In Japan, the final US-Japan Trade Agreement solidifies trade with Japan by maintaining a zero duty on imports of corn for feed and eliminating a three percent tariff for corn other than feed. Japan will also eliminate U.S. sorghum tariffs, which are as high as three percent, and reduce a mark-up on barley for feed. […]
In Washington, Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), along with Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), led a public comment letter to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler expressing concern over the proposed supplemental rule establishing the Renewable Fuel Standard’s (RFS) 2020 […]
In Iowa, Governor Kim Reynolds signed Executive Order 5 (EO5) requiring all new contracts for the purchase of state vehicles with diesel engines to have written support from the manufacturer to use B20 biodiesel (a blend of 20% biodiesel and 80% petroleum-based diesel) or more. Gov Reynolds signed the executive order at the Iowa Farm […]
In Washington, For the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the choice should be clear and simple when it comes to implementing blending obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard: Just follow the law. That was the Renewable Fuels Association’s message in comments submitted to EPA responding to the agency’s supplemental proposal for 2020 renewable volume obligations. RFA’s […]
In India, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy issued a request for expression of interest for an independent third-party evaluation study of its biogas-based power generation (off-grid) and thermal energy applications program (BPGTP). The program is for the dissemination and deployment of medium size biogas plants in the rural, semi-urban areas of the country […]
In Ohio, local press reports that the agriculture secretary said at an event in Decatur that President Trump is looking for ways to “soften the blow” of the Environmental Protection Agency’s small refinery exemption waivers that led to significant ethanol demand destruction. Though the secretary wasn’t specific about measures that are currently being evaluated, he […]
In South Dakota, American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) submitted comments to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on its proposed supplemental rulemaking to the 2020 Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). ACE CEO Brian Jennings detailed three areas in which the proposal falls short in ACE’s written comments, including the proposed rule (1) does […]
In Washington, a letter to President Trump, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem asked him to enforce a provision of the Clean Air Act that requires the reduction and elimination of toxic carcinogenic aromatics from gasoline. This requirement has been largely ignored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for decades. “This […]
In Washington, Reuters reports that the White House is still having trouble sorting out a solution for the Renewable Fuel Standard so has asked Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley to provide input into the latest thinking. It’s also seen as a way for the President to try to gain some of the political ground he has […]
In California, U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and U.S. Representative Peter Welch (D-Vt.) introduced companion bills in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives to reform the Renewable Fuel Standard by mitigating harmful environmental impacts of the corn ethanol mandate and advancing the next generation of biofuels that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The GREENER […]
