In Washington, the Obama Administration will tussle shortly over the future of palm oil-based biofuels in the US. At issue: whether both direct and indirect land use change that is the result of palm’s expansion in Indonesia, should be enough to ban the otherwise climate-friendly feedstock from the US. Palm producers are on notice to […]
What engines failed, and when and why. Was this test designed to fail? In Washington, the Coordinating Research Council, a non-profit research organization supported by the American Petroleum Institute and a group of automobile manufacturers, released a study that it said demonstrated the negative effects that blends of 15 and 20 percent ethanol in gasoline, […]
In Washington, the USDA has released its report on stakeholder responses looking at its Regional Biofuel Roadmap. During October and November 2010, the National Food and Agriculture Council conducted a series of workshops in 42 States and Puerto Rico and collected 57 reports of stakeholder answers to a common set of 16 questions. This report […]
In Washington, Representatives Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) have written to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ask hard questions about whether the agency is doing its job to protect the public in addressing the issue of antibiotic use in ethanol. Reps. Markey and Slaughter, in their letter to the FDA, […]
In Canada, The Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for Science and Technology announced that a total of 60 innovative partnerships between colleges and businesses will be provided more than $36 million over a period of up to five years through the College and Community Innovation (CCI) Program. The announcement includes 14 new Industrial Research […]
In Washington, the DOE announced up to $5 million available this year to help expand the use of alternative fuel vehicles, including electric vehicles (EVs), in cities and towns across the country. The Energy Department seeks proposals that address barriers to the adoption of these vehicles, provide safety training, coordinate initiatives, and drive market development […]
In Washington, Congressmen Brian Bilbray and Bill Pascrell have introduced H.R. 4953, the Qualifying Renewable Chemical Production Tax Credit Act of 2012. The bill would provide tax incentives for companies that make products using renewable resources such as algae, non-harvested wheat, soybeans and switch grass. The Paramus Post quotes Pascrell as saying, “With this bill, […]
In Brazil, the national energy regulator ANP is investigating claims of fraud at a biodiesel auction held last November whose purchase of 650 million liters could mean losses of $675.76 million for Petrobras. The ANP was aware that there could have been price fixing among participants in the auction as early as December but it […]
In the EU, a clash between the Climate Commission and the Energy Department, over indirect land use change, has left policymakers were unable to agree on an emissions accounting scheme revision needed to finally establish which feedstocks will be considered acceptable in meeting the EU’s biofuel targets. The EU industry, which has reached $16M in […]
In Minnesota, Gov. Mark Dayton has signed into law the 2012 Omnibus Agriculture Policy bill, with broad bipartisan support. The bill modernizes statutes covering food safety enforcement, grain trade and renewable fuels. A section of the bill fine-tunes the course of biofuels in Minnesota by extending Minnesota’s E20 mandate for two years and directing agencies […]
