Hundreds of people from the Midwest turned out to submit comments today to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at the “Hearing in the Heartland: Supporting the Renewable Fuel Standard” hosted by Iowa Governor Terry Branstad and Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds. The EPA held only one public hearing in Washington, D.C. last year in response to their 2014 Renewable Fuel Standard …
Views on the Biodiesel Policy Climate
Two former members of Congress talked about attacks on the Renewable Fuel Standard at the National Biodiesel Conference this week in San Diego. Former Democrat Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, now a DC policy advisory, says the EPA proposal to lower RFS volume obligations this year is inexplicable. “The Obama Administration has always supported renewable fuels,” he said during …
Texas Researchers Turning Yeast into Biodiesel
Everything might be bigger in Texas, but some scientists in the state are looking to tiny yeast cells to yield big feedstocks for biodiesel. This news release from the University of Texas at Austin says researchers at the Cockrell School of Engineering have developed genetically engineered yeast cells to produce the lipids to go into biodiesel production. Assistant professor Hal …
Biodiesel Giant REG Expands with LS9 Buy
Biodiesel maker Renewable Energy Group, Inc. (REG) continues to get bigger, this time with an expansion into renewable chemicals. This company news release says the Iowa-based biodiesel giant has bought renewable chemical technology developer LS9, Inc. for up to $61.5 million and will call the new operation REG Life Sciences. “This acquisition is a major step in realizing REG’s strategy …
Eye on Biodiesel Industry Partnership Award
The Eye on Biodiesel Award for Industry Partnership was presented to Kirk Leeds, Iowa Soybean Association this morning. Kirk is Chief Executive Officer of the Association and has been a leader among soybean organizations in supporting biodiesel efforts since the industry’s inception. ISA’s support of the National Biodiesel Board over the years has allowed the industry to prepare and face …
CARB Receives Eye on Biodiesel Award
Receiving the National Biodiesel Board’s Eye on Biodiesel Impact Award for the California Clean Air Resources Board was Richard Corey, Executive Officer. The State of California continues to serve as a national and world leader in regulations related to environmental sustainability, and the California Air Resources Board is at the heart of those efforts. In January of 2010, Air Resources …
NBB Lifetime Achievement Award
A very special award was presented to John Deere’s Don Borgman today at the National Biodiesel Conference. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his service to the industry. Later this year Borgman will be retiring from John Deere after over 40 years of service. Most recently he served as the Director of Agricultural Industry Relations for John Deere’s North …
NBB Chair Calls for Industry Unity
The Chair of the National Biodiesel Board is Steven J. Levy, Sprague Operating Resources LLC. This is his first conference as the Chair so when he spoke at today’s general session he told a little bit about himself and his background. He’s the first NBB Chair who is not a farmer, producer or from the Midwest. Steven spoke about the …
Biodiesel Ride & Drive
You can ride or drive a brand new diesel vehicle at the 2014 National Biodiesel Conference today. Not only conference attendees but the general public. There are four vehicles outside the San Diego Convention Center from Hino, Ford, General Motors and Jeep. I chose the Chevy Cruze and rode along and made a little video clip with my Google Glass. …
Feds Continue Crackdown on Biodiesel RIN Fraud
The federal government continues to go after the few bad actors who are trying to defraud the incentive system for biodiesel production. The Department of Justice announced the indictment of James Jariv, 63, of Las Vegas, and Nathan Stoliar, 64, of Australia that they netted more than $37 million in part from Renewable Identifcation Number (RIN) credits. The indictment alleges …