over Class VI wells that are used for long-term underground storage carbon dioxide. Allowing the state to regulate such wells will help facilities like Red Trail develop innovative carbon capture and storage technologies, drive down costs, and reduce carbon emissions.

As a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Heitkamp has been a vocal advocate for biodiesel and ethanol – industries that support over 400,000 American jobs, including many in North Dakota. Heitkamp has fought for the EPA to provide certainty to farmers and biofuels workers, and has continually pressed the agency to issue a strong RFS.

Heitkamp has been fighting for a strong RFS and against efforts to undermine the important program for North Dakota farmers and ethanol producers like Red Trail. She has repeatedly pressed the administration to uphold its commitment to a strong RFS, and led a bipartisan push to urge the EPA to increase its proposed 2019 Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) for biodiesel. In a recent bipartisan push, Heitkamp expressed deep concerns about the administration’s actions to undermine the commitments the president has made to protect the RFS.

Heitkamp has been fighting for year-round sale of E15 fuel to boost North Dakota farmers and biofuel producers like Red Trail, and praised the administration’s recent statements in support of E15.

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