In Washington, the DOE announced up to $5 million available this year to help expand the use of alternative fuel vehicles, including electric vehicles (EVs), in cities and towns across the country. The Energy Department seeks proposals that address barriers to the adoption of these vehicles, provide safety training, coordinate initiatives, and drive market development […]
In Washington, Congressmen Brian Bilbray and Bill Pascrell have introduced H.R. 4953, the Qualifying Renewable Chemical Production Tax Credit Act of 2012. The bill would provide tax incentives for companies that make products using renewable resources such as algae, non-harvested wheat, soybeans and switch grass. The Paramus Post quotes Pascrell as saying, “With this bill, […]
In Brazil, the national energy regulator ANP is investigating claims of fraud at a biodiesel auction held last November whose purchase of 650 million liters could mean losses of $675.76 million for Petrobras. The ANP was aware that there could have been price fixing among participants in the auction as early as December but it […]
In the EU, a clash between the Climate Commission and the Energy Department, over indirect land use change, has left policymakers were unable to agree on an emissions accounting scheme revision needed to finally establish which feedstocks will be considered acceptable in meeting the EU’s biofuel targets. The EU industry, which has reached $16M in […]
In Minnesota, Gov. Mark Dayton has signed into law the 2012 Omnibus Agriculture Policy bill, with broad bipartisan support. The bill modernizes statutes covering food safety enforcement, grain trade and renewable fuels. A section of the bill fine-tunes the course of biofuels in Minnesota by extending Minnesota’s E20 mandate for two years and directing agencies […]
In Iowa, legislation awaiting the governor’s signature would extend tax breaks on ethanol to June 30, 2013 from its original expiry on July 1. The bill, which its author describes as a temporary fix, shields ethanol from being charged at the same rate as fossil fuel, which in the end would save 2 cents per […]
In Washington, the National Biodiesel Board submitted written testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee’s Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures for a hearing on expiring tax provisions in hopes of getting the $1 per gallon tax credit on biodiesel reinstated. The tax credit expired at the end of 2011 and the NBB wants to […]
In Washington, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted motions to allow the Advanced Biofuels Association, the American Coalition for Ethanol, the Advanced Ethanol Council, the Biotechnology Industry Organization, Growth Energy, the National Biodiesel Board and the Renewable Fuels Association to intervene and address the issues that will be raised […]
In Washington, the Senate Agriculture Committee has approved $800 million in mandatory biofuels-related funding for the proposed energy title in the upcoming Farm Bill. Last week, the Committee had been moving forward with a Farm Bill draft that included an energy title but did not have mandatory funding, which would have required the USDA to […]
In Washington, the Biotechnology Industry Organization, the Advanced BioFuel Association, the Algal Biomass Organization, Airlines for America, and the National Farm Bureau Federation today wrote leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee asking them to include authorization for the U.S. Department of Energy to transfer funds to the Defense Production Act necessary for an interagency project […]
