In Washington, Reuters reports that the Advanced Biofuels Association submitted a petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington DC to review whether the Environmental Protection Agency violated laws by granting so many hardship waivers in recent months to smaller refiners. With major companies like Andeavor that had $1.5 billion in net profit last […]
In Belgium, the Methanol Institute (MI), the trade association representing the global methanol industry this week released a paper providing input for the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) trilogue procedure currently underway between the European Council, Parliament and Commission. The Methanol Institute appeals to the negotiating parties to continue to recognize the importance of all […]
In Canada, Canada’s two largest biofuels stakeholders – Renewable Industries Canada (RICanada) and Advanced Biofuels Canada (ABFC), together representing almost 50 member companies –released the results of a new study on the economic impact of Canada’s upcoming Clean Fuel Standard (CFS). The study demonstrates that biofuels could be responsible for as much as 21.3 megatons […]
In Vietnam, the Ministry of Finance’s amendment to the Environment Protection Tax Law is drawing protests from biofuel producers as it impacts E5. Starting in July, every liter of petrol will be charged an additional VND1,000 in environmental tax. Tran The Truyen, CEO of Saigon Petro, told VietNamNet Bridge, that if the tax rates are […]
In Washington, former Senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Jim Talent (R-MO), who played key roles in developing the RFS, called for Congress to investigate the EPA’s recent waivers to major refiners and failure to follow the law. ‘Who better to help clarify the intent of these small refinery exemptions than those who helped write the […]
In Belgium, “Long term sustainable solution in line with market realities” – is the message from the Visegrad 4+3 group representing the biofuel industry in seven Central European countries in a joint declaration to the RED 2 Directive trilogue process published Wednesday. The group represents biofuel associations and 31 biofuel companies from Poland, Czech Republic, […]
In Indonesia, Xinhua news agency reports that the country is ready to take the US to the World Trade Organization over anti-dumping duties lobbed on its biodiesel exports that have all but closed trade. Already, Indonesian exporters have submitted an appeal to US courts against the decision taken by the U.S. International Trade Commission to […]
In Ireland, Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Denis Naughten, T.D., has published a draft order increasing the biofuel obligation rate to 10% (by volume) from 1 January 2019. The Minister also published a Policy Statement outlining the proposed future development of the Biofuels Obligation Scheme. The Policy Statement is intended to provide certainty […]
In Washington, D.C., the House Committee on Agriculture held a hearing to mark up the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 – draft farm bill legislation. Lloyd Ritter, director of the Agriculture Energy Coalition, released this statement in reaction: “The House Agriculture Committee has a long history of working in a bipartisan manner to support […]
In Japan, Platts reports that the new policy shift allowing US ethanol into the market for blending into MTBE won’t have an immediate impact because new-season ethanol from Brazil had already been booked before the policy was approved. As a result, US ethanol won’t likely be imported into Japan until 2019/20 but when the market […]
