Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski has signed into law two mandates for biofuel blending in his state. This story in the Oregonian says the package also includes tax incentives for producers and consumers: Gasoline sold in Oregon must be 10 percent ethanol after the state’s production of ethanol reaches 40 million gallons a year. Diesel fuel sold in Oregon must be …
Ethanol Co-Products Use
Roughly half of the cattle and hog operations in a 12-state region either fed ethanol co-products or considered feeding them to their livestock last year, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) with the support and funding of the Nebraska Corn Board. According to Dan Kerestes, chief of the USDA NASS …
Speaker Declares “Energy Independence Day”
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have rolled out an energy plan during what they tout as America’s “Energy Independence Day.” The Houston Chronicle reports Speaker Nancy Pelosi outlined a broad array of “green energy” proposals her party hopes to get through Congress before leaving for the August recess: “When it comes to energy, we must think big,” Pelosi …
EPA at FEW
The administrator for Region 7 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told participants at the 2007 Fuel Ethanol Workshop in St. Louis this week that the partnership between EPA and agriculture is helping to find solutions to environmental challenges. “We’ve had a major role in dealing with one of America’s top priorities – reducing dependency on foreign oil,” said John …
Lack of Funding for Biofuels Research Concerns Ag Secretary
Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns is disappointed with the 2007 Farm Bill he sees developing in the House Agriculture Committee for a number of reasons. One of them is lack of funding for cellulosic ethanol research. Johanns says the farm bill proposal put forth by the administration boosted cellulosic ethanol research funding by $1.6 billion and had over $2 billion in …
Biofuels Focus of Farm Improvement Act
Encouraging development of cellulosic ethanol is one of the main goals of the bi-partisan American Farm Improvement Act of 2007 introduced by Florida Congressmen Tim Mahoney and Adam Putnam. The bill seeks to jumpstart the alternative energy market by eliminating multiple, conflicting definitions of “biomass,” “cellulosic ethanol,” and other terms relating to the emerging biofuels market. The American Farm Improvement …
Thune Warns of Ethanol Fight
South Dakota Senator John Thune says Senate leaders want to pass an energy bill by the Fourth of July… but warned a group of about 100 people this week at the Ethanol Public Policy Summit in Sioux Falls that conflict looms on the horizon. This story in the Argus (SD) Leader says some powerful opponents are against some key provisions …
Doyle Calls for Biofuels Backing
Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle is calling on Republicans in his state’s legislature to back his plan to spend $30 million on renewable energy. TV station WKBT in La Crosse posted this AP story on its web site and said Doyle made the call in front of a biodiesel plant in De Forest: Doyle is still smarting from Republicans on the …
Closing the “Splash and Dash” Loophole
Lawmakers on the U.S. Senate’s Finance Committee will take up a bill that’s supposed to close a loophole that has allowed importers to get millions of dollars in biodiesel subsidies designed to help U.S producers but for biodiesel that doesn’t end up helping American drivers. This article from TheHill.com has more: Known as “splash and dash,” the loophole allows 100 …
RFA Praises Proposed Energy Bill
As I reported earlier, there’s a lot of contention over the current energy bill being debated in the U.S. Senate as different factions try to get federal dollars, incentives, and requirements that will help their renewable (and, of course, non-renewable) energy industries. But one group that is pleased is the Renewable Fuels Association. In a statement e-mailed to energy.agwired.com, the …