Ethanol organizations received a Government Accounting Office report on biofuels this week with mixed reviews.
On the plus side, the GAO report indicated that using indirect land use change to evaluate the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions for biofuels under the Renewable Fuel Standard may be difficult due to uncertainty in how that can accurately be measured. According to the report, “Many researchers told GAO there is general agreement on the approach for measuring the direct effects of biofuels production on lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions but disagreement about how to estimate the indirect effects on global land use change, which EPA is required to assess in determining RFS compliance. In particular, researchers disagree about what nonagricultural lands will be converted to sustain world food production to replace land used to grow biofuels crops.”
That pleased Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis. “On the unsettled science of International Indirect Land Use Change, the GAO has come down firmly on our side of the debate: there is no scientific consensus on ILUC,” Buis said in a statement. “As we’ve said all along, ILUC is a concept and a theory – it is not proven, and there is no agreement in the scientific community that if it exists, how it can be accurately measured. We agree completely with GAO’s assessment that the proposal to incorporate ILUC into RFS would greatly complicate the agency’s ability to complete writing this rule.”
On the downside, the report suggests elimination of the 45 cent per gallon blenders tax credit for mixing ethanol with gasoline. The GAO report says the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) “may no longer be needed to stimulate conventional corn ethanol production because the domestic industry has matured, its processing is well understood, and its capacity is already near the effective RFS limit of 15 billion gallons per year for conventional ethanol.”
The Renewable Fuels Association disagrees. “The tax incentive has been instrumental in helping to build a renewable fuels industry in this country. It should remain,” the organization responded in a statement. “As long as petroleum and fossil fuel companies that dominate the energy market continue to receive preferential tax treatment and hidden subsidies, incentives are needed to develop renewable alternatives such as ethanol.”
According to the Alexandria Times, about thirty gallons of ethanol was spilled on a concrete pade at the Norfolk Southern Corporation’s “transloading” facility this morning and the facility failed to notify the Alexandria Fire Department about the spill. 
Back in May, the EPA put out its proposal for the new Renewable Fuels Standard… aka RFS-2… that got a lot of people talking about what is in the new standard.
During this edition of the Domestic Fuel Cast, we get comments from National Biodiesel Board CEO Joe Jobe and Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen about the comments they have just submitted to the EPA.
The biggest sticking point is the Indirect Land Use issue, which could charge American renewable fuels makers, especially biodiesel producers, with greenhouse gas emissions for something going on in another part of the world. Plus, Jobe and Dinneen say there are some issues with the baseline numbers and assumptions the EPA is using.
In a 
The waste vegetable oil at a potato processing facility is now becoming the green fuel biodiesel, thanks to some new technology from a California maker of biodiesel refining equipment.
The 1 million-gallon-a-year, turnkey operation BioFuelBox modular unit can drop into any place that has a ready supply of biodiesel feedstock. Look for it to become a standard fixture at other places that have lots of grease or oil outputs, giving those places some high-quality biodiesel that they can either use themselves or sell to add value to their products.
Going to the ballpark, whether its a football field or a baseball diamond, fans are used to seeing plenty of green grass (well, unless you’re a Boise State fan!). But more and more teams are also going green when it comes to the fuel they use in those stadiums.
Backers of weaning the U.S. off of non-renewable, foreign petroleum are giving mixed reviews to the latest climate bill introduced today in the U.S. Senate.
“As I have stated many times before, I want to support legislation that addresses climate change and provides a more secure energy future for America. Unfortunately, the legislation introduced today by Senators Boxer and Kerry follows the House-passed bill down the path of higher energy costs, job losses and economic pain for no benefit. Further, it would only hurt farmers, ranchers and forest landowners and provide them no opportunity to recoup the higher costs they will pay for energy and the other inputs necessary to work the land. I cannot support this bill.”
Two more Iowa schools will be the benefactors of Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) grants aimed at educating communities about biodiesel and incorporating biodiesel and renewable fuels into school programming.