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 […]
In Washington, Reuters reports that the Environmental Protection Agency has awarded HollyFrontier nearly $34 million worth of RINs to make up for a hardship waiver application denied in 2015 and an undisclosed amount of RINs for Sinclair to compensate for waivers denied in 2014 and 2015 for two of its refineries. All three refineries are […]
In Washington, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) and National Farmers Union (NFU), with support of Farmers Union Enterprises, filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit to challenge several waivers from the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency […]
In Brazil, Reuters says the country’s monopoly watchdog is exploring nine proposals that would help break the anticompetitive hold on fuel pricing, an industry often accused of corruption and collusion that led to the truckers strike this past week, bringing sugarcane mills and soybean processors among others to a screeching halt. Allowing ethanol producers to […]
In Argentina, Reuters reports that the country’s export tax on soybean oil-based biodiesel will nearly double to 15% as of July 1 from the current 8% level. The move is in part to help boost tax receipts to compensate for the president’s elimination of export taxes on corn and wheat shortly after taking office in […]
In Indonesia, the government is considering a stop on all palm oil exports to the European Union altogether, depending on results of a current study that looks at the impacts of doing so and based on their growing exports of palm oil to countries in Africa, the Middle East and China. The council has commissioned […]
In Washington, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), and Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) sent a letter to President Trump urging him to take immediate action to lower gas prices for American families ahead of Memorial Day weekend. One of the suggestions made to dampen rising gas prices […]
In Indonesia, the Jakarta Post reports that the government plans to boost its current 20% biodiesel blending mandate to 25% early next year in an effort to save $1 billion in fossil fuel imports as well as to absorb more of its domestic palm oil production. Currently, the energy ministry is working to develop the […]
In Washington, Brazil’s RenovaBio program establishes national annual emissions reduction targets for transportation fuels that will likely require a significant increase in biofuels consumption. Therefore, the program must accurately reflect the carbon intensity for all ethanol pathways, including imports, the Renewable Fuels Association wrote in comments to Brazil’s Ministry of Mines and Energy submitted Sunday. […]
