On the campaign trail in New Hampshire on Friday, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) called for a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard (NLCFS) similar to one created in California earlier this year by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to a news release, Obama’s proposal would require that all transportation fuels sold in the U.S. contain 5 percent less carbon by 2015 and …
DOE Funds ADM-Purdue Project
A joint bioenergy project of Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) and Purdue University has been selected to receive funding by the U.S. Department of Energy to further the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol. According to a news release, the project is focused on commercializing the use of highly-efficient yeast which converts cellulosic materials into ethanol through fermentation. The development of improved …
NBB Says IRS On Side of Big Oil
As we close in on income tax deadline day, biodiesel advocates are blasting the U.S. Internal Revenue Service for allowing petroleum producers to cash in on the same dollar-a-gallon tax credit orginally set up to help the fledgling biodiesel industry. According to a National Biodiesel Board press release, special interests have successfully lobbied the U.S. Department of Treasury to to …
Arnold Pumps Biofuels
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger talked about making biofuels cool and sexy during two speeches last week on the East Coast. Schwarzenegger spoke to the Council on Foreign Relations Board in New York on Thursday and at the Global Environmental Leadership Conference at Georgetown University on Wednesday, making nearly identical speeches comparing the environmental movement to bodybuilding and the need to …
EPA Issues Ethanol Plant Rule
The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a final ruling that assures facilities producing ethanol for human consumption, industrial use or fuel are treated equally under Clean Air Act permitting requirements. According to EPA officials, this final rule establishes the same emissions thresholds for new facilities that produce ethanol using a feedstock such as corn or sugar beets regardless of the …
Chavez Criticizes Ethanol
The president of oil-rich Venezuela is campaigning against President Bush’s plan to increase ethanol use in the United States, with the help of his close friend, Cuban President Fidel Castro. According to NewsMax, Hugo Chavez pledged to undermine a U.S.-Brazil ethanol agreement in a speech made on Tuesday. “We are working on an alternative proposal,” he said without elaborating. “Just …
EPA Chief on Ethanol Plant Emissions
The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency says a proposed rule change regarding ethanol plant emissions is a matter of consistency, not favoritism. When asked about the expected rule change during a press conference announcing the administration’s new Renewable Fuels Standard, administrator Stephen L. Johnson responded, “If you are using corn to produce alcohol for human consumption, you are under …
RFS Program Announced
In step with the Bush Administration’s call to increase the supply of alternative and renewable fuels nationwide, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today established the nation’s first comprehensive Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program, according to an EPA news release. At a press conference today, EPA Administrator Johnson, joined by Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator Nicole …
Thune Hosts Ethanol Hearing
Senator John Thune this week hosted a hearing in his state on the growing need for ethanol research and availability. The Senate Agriculture Committee’s energy subcommittee field hearing on “The Next Frontier of Biofuels Production: Cellulosic Ethanol and the 2007 Farm Bill” included testimony from representatives of VeraSun Energy, Poet (the company formally known as Broin), South Dakota Corn Growers, …
Florida E10 Hold Up
Despite the support of Florida’s commissioner of agriculture for biofuels production, despite two recent ethanol history-making races held in the Sunshine State, and despite a new campaign that “Florida Needs Ethanol” – a bureaucratic snag is keeping Marathon Oil from blending and distributing 10 percent ethanol-enhanced fuel in Florida. According to an article in the St. Petersburg Times, Marathon and …