President Obama today released his administration’s Blueprint for A Secure Energy Future that outlines the comprehensive national energy policy. “In an economy that relies on oil, rising prices at the pump affect everybody – workers and farmers; truck drivers and restaurant owners,” said the president during a speech in Georgetown. “The only way for America’s energy supply to be truly …
Alt Energy Groups Ask Congress to Support DOE Programs
A multitude of leading energy trade associations today wrote to Congressional leaders with a request for Congress to maintain support and funding for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) including the Loan Guarantee Program. The program, in part, is used to help bring emerging alternative energy technologies to market. Groups that signed the letter include the Advanced Ethanol Council (AEC), …
Fed Incentives Could Help Biomass Suppliers, Customers
While the idea of providing biomass to biorefineries and power plants seems like an idea that has some profit potential, some suppliers, and more accurately, potential suppliers, might find the prospect a bit daunting. Biomass Power and Thermal Magazine says folks who want to become involved in the biomass supply chain can get some help on how to use federal …
Montana Biodiesel Research Facing Budget Cuts
State funding for a biodiesel research facility in Montana could be on the chopping block. This story from TV station KXLH in Helena says the cut would hit the Montana State University-Northern lab in Havre: Five years ago, MSU-Northern received $800,000 in grant funding for infrastructure and staffing for a new biofuel lab at the MSU-N Bio-Energy Center Now the …
Air Force Successfully Flies Raptor on Biofuels Blend
The 411th Flight Test Squadron at Edwards Air Force Base successfully flew an F-22 Raptor at supercruise on March 18 on a 50/50 blend of conventional petroleum-based JP-8 and biodiesel produced from camelina. The flight was the capstone in a series of ground and flight test events where ultimately the Air Force selected the F-22 weapon system to be the …
Energy Highlights of Obama Visit to Brazil
Energy was part of the agenda when President Obama visited Brazil over the weekend. During his visit, Obama and Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff agreed to launch a Strategic Energy Dialogue, to focus on both oil and biofuels. “Now even as we focus on oil in the near term, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that the only long-term solution …
Ethanol Interests Urge Defeat of VEETC Amendment
Legislation that would immediately repeal the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit, or VEETC, is drawing criticism from ethanol interests. U.S. Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) this week introduced the repeal as an amendment to the small business reauthorization bill, currently under consideration in the Senate. “The ethanol tax credit is bad economic policy, bad energy policy and …
US Oilseed Growers Protest EU Biofuel Requirement
Oilseed growers, led by the American Soybean Association (ASA), have raised concerns with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Ron Kirk over the European Union’s (EU) Renewable Energy Directive (RED), particularly the part that is keeping American soybeans out of Europe for biofuel production. The ASA is asking to meet with Vilsack’s and …
Vilsack: US Farms Producing Enough for Food & Biofuels
The man in charge at the USDA says American farmers are producing enough to provide the food AND fuel, in particular ethanol and biodiesel, this country needs. During the recent Commodity Classic, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack took on the food vs. fuel debate head-on. “It is irritating to me that we have to read about this all the time, …
GAO: Difference Between Policy & Practice on Alt. Fuels
A new report from the Government Accountability Office shows there seems to be a disconnect between what the U.S. government’s policy is regarding using alternatively fueled vehicles and what the actual practices are. This article from the Pittsburgh Business Times says the GAO has found that decision makers are faced with “confusing and, at times, contradicting mandates” that end up …