In Washington, the EPA says that infrastructure constraints at gas stations, better known as the blend wall, is one of the reasons keeping the agency from announcing the 2014 RFS. Falling gasoline demand has meant less ethanol was required to hit that blend wall of 10%. It also says it is conscious of the period […]
In Washington, the Department of Energy announced $13.4 million for five advanced biofuels and bioproducts projects focused on integration last week. The University of Wisconsin of Madison, Wisconsin will receive up to $3.3 million to develop a process to produce high value chemicals from biomass, which can be used as plasticizers (an additive in certain […]
In California, the state’s energy commission has approved more than $4 million in grants to Community Fuels to help them boost their production and efficiency at their biodiesel plant in Stockton. The company uses waste grease as well as agricultural residues as feedstock. The funding was part of an overall loan and grant package of […]
In Canada, Syncrude has appealed a court case it lost earlier this summer intending to circumvent the national 2% biodiesel blending mandate. It argues that to transport biodiesel to northern Alberta where the company produces bitumen from tar sands in order to blend with the diesel it consumes in machinery creates more GHG emissions than […]
In Zimbabwe, the government is willing to license more ethanol producers to supply the country’s 20% mandate as long as they comply with partnership guidelines. The idea is to diversify supply in case Green Fuel, the only supplier currently licensed by the government, runs into supply challenges again and it has to purchase ethanol from […]
In California, the Low Carbon Fuels Coalition will be launching to obtain continuous funding for the low carbon fuels industry through California legislation until 2016. The target legislation would establish multiple programs including rotating loans, funding for loan guarantee reserves, grant funding, and cost abatement for low-income citizens. These programs will facilitate the rapid expansion […]
In Washington, U.S. Senators John Thune (R-South Dakota), Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack calling on USDA to conduct an economic analysis of the rail service challenges facing agricultural shippers. Thune and Klobuchar’s letter cites […]
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, chairman and vice chairman of the Governors’ Biofuels Coalition, sent a letter urging the Obama Administration to ensure the development of domestically produced renewable fuels by amending EPA’s proposed RFS levels for 2014 so consumers have real choices at the fuel pump. The Honorable Shaun Donovan […]
In Washington, the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) on Tuesday filed comments with the European Commission challenging unfair trade duties that have blocked U.S. biodiesel from being exported to Europe since 2009. NBB urged the commission to allow duties on U.S. biodiesel to expire this year as scheduled, citing overwhelming evidence that global trade for biodiesel has […]
In India, the Petroleum Ministry’s department of chemicals has said that it wants to see ethanol for fuel capped at 5%, saying that going hire will be detrimental for the chemical industry due to scarce supplies. Oil companies and sugar mills remain at odds over how much the fuel will be supplied at, and though […]
