In Washington, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is seeking a workaround with Senate colleagues to move forward with the confirmation of the proposed Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services at the USDA who has been kept from a vote due to a block by Senator Ted Cruz seeking to reform RIN policy […]
In Argentina, the president met with the US’s secretary of state to discuss a wide range of trade and diplomacy issues, including the anti-dumping duties lobbed on Argentine biodiesel exports to the US. Although other trade issues such as Argentine lemons, steel and even aluminum appear to have gotten some traction, the secretary of state […]
In Washington, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa released an internal memorandum produced by his energy policy staff who analyzed recent claims made by opponents of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), including Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES), which attributed its recent bankruptcy filing in part to the RFS. The analysis finds that the biofuels blending requirement and […]
In Indonesia, the government has at last taken the decision to file a formal complaint against US anti-dumping duties on Indonesian biodiesel at the World Trade Organization after having been pushed up against a wall with a deadline to file by February 3. Anti-dumping duties in the US are almost as high as 65%. Angered […]
In Sweden, Ambassador of Sweden to Malaysia Dag Juhlin-Dannfelt voiced opposition to the European Union’s ban on palm oil saying that the requirement to be phased out before others is discrimination. According to the Malaysian Reserve, Juhlin-Dannfelt said at the announcement of the 2nd Sweden-South-East Asia Business Summit 2018 in Kuala Lumpur “Sweden and many […]
In Washington, Reuters reports that the Environmental Protection Agency’s administrator said in an interview on Fox News that he believes Philadelphia Energy Solutions’ bankruptcy stems largely from required compliance with the Renewable Fuel Standard and as such is indication that the policy must be reformed. Rather than getting rid of ethanol blending as a whole, […]
In Washington, Reuters reports that the Environmental Protection Agency should decided soon whether or not it has the authority to approve E15 use year-round. Currently E15 can’t be sold during summer months because of air quality regulations but requests have been made for a waiver to the law, including taking the legislative path through Congress, […]
In Washington, Reuters reports that the Environmental Protection Agency has given Pennsylvania Energy Solutions another 30 days, until May 1, to comply with its RFS obligations, forcing the company back into the market to buy RINs—likely using a $120 million debtor-in-possession loan to partly fund the move—after it had been selling off RINs in recent […]
In Belgium, Reuters reports that this week the European Commission is expected to follow up on the European Biodiesel Board’s request to investigate alleged subsidies on Argentine biodiesel exports into Europe. The EBB requested an investigation into the subsidies on export taxes on soybeans that led to accusations of dumping, an investigation the EC is […]
In Washington, D.C., the Renewable Fuels Association sent a letter to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt about the “lack of transparency” in EPA’s management of the Renewable Fuel Standard’s (RFS) small refinery exemption provisions. The letter from RFA President and CEO Bob Dinneen warns that “an ill-conceived and unauthorized expansion of this exemption could destabilize the […]
