Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan this week announced the appointment of 18 new members and reappointment of six members to the agency’s Farm, Ranch, and Rural Communities Federal Advisory Committee, which provides independent policy advice and recommendations on issues affecting agriculture and rural communities. Among the new members from the biofuels sector are Alan Weber, Biodiesel Coalition of Missouri, …
CARB Passes Amendments to California LCFS
Most of the rest of the country was asleep Friday night when the California Air Resources Board (CARB) wrapped up a 12 hour public meeting at midnight local time on amendments to the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). The updates include increasing the target to reduce carbon emissions of transportation fuels 30%, instead of 20, by the year 2030, …
Minnesota Chosen as Site for New SAF Plant
DG Fuels recently announced Moorhead, Minnesota as the site for a $5 billion manufacturing facility that will produce 193 million gallons per year of low-carbon aviation fuel (SAF) using agricultural and wood waste as feedstock. This news is a notable milestone for the MN SAF Hub and is the most significant commitment towards commercial-scale SAF production in the state. The …
ZeaKal PhotoSeed is 1st Sustainability-Embedded Trait Tech
ZeaKal today announced that PhotoSeed™ Soy has been validated as the first sustainability-embedded trait technology for agriculture, a technology that could expand the volume of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production by approximately one billion additional gallons on existing U.S. soybean acreage. Han Chen, co-founder and CEO of ZeaKal, says they were able to validate PhotoSeed’s impact on the carbon intensity …
USDA Announces $239 Million for Domestic Biofuels
USDA this week announced the awarding of $39 million in grants to increase the availability of domestic biofuels in 18 states, and an allocation making $200 million available through the new Biobased Market Access and Development Grants from Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) funds. Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small announced the awards and funding made possible through the Higher Blends Infrastructure …
CoBank Report Studies Future for SAF
A new CoBank Knowledge Exchange report on Charting the Path Forward for SAF finds sustainable aviation fuel provides great opportunity for growth in U.S. biofuels production from agricultural feedstocks, as long as the market and regulatory incentives are there for farmers and the wider biofuels industry. According to the report, the anticipated guidance for the 45Z tax credit, also known …
New Ethanol Infographics from Grains Council
The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) has released a series of infographics to promote the benefits of biofuels, an explainer on various sustainability benchmarks for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and an update on global ethanol blending policies. The Council seeks to show international policymakers and industry stakeholders that U.S. ethanol is an affordable, abundant, compatible and sustainable way for countries to …
USDA Celebrates $3 Billion for Climate-Smart Commodities
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack traveled to Pennsylvania last week to celebrate investing over $3 billion in 135 projects under the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities since its creation in September 2022. Vilsack highlighted the initiative’s success to date, including: – Enrollment of over 3.2 million acres of working land into climate-smart practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sequester carbon. …
Chevron REG Invests in Terviva to Scale New Biofuel Feedstock
Agricultural innovation company Terviva has announced an investment from Chevron Renewable Energy Group to help scale production of pongamia for low carbon renewable fuel. “Crude pongamia oil can be converted into biodiesel, renewable diesel, or sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). In working with Chevron Renewable Energy Group, we can increase the availability of feedstocks for production of these fuels while promoting …
Ethanol Groups Urge Book and Claim for CSA
USDA received testimony Tuesday at a public consultation on climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and biofuel feedstocks urging federal agencies to embrace book-and-claim supply chain management approaches to decouple CSA carbon credits. Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper said in his testimony that innovative supply chain management solutions are needed to fully realize the benefits of CSA practices in the …