California Air Resources Board (CARB) staff spent four hours on Tuesday afternoon detailing reviews made of Indirect Land Use Change (iLUC) models and analysis for the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), strongly stressing that their results are preliminary. “This is a work in progress,” said Air Resources Engineer Anil Prabhu as he began his power point presentation detailing the …
CARB Considers Small ILUC Change for Ethanol
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) today is proposing potential changes to indirect land use change (iLUC) penalties under the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) which some scientists and the ethanol industry say are a start, but don’t go far enough. Based on a review of materials made available by CARB prior to the workshop, Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) President …
Ethanol Advocate Honored by Corn Growers
The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) celebrated the long and productive career of an ethanol advocate and industry leader during the recent Commodity Classic. Jere White is retiring from the Kansas Corn Growers after leading that organization for a quarter of a century and was presented with the Meritorious Service Award from NCGA. He has been a strong supporter of …
Ethanol’s Voice Heard at Commodity Classic
It might not be a biofuels convention per se, but the recently completed Commodity Classic in San Antonio attracted lots of producers and advocates for the green fuels. Previously, I talked to Joe Jobe from the National Biodiesel Board about his group’s participation in the annual meeting of corn, wheat, soybean and sorghum growers. At the booth next door was …
Biodiesel Finds Allies at Commodity Classic
Commodity Classic is the annual meeting that attracts more than 7,000 corn, soybean, wheat and sorghum farmers, but it’s also a great place to find biodiesel and ethanol producers. Joe Jobe, CEO of the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) says they make sure to connect with their allies from the commodity groups, especially those soybean growers. “Biodiesel is made from a …
Social Media War Room for Ethanol
Make no mistake about it. The ethanol industry is engaged in a war of words with anti-ethanol forces and every weapon in the arsenal needs to be deployed to fight against these well-funded opponents. Communications and Social Media War Room was the title of one of the breakout sessions at last week’s 2014 National Ethanol Conference. Renewable Fuels Association executive …
New Generation Power Wind Farm Project Kicks Off
New Generation Power Texas has begun the first phase of construction on their 400 Megawatt (MW) Texas Wind Farm. The newly formed subsidiary of Chicago-based New Generation Power started construction on December 11, 2013, which made the wind farm eligible for a Federal Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit (PTC). Located in Haskell County, just northwest of Dallas, Texas, the project …
A Word from the Chairman of RFA
The chairman of the Renewable Fuels Association this year is Neill McKinstray, President of the Ethanol Group for The Andersons, Inc. McKinstray welcomed attendees to the 19th annual National Ethanol Conference on Tuesday in beautiful, sunny Central Florida. “Like many of you here I’m very happy to be away from the polar vortexes and the snow drifts of the Midwest,” …
Canadian Biodiesel Maker Gets BQ-9000 Designation
Canada’s largest biodiesel producer has gained an important quality status. This news release from Great Lakes Biodiesel Inc. says the company received BQ-9000 Producer status, the highest level of industry recognized quality assurance, from the National Biodiesel Accreditation Commission (NBAC). “Achieving BQ-9000 Producer status is just one of many goals we achieved in an effort to continuously provide our customers …
Support for the RFS- Personal, Powerful
With the time period over for comments regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2014 Renewable Fuel Standard proposal, many people are asking: What’s next? The EPA is now tasked with reviewing all the comments and this will prove to be quite an undertaking as more than 40,000 comments were submitted. It is anticipated that it will take several months before …