In India, farm minister Sharad Pawar is trying to get the Prime Minister to intervene on the on-going dispute over setting ethanol prices for the 2011/12 season. Over the past six months, 600,000 metric tons of ethanol were exported at low prices because there was no market for them, which the farm minister says should […]
In Brazil, the foreign affairs minister says that if the US doesn’t begin paying its fines for trade damages based on its previous cotton program—which the country became famous for when it won again the US in the WTO—then it will pick up where it left and go after the US for its ethanol import […]
In the Philippines, President Aquino said that he will direct the DOE to investigate using water hyacinth as a potential biofuel feedstock. This was in response to flooding in Cotabato City, caused by hyacinths clogging of the Mindanao river system.
In France, G20 agriculture ministers are meeting for the first time this week to discuss food security issues and campaigners Oxfam are pushing for countries to drop their biofuel targets in order to reduce pressure on food resources. They want to see subsidies eliminated as well as the mandates. The French agriculture minister says that […]
In the Ukraine, the federal government has introduced tax exemptions for the import of equipment used for construction or renovation of biofuel production facilities; equipment used for production or modernization of technical equipment and vehicles facilitating the use of biofuels; and biofuel-fed technical equipment and vehicles (including agricultural automotive machinery). The tax exemptions include import […]
In Missouri, the National Biodiesel Board is breaking out on its own and launching a multi-million dollar nationwide print, radio, TV and online campaign to promote biodiesel as an advanced biofuel that already works within existing infrastructure for likes pipelines and barges. The push comes amid the federal push against ethanol subsidies in order to […]
In Washington, the Des Moines register is reporting on changes in tactics by the USDA and the ethanol industry, in response to the US Senate passing an amendment that would halt the ethanol tax credit as of July 1. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa said that ethanol supporters are looking for a piece of legislation […]
Here follows the roll call, on voting on the Feinstein Amendment to repeal the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC). Alabama Yea AL Sessions, Jefferson [R] Yea AL Shelby, Richard [R] Alaska Yea AK Begich, Mark [D] Yea AK Murkowski, Lisa [R] Arizona Yea AZ Kyl, Jon [R] Yea AZ McCain, John [R] Arkansas Yea […]
In Washington, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced four additional Biomass Crop Assistance Program project areas to promote the cultivation of crops that can be processed into renewable energy. Acreage in Arkansas, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania will be designated to grow giant miscanthus, a sterile hybrid warm-season grass that can be converted into energy to be […]
In Washington, the Renewable Fuels Association is tipping that the United States Senate will schedule another vote on the Coburn Amendment, to immediately repeal the ethanol tax credit (VEETC), and at the same time have a vote on the Ethanol Reform and Deficit Reduction Act offered by Senators John Thune (R-SD) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). Under […]
