09.09.21

Hoeven Announces $25 Million Federal Loan for Red Trail Energy to Advance CCUS

BISMARCK, N.D. – Senator John Hoeven, Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee and a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, today announced that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has granted a $25 million loan to Red Trail Energy LLC in Richardton. This financial support will advance efforts for the ethanol manufacturing facility to construct a facility for carbon-capture processing and storage. This project will reduce emissions by forty to fifty percent and further enable Red Trail Energy to access markets with low-carbon fuel standards.

“By leveraging carbon capture technology, Red Trail Energy is able to access new low-carbon fuel markets, leading to more ethanol production with improved environmental stewardship,” said Hoeven. “Today’s financing opportunity prioritizes energy production while reducing emissions and advances North Dakota ethanol distribution in new markets, securing better prices for farmers and ethanol producers.”

Last year, Hoeven announced Red Trail Energy had begun drilling a stratigraphic well, designed with the intent to be permitted as a Class VI injection well and used to sequester carbon dioxide (CO2) from the company’s ethanol plant. The project was able to move forward due to Hoeven’s efforts to secure final approval for North Dakota’s regulatory primacy over Class VI injection wells, which are used for geologic or long-term storage of CO2, the first such approval in the nation.

As a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Hoeven has also worked to crack the code on carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technology. To date, the senator has advanced: 

  • The 45Q tax credit, which will benefit CCUS projects, like at Red Trail Energy’s ethanol plant.
  • The Plains Carbon Dioxide Reduction (PCOR) Partnership, which is led by the EERC and includes Red Trail Energy as a partner.
  • The CarbonSAFE Initiative, a Department of Energy program to support the development of commercial-scale CO2 storage facilities, an essential element of Red Trail’s project and other efforts.  

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