Officials pitch replacing countercyclical ethanol fund with low‑carbon fuels program

Senate Bill 23‑33 would replace the existing countercyclical ethanol incentive program with a Low Carbon Fuels Fund to help North Dakota ethanol plants finance equipment and practices that reduce carbon intensity and enable participation in emerging low‑carbon markets, witnesses told the House Finance and Taxation Committee.

Doug Goehring, North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner, told the committee the bill would use remaining balances from the existing countercyclical program and continue a revenue stream (from motor vehicle/farm registrations previously dedicated to the old fund) into a new program capped at a legislatively set amount. “The fund would go a long ways in assisting not just our ethanol facilities, but also our producers in the state,” Goehring said. He described…