In Belgium, negotiators from the European Parliament, Council and Commission agreed early Thursday morning on a new target for renewables in transport – a deal that clearly recognizes the importance of separating bad biofuels like palm oil from good ones like European ethanol. The agreement sets a target of 14% renewables in transport by 2030. […]
In France, farmers have begun to end their blockades as oil refineries and depots that led to more than 100 stations running dry of fuel after the agriculture minister agreed to some of their demands. The blockade was to force Total to boost its use of domestic oils, preferably from rapeseed but also from used […]
In Iowa, Reuters reports that the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency said during a charm offensive in the Midwest that he believes his agency has the statutory authority to grant year-round E15 sales, a process that would require rulemaking along with a notice and comment period. The administrator has come under heavy fire for […]
In France, the country’s agriculture minister has called the protest of 14 oil refineries and hundreds of fuel depots by French farmers in protest of Total’s planned imports of palm oil for much of its feedstock demand at the La Mede biorefinery “illegal”. The minister has called for negotiations to end the impasse and find […]
In Washington, D.C., the Senate Agriculture Committee released their draft farm bill on Friday afternoon, The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, which includes serious blows for biofuel and biomass funding, while offering positive changes and expansions for dairy producers, the Agriculture Risk Coverage program, Conservation Reserve Program and other programs. The Senate Agriculture Committee is […]
In Washington, President Trump is feeling pushback from the main union representing oil refinery workers after taking the side of farmers and rejecting the generation of RINs from ethanol exports earlier this week. The union says that the president is putting thousands of refinery jobs along the East Coast and Northeast at risk in what […]
In Washington, Reuters reports that President Trump has backed off his proposed reform of the Renewable Fuel Standard expected for this week following pressure from farm states like Iowa who saw RIN generation from ethanol exports as a way to collapse the farm economy. As a result of the pushback that sent Trump back to […]
In Canada, the country’s two largest biofuels stakeholders—Renewable Industries Canada (RICanada) and Advanced Biofuels Canada (ABFC), together representing almost 50 member companies—have released the results of a new study on the economic impact of Canada’s upcoming Clean Fuel Standard. The study demonstrates that biofuels could be responsible for as much as 21.3 megatons (MT) per […]
In Washington, a coalition of biofuel and agriculture groups petitioned the U.S. EPA to change its regulations to account for lost volumes of renewable fuel resulting from the unprecedented number of retroactive small refinery exemptions from Renewable Fuel Standard obligations recently granted by EPA. The parties on the petition are the Renewable Fuels Association, American […]
In France, the largest farmers’ union asked that French oil refineries be blocked in protest at a decision allowing Total to use imported palm oil at a new biofuel production site. Earlier in May, the French government gave Total permission to use palm oil as a feedstock at its La Mede biofuel refinery. Farmers who […]
