Corn growers are urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to keep its agreement on a court-enforced timeline for establishing the Renewable Volume Obligation numbers for 2014 and 2015 for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). “Congress created the Renewable Fuel Standard to help reduce our dependence on foreign oil and to provide cleaner domestic fuel choices for consumers and the EPA …
Biodiesel Group Files Petition over Argentina Imports
The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) wants a recent decision to streamline Argentinian biodiesel imports to the U.S. put on hold pending public review and comment. In a petition filed Monday with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy, NBB cited the lack of public comment on the EPA decision and “little transparency regarding the plans Argentinian producers can use to demonstrate …
EPA Changes Cellulosic Waiver Credit Provisions
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued final rulemaking this week to clarify the data sources and methodology used to calculate the Cellulosic Waiver Credit (CWC) price. Under the rule, EPA has calculated the CWC prices for 2014 at $0.49 and for 2015 at $0.64. According to the EPA document, “The price of CWCs are determined using a formula specified in …
EPA, Justice Settle with Utah RIN Violator
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) have reached a settlement with a Utah-based company that was alleged to have generated more than 7.2 million invalid renewable fuel credits worth more than $2 million. This news release from the EPA says Washakie Renewable Energy, LLC generated the Renewable Identification Numbers, or RINs, from the …
Urban Air Initiative Challenges EPA Ethanol Models
The Urban Air Initiative is challenging the federal government’s models on ethanol emissions from automobiles. This news release from the group says it has filed a new petition with the Environmental Protection Agency challenging the EPA’s Motor Fuel Emission Simulator model, which it says “wrongly blames ethanol for creating harmful tailpipe emissions.” One of the biggest factors currently holding domestically …
EPA Chief and Ag Secretary on RFS at NFU
The heads of both the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency spoke to the National Farmers Union (NFU) convention in Wichita Monday and talked about the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy admitted that her agency was “in the hot seat” over the RFS after failing to set standards for the industry last year. “The …
Iowa Biodiesel Plant Latest Victim of Govt Inaction
An Iowa biodiesel plant is the latest victim of the government’s inaction on measures that are aimed to help the biofuels industry. This article from the Dubuque (IA) Telegraph Herald says the 30-million gallon nameplate Western Dubuque Biodiesel has had to stop production completely – just another of the too many biodiesel refiners that have had to shut down due …
Where RFA and EPA Disagree
EPA Director of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality Chris Grundler was sincere and apologetic during his appearance at the National Ethanol Conference last week, but he admits to having areas of disagreement with Renewable Fuels Association CEO Bob Dinneen. “E15 will never realize its full potential until there is parity with regard to EPA volatility regulations for E10 …
EPA Official Apologizes to Ethanol Industry
Last year at the National Ethanol Conference, EPA’s Director of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality told the ethanol industry that the agency intended to finalize the volume requirements for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) by the end of spring 2014. As everyone knows, that never happened and today EPA’s Chris Grundler began his remarks to the ethanol conference …
Study- Clean Power Plan Won’t Affect Reliability
The second study in a few days has been released that finds that implementing the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan will not negatively affect grid reliability. Analysis Group’s report, “Electric System Reliability and EPA’s Clean Power Plan: Tools and Practices,” addresses the impact of ongoing changes in the energy industry for stakeholders and offers recommendations to ensure reliability. …