In Washington, the Biotechnology Industry Organization submitted comments to the Air Force’s Request for Information on the commercial status and market for advanced drop-in biofuels. Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO’s Industrial & Environmental Section, stated, “The U.S. military and the nation as a whole face a significant national security threat from U.S. dependence […]
In Washington, Sen. Maria Cantwell joined Sen. Dick Lugar in introducing a bill to break oil’s monopoly over the U.S. transportation fuel industry by ensuring that most new vehicles in the United States are capable of running on a range of domestically produced alternative fuels starting in 2015. The Open Fuels Standard Act requires that […]
In Washington, D.C., the world’s largest seed company spent $1.71 million in the second quarter of 2011 to lobby the federal government, according to a disclosure report filed with the House clerk’s office by Monsanto Co. The Company lobbied Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture over regulations that would affect the distribution of genetically […]
In Washington, the House of Representatives is working on a compromise deal that would partly rescue the ethanol blenders credit that the Senate had voted to eliminate in June. The Fencepost reports U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Colo.’s spokeswoman Rachel Boxer said the congressman hasn’t seen the details of the new proposal, “but is optimistic that […]
In Washington, legislation is being drafted in the US House of Representatives that alter the Renewable Fuel Standard 2 in such a way that would allow the federal ethanol use mandate to be lowered when corn supplies were tight. Reuters is reporting that the mandate would likely be lowered by 25% if stocks-to-use ration fell […]
In South Dakota, POET received final approval for a $105 million loan guarantee issued through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan programs Office. The loan guarantee and financing allows POET to construct Project LIBERTY, a 25 million-gallon-per-year cellulosic ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa. POET started construction in 2010 with a 22-acre integrated stackyard to store […]
In Ohio, the Air Force Research Laboratory Alternative Fuels Team is the recipient of the 2011 Theodore von Karman Award. The Theodore von Karman Award is the highest research award provided from the Air Force Association in recognition of the most outstanding contribution in the field of science and engineering. The AFRL Fuels team research […]
In South Africa, the Department of Energy has issued a draft policy that would mandate E5 and B2 blending. The policy is open for public comment until Nov. 18. The Department of Energy is also working on two other complementary regulations: the pricing and the financial support mechanisms, which will also be submitted for public […]
In the Philippines, ethanol producers have agreed with the Independent Philippine Petroleum Companies Association on benchmark prices for ethanol— based on both the prices of sugar and molasses, plus the processing cost— but the deal is waiting for sign off from the Department of Energy. It was also agreed that domestic ethanol should not be […]
In the EU, Ends Europe is reporting that the key missing factor to Europe’s fledgling next generation biofuels industry is a lack of policy support that would promote the R&D, pilots and investment needed to get new technologies off the ground. Industry wants to see targets for advanced biofuels, not unlike what is included in […]
