The Environmental Protection Agency has officially opened a 60-day comment period for proposed changes to the Renewable Fuel Standard. The comment period will be open until July 27. In addition to seeking comments on the proposed rulemaking announced earlier this month, EPA is also conducting peer reviews of critical aspects of the lifecycle methodology used to determine the greenhouse gas …
Senate Bill Would Change Renewable Fuels Standard
A bill was introduced in the Senate this week that would keep the Environmental Protection Agency from using non-scientific data when determining greenhouse gas emissions. The bill introduced by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is a companion to legislation introduced last week by Collin Peterson (D-MN), the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. Like the House bill, Grassley’s bill improves several …
New Fuel Economy Rules Applauded by Industry
A new National Fuel Efficiency Policy was passed today adding to recent efforts to curb America’s dependence on foreign oil while spurring development in new clean transportation technologies that will help curb greenhouse gas emissions. This new policy, which sets the toughest fuel economy requirements in the country’s history, speeds up, by four years, the fuel economy standards that were …
A Bigger Bang for the Buck: Bioelectricty or Biofuels?
ScienceDaily.com broke a story today about an article that will published in the May 22, 2009 issue of Science. The article focuses on what is more efficient – converting biomass to fuel or converting biomass to electricity? The study authors wrote in the online edition of the journal that the best bet is to convert the biomass to electricity rather …
House Ag Committee Chair Blasts EPA Rule
The chairman of the House Agriculture Committee on Wednesday announced strong opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency’s just released proposed rulemaking on the Renewable Fuels Standard that includes impacts from indirect land use changes. During a hearing to review the impact of the indirect land use and renewable biomass provisions in the renewable fuel standard, Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN) blasted …
Administration to Announce RFS Rulemaking
The long-awatied notice of proposed rulemaking on the Renewable Fuels Standard will be issued Tuesday morning at 10:00 Eastern time by the Obama administration. The announcement will be made jointly in a press conference by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson who will discuss President Obama’s commitment to advance …
EPA Rulemaking on RFS May Come Soon
The notice of proposed rulemaking on the Renewable Fuels Standard may be imminent. News out of Washington last week was that the Office of Management and Budget has completed the review of the Environmental Protection Agency’s rule, specifically as it relates to indirect land use and greenhouse gas emissions of biofuels compared to gasoline. Renewable Fuels Association president Bob Dinneen …
NRDC Launches Good Vs. Bad Biofuels Campaign
A new campaign funded by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has created controversy in the biofuels industry. The campaign was developed, according to a blog post by Nathanael Greene, “to sharpen the distinction between biofuels done right and biofuels done wrong.” The campaign cites that ethanol plants using coal power is “wrong” as well as biofuels that “pillage” natural …
Vote in the Green Choice Awards 2009
Earth Day 2009 may have come and gone but organizations doing great things for the environment happens all year long. The organization “Great Nonprofits” wants you to vote for their Green Choice Awards which honors local nonprofit environmental organizations that are doing great things in your neighborhood, community or the world. The environmental organization (entrees must be for nonprofit associations) …