In Washington, Iowa Congressman Dave Loebsack announced he introduced legislation that would establish a grant program through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to invest in renewable and alternative fuel infrastructure. The Renewable Fuel Utilization, Expansion and Leadership (Re-FUEL) Act (HR 4051) will help create new and retrofit existing infrastructure, including pumps for biofuels and […]
In Washington, a chief counsel advice memorandum from the IRS’s Office of Chief Counsel says taxpayers can also deduct from their income taxes the amount of excise tax reduction given to biodiesel under the biodiesel blender excise tax credit. Apparently rather than deducting from their excise tax deduction in their forms, they include it in […]
In Iowa, the Iowa NSF EPSCoR Energy Policy Workshop series aims at fostering cross-disciplinary work between Iowa State University engineers, economists, and scholars of other fields working on biorenewable issues with policy relevance. The next workshop will be held on Friday with presentations by an associate professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering at Iowa […]
In Washington, the $956 billion Farm Bill was signed into law last week at Michigan State University. The Title 9 energy programs received $881 million in mandatory funding, provides incentives for biochemicals and biobased product manufacturing for the first time, includes pellets in the definition of forest products, provides for a tiered application process to […]
In South Africa, the comment period for the country’s proposed biofuel policy ends of Feb. 10 with plenty saying the proposal is both too strict and not strict enough. A B2 is proposed with a levy expected for the fuel during 20 years to ensure a 15% ROI for producers. Soybean and grain sorghum are […]
In Belgium, the European Renewable Ethanol Association (ePURE) has warned the European Commission of surging ethanol imports from Peru since the entering into force of the free trade agreement in August 2013. It is apparent that an inadvertent change in the pattern of trade is occurring as a direct consequence of this trade agreement, it says. […]
Following House passage, the five-year Farm Bill and its Energy Title head to the White House for assent. In Washington, the U.S. Senate voted 68-32 to approve the bipartisan Farm Bill coauthored by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. The bill represents rare bipartisan agreement on legislation […]
In Iowa, the state’s Attorney General says that according to the law, the EPA does not have the authority to cut the amount of biofuel blended under the RFS. The clause the EPA is apparently using to justify cutting the blend refers to the domestic ability to produce enough biofuel to satisfy the demand, something […]
In Washington, the Congressional Black Caucus wants the White House to pull back on the RFS, claiming that ethanol production is pushing up food prices. The Caucus said in a letter to the EPA administrator that food prices increased last year by $2,000 for a family of four due to higher corn prices. They are […]
In Washington, the Farm Bill contained a provision removing subsidies for biofuel blending pumps in rural areas. This provision, another in a series of struggles for ethanol industry beginning with the EPA rollbacks in November, represents a blow to the executive branch, which had aimed to help gasoline station owners install 10,000 blender pumps over […]
