This year’s 2016 BIO Rosalind Franklin Award is being given to Anna Rath, CEO of NexSteppe. The award is given to an outstanding woman in the field of industrial biotechnology. According to the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), who presents the honor, Rath’s work led to a biotech breakthrough. Her research is focused on developing scalable and sustainable bioenergy feedstocks. The …
Renewable Chemicals Tax Credit Passes in Iowa
The Iowa Senate has approved a new five-year production tax credit for renewable chemicals. The goal of the incentive is to drive innovation in the sector within the state. Renewable chemicals will be defined in Iowa’s tax code as having at least 50 percent biobased content and not being used as food, feed or fuel. The value of the tax …
Military Use of Biofuels Topic at BIO World Congress
Biofuel use and support will be a topic at the upcoming BIO World Congress. The Honorable Dennis McGinn, assistant secretary of the Navy, Energy, Installations & Environment, will be speaking about “Overcoming Challenges to Biorefinery Scale Up”. His remarks will take place Monday, April 18, 2016 at 4:30 pm. In 2009, under Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus established aggressive …
Groups Sue EPA Over RFS
A coalition has sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), over the final rules of the Renewable Fuel Standard for 2014, 2015 and 2016 that were finalized near the end of last year. The current levels for fuels do not meet legislative mandates for those years regardless of the fact that the biofuels industry has shown they can meet fuel volumes. …
Tax Extenders Package Includes Renewables
The broad spending and tax legislation compromise unveiled by House Republicans Tuesday night includes federal tax incentive extensions for renewable energy, including biodiesel, wind and solar. The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) commended congressional leaders for reinstating the expired biodiesel tax incentive in the tax and spending proposal released late Tuesday but continued pressing to reform the incentive as a domestic …
Advanced Biofuels Industry Weighs in on #RFS
The advance biofuels industry is fairly positive about increased volumes in the final Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) rules that were released yesterday but leaders are stressing that this isn’t enough to keep the advanced biofuels industry growing and get investor confidence back on track. In the past year, four commercial scale cellulosic ethanol biorefineries went online and when they are …
Fuels America TV Ad Blasts Anti-RFS Congressmen
Fuels America has launched a new TV ad that blasts the Congressional leaders who sent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy a letter requesting that corn-based ethanol volumes be reduced in the final Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) rules. The final rules for 2014, 2015 and 2016 are expected by the end of this month. The ad calls out Representative …
BIO Applauds Renewable Chemicals Act Bill
Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chris Coon (D-DE) and Al Franken have introduced a new bill, S. 2271 the Renewable Chemicals Act of 2015. If passed, the legislation would amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide credits for the production of renewable chemicals and investments in renewable chemical production facilities. The companion bill in the House is H.R. 3390. …
NCGA Disappointed in Congress’ Lack of RFS Support
The National Corn Growers Association is “deeply disappointed” that Members of Congress who represent corn-producing states have sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requesting a reduction in the volume of corn-ethanol blended into the fuel supply as required by the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The letter was signed by 184 Members of Congress and according to Open …
EPA Submits Final RFS Rules to OMB for Review
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has transmitted its Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) rules to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review as one of the final steps before publishing the final 2014, 2015 and 2016 final RFS rules for renewable volume obligations (RVOs). While the details are not public, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) is …