Six years ago today, President George W. Bush signed into law the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), which greatly expanded Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to become the RFS2. The goals of the new standard were to reduce our dependence on oil, confront global climate change, and expand production of renewable fuels for the security of future generations. …
Senate Energy Tax Reform Proposal
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) today unveiled a proposal to streamline energy tax incentives. “It is time to bring our energy tax policy into the 21st century,” Senator Baucus said. “Our current set of energy tax incentives is overly complex and picks winners and losers with no clear policy rationale. We need a system of energy incentives that …
ICM Signs Canadian Ethanol Plant
Renewable energy technology company ICM of Colwich, Kansas has signed a Letter of Intent with IGPC Ethanol of Ontario, Canada to be the first Canadian adopter of ICM’s Generation 1.5™ technology. Adoption of the technology will enable IGPC Ethanol to produce corn fiber cellulosic ethanol. “Through our previous collaboration with ICM, we believed it was important to continue down the …
Legislation Would Extend Biofuels Tax Credits
Legislation introduced last week in the House would extend expiring tax incentives important to the development of next generation biofuels. Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA) introduced the “Second Generation Biofuels Extension Act of 2013” (H.R. 3758) which would extend for one year the Second Generation Biofuel Producer Credit and the Special Allowance for Second Generation Biofuel Plant Property. Four fellow Democrats …
Analyst Offers Sobering Ethanol Outlook
AgResource Company president Dan Basse looked at the year in review for grain markets and gave his outlook for the future at the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) CSS 2013 and Seed Expo last week in Chicago. That included a pretty sobering outlook for corn and ethanol. First off, Basse said he expects North America to be “energy self-sufficient by …
DSM Produces Cellulosic Ethanol at Industrial Level
Royal DSM, partnering with Denmark-based DONG Energy shows it is possible to produce cellulosic ethanol from wheat straw at an industrial level. This DSM news release says not only did the companies produce the cellulosic ethanol, but they showed a 40 percent increase in ethanol yield per ton of straw. The demonstration took place in DONG Energy’s Inbicon demonstration plant …
USDA Increases Corn Use for Ethanol
Despite the Environmental Protection Agency proposal to lower corn ethanol volume obligations for 2014 under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), USDA’s December supply/demand report is predicting a 50 million bushel increase in corn use for ethanol next year. Ending stocks are now expected to total 1.792 billion bushels, down 5 percent from last month’s estimate. The new report also calls …
Success of RFS is Ag Issue Felt All Over the World
Nearly 30 years ago this Christmas time, the world saw one of the greatest human sufferings ever unfold before its eyes, as a million people starved to death in Ethiopia. In a particularly poignant moment during yesterday’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) hearing, Rick Schwarck, the president and CEO of Absolute Energy, an ethanol producer on the …
Real Jobs on the Line with EPA’s Changes to RFS
One of the country’s oldest ethanol producers says it could generate a lot of economic activity for the rural communities where it has had to idle some plants, if the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) wasn’t being tinkered with. Speaking at yesterday’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hearing on the agency’s proposed changes to the RFS, Mark Beemer, President of Aventine Renewable …
RFS is Working… Why Are We Here?
So the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) should certainly be considered a success since it is doing many of the things it was projected to do: – A capacity that is greater than 10 percent of the total fuel supply (that amount was expected right in the original bill) – An alternative to foreign-based fuels – A growing renewable fuels industry …