High rollers in Vegas can now get higher ethanol blends for their flex fuel vehicles (FFVs).
Peanut Growers Hear About Ethanol and Biomass
Southern peanut producers meeting in Panama City Beach last week heard about ethanol and producing energy on a local level. Growth Energy representative Dennis Weise talked to the farmers about how they can advocate for domestically produced energy by getting involved. “We have to get outside of the corn belt now, so it’s important that we talk to folks from …
Ethanol Tariff Tiff
The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association UNICA this week drew attention to conflicting statements made in the past week by Growth Energy representatives about what they would like to see done with the tariff on foreign ethanol that is tied to the blenders tax credit under the Fueling Freedom plan introduced by the organization last week. In a post on the …
Ethanol in Senate Ag Hearing Spotlight
Ethanol took the spotlight in a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing Wednesday on the Farm Bill’s energy and rural development programs. Testimony at the hearing came from USDA Undersecretary for Rural Development Dallas Tonsager, Growth Energy Co-chairman General Wesley Clark, National Alliance of Forest Owners president Dave Tenny, and New York dairy producer Eric Zuber. The discussion ranged from increasing the …
Indirect GHGs of Petroleum Worse Than Thought
Environment Magazine has published new research today that finds that the greenhouse gas emissions derived from military use of oil is worse than previously thought. University of Nebraska professors, Adam Liska and Richard Perrin write in the article, Securing Foreign Oil: A Case for Including Military Operations in the Climate Change Impact of Fuels, “we assert that military activity to …
Ethanol Opponents Call for End to Tax Incentives
Seizing on last week’s CBO report and a proposal by Growth Energy to phase out and redirect the blenders tax credit for ethanol (VEETC), several long-time opponents of ethanol renewed their call for an end to all tax incentives for the home-grown fuel. In a press conference this morning, representatives from the American Meat Institute (AMI), Environmental Working Group (EWG), …
Growth Energy Calls for National Ethanol Policy Shift
Ethanol organization Growth Energy is proposing a redirection and eventual phasing out of government support for ethanol in return for increasing infrastructure investment that would level the playing field with fossil fuels and give consumers true freedom to choose their fuel. Specifically, the “Fueling Freedom” plan calls for funds currently going to the oil industry as an incentive for blending …
Senators Introduce Domestic Energy Bill
Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tim Johnson (D-SD) introduced legislation yesterday that “focuses on developing and deploying safe, reliable domestically grown and produced energy.” According to the senators, the Securing America’s Future with Energy and Sustainable Technologies Act (SAFEST) establishes strong renewable energy and energy efficiency standards, incentives for developing biofuels and biofuel infrastructure, and targets for the availability of …
GAO Urges Changes to Energy Department Loan Program
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report urging the Department of Energy (DOE) to make changes to its current loan guarantee program to make it more effective. This program is intended to support “early commercial production and use of new or significantly improved technologies in energy projects that abate emissions of air pollutants or of greenhouse gases” including …
Industry Concerned About Lowering Cellulosic Ethanol Goals
A big change in the 2011 proposed targets for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) set forth by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today lowers the volume for cellulosic ethanol, compared to what is in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA). The proposed goal for cellulosic biofuels next year under the proposal is now a range of 5 …