The Agriculture Energy Coalition (AgEC) today urged Congress to begin work on a new five-year Farm Bill with strong mandatory funding for energy programs. The coalition notes that programs included in the farm bill Energy Title including the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP), Biorefinery Assistance Program (BAP) and Biobased Markets Program (Biopreferred) have helped …
American Farm Bureau Supports RFS
Delegates for the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) last week voted overwhelmingly to support continuation of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS), despite the fact that membership in the organization includes a substantial percentage of livestock producers. “The livestock guys still have concerns about high feed costs, and I’m one of them, I’m a beef producer,” said AFBF president Bob Stallman. …
Iowa Groups Support Renewable Fuel Standard
The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association has joined forces with a group of Iowa businesses and organizations to form a coalition supporting the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Representatives of the newly-formed Iowa RFS Coalition sent a letter to President Obama today thanking him for his unwavering support of the RFS and asking him to continue supporting agriculture and renewable fuels throughout …
RFA Urges CARB to Revise Land Use Change
It has been more than two years since the California Air Resources Board (CARB) committed to revise indirect land use change (ILUC) penalties assessed against certain biofuels as part of its Low Carbon Fuels Standard (LCFS). Since it went into effect, a federal district judge has ruled the LCFS unconstitutional; however, CARB was able to move forward with the law …
BIO, Fuels America Talk 2013 RFS
As the ethanol industry awaits what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will release for targets for this year’s Renewable Fuels Standard, members of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and Fuels America expressed their support for the green fuel. BIO‘s Executive Vice President, Brent Erickson, said today in a news conference that they are expecting EPA’s release of the 2013 …
GRFA: Biofuels Support Rural Communities
As the world’s Agriculture Minister’s gather in Berlin at the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA), the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance (GRFA) is calling on ministers to include biofuels for agricultural investment and to improve food security in the world’s most impoverished areas. “It has been shown that developing a biofuels industry can attract significant agricultural investment to the …
Vilsack to Keynote Ethanol Conference Again
The ethanol industry will help Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack kick off his second term in the Obama administration when he visits the 18th Annual National Ethanol Conference of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) next month in Las Vegas. Vilsack was also the keynote speaker at the 2012 ethanol conference. “We congratulate Secretary Vilsack as he begins his second term. He …
Appeals Court Denies Challenge to 15% Ethanol
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit today denied petitions for rehearing in the case of the Grocery Manufacturers Association, et al. v. EPA, which challenges the decision by the Environmental Protection Agency to allowing commercial sales of 15% ethanol (E15). “Today’s order leaves in place an earlier decision by the Court denying challenges to the …
USDA Invests in Bioenergy Research Projects
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack visited a state-of-the-art bioindustrial facility in Pennsylvania on Friday, where he announced $25 million to fund research and development of next-generation renewable energy and high-value biobased products from a variety of biomass sources. “USDA’s continuing investments in research and development are proving a critical piece of President Obama’s strategy to spur innovation of clean bioenergy right …
Sweetwater and Ace to Produce Cellulosic Ethanol
A cellulosic sugar producer in New York has signed a deal with an ethanol plant in Wisconsin to begin commercial production of cellulosic ethanol. Sweetwater Energy signed a long-term commercial agreement with Ace Ethanol to generate cellulosic ethanol at the ACE corn ethanol facility for up to 16 years. According to Sweetwater officials, the company’s “patented, decentralized process will convert …