In Washington, in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Speaker John Boehner and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, leading environmental, science and advanced biofuels advocates urged Congress today to protect the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and extend expiring tax incentives for cellulosic biofuels. The letter, signed by […]
In Canada, BASF is set launch a new method to measure sustainability in Canada. The company’s new proprietary tool, AgBalance, uses a set of 69 indicators to calculate the social, economic and environmental impact of various farming practices. The results help growers identify the most impactful levers to improve their overall sustainability score. BASF is […]
In Washington, the House passed an amendment to the 2013 energy and water bill, offered by Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), preventing the DOE from subordinating its loan guarantees to private investors – a move which happened and was widely criticized in the Solyndra case. In addition, the House voted to bar funds to be used […]
In Washington DC, more than 120 biodiesel leaders will meet with White House officials and members of Congress to call for the extension of the expired biodiesel tax incentive and to urge the Obama Administration to quickly finalize the EPA’s proposal to grow biodiesel volumes under the Renewable Fuel Standard next year. Industry leaders will […]
In India, the national ethanol producers association says that gasoline prices at the pump would be lower today if the government had already gone ahead and approved the fixed purchase price for ethanol. The price agreed in 2010 was supposed to be raised in 2011 but nothing has happened yet.
In Washington, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, in a conference call with Adam Monroe, president of Novozymes North America, came down hard on the Senate Armed Services Committee’s decision to block the Pentagon from using 2013 funding to buy alternate fuels that are more expensive than conventional fuels. “It’s beyond me why we wouldn’t help this […]
In Washington, U.S. Representatives Glenn Thompson (R-PA) and Kurt Schrader (D-OR) today introduced the Forest Products Fairness Act of 2012, bipartisan legislation that would open new opportunities for American forestry producers by allowing their products to qualify for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Biobased Markets Program, also known as BioPreferred. The USDA’s Biobased Markets Program […]
By Brent Erickson, Executive VP, BIO, head, Industrial Biotechnology and Environment section Special to the Digest Ten years ago, Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed into law a Farm Bill that, for the first time, embraced the vital role American farmers, foresters and rural communities must play in achieving U.S. energy security. Congress […]
In Washington, the EPA could double the number of expected fraudulent biofuel RINs from the current estimated value of $49 million. Four Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee have sent a letter to the EPA criticizing its poor handling of the fraudulent RIN situation, claiming that they have “credible sources” regarding the doubling […]
In New Zealand, the Labour Party is pushing for the government to reinstate the biofuel obligation that the party had introduced in 2008 when it was in power that the National party later replaced with a biofuel subsidy—a policy that has allegedly failed—when it came into power. Without a subsidy or an obligation, the Labour […]
