House Approves $18 billion in Taxes on Big Oil to Help Renewables

John Davis

uscapitol.jpgThe U.S House today approved $18 billion in new taxes on the oil companies that will fund incentives for renewable energy.

Bloomberg.com reports that the vote comes as crude oil prices topped $100 a barrel and will send the bill to the Senate, where similar measures have faced stiff opposition in the past:

The $18.1 billion measure, versions of which have been rejected twice by the Senate, would remove a $13.6 billion tax credit from the world’s five biggest public oil companies, and impose a $4.5 billion tax on oil and gas companies operating abroad. Money from the policy changes would promote wind and solar power and offer incentives for energy savings technology.

The 236-182 vote comes a day after the price of oil closed at a record $100.88 and during a week when the Energy Department reported that the price of average retail regular unleaded gasoline climbed almost 9 cents to $3.13 a gallon. The White House again threatened to veto the measure yesterday.

“We have seen no indication that Republican opposition to the oil and natural gas tax hikes have abated, making the offsets the Democrats seek for the renewable programs the albatross on the bill,” said Christine Tezak, an analyst for Stanford Group Co. in a Feb. 22 report.

Last December, a $13 billion energy tax measure fell just one vote short of the 60 needed in the Senate to invoke cloture and allow the bill come to a binding vote. The failure came after President George W. Bush threatened to veto an energy bill with the taxes. Backers hope the higher oil prices will help the measure survive better this time.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News

Central Florida Buses to Run on Own Biodiesel

John Davis

lynxbus.jpgBuses in Central Florida will soon be running on a blend of their own biodiesel… a first in the country for any bus fleet.

According to this story in the Orlando Sentinel, a $2.5 million state grant is helping Lynx, Central Florida’s bus system, convert all 290 of its buses and four support vehicles to run on biodiesel in 2009:

It also will allow the agency to run a blending station that will serve the diesel fleets of Orange County and Orlando Utilities Commission. That partnership between agencies will be a national first, Lynx officials said.

“It’s what we want to do to do our part in the community,” said Lisa Darnall, chief operating officer for the bus agency.

The blending process, scheduled to start in early 2009, will produce a fuel that is 80 percent petroleum-based diesel and 20 percent from plant-derived oils. As a result, the three agencies will use 1.2 million gallons less of regular diesel annually.

About 800,000 of those diesel gallons would have been burned by Lynx, which operates mainly in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties with some service to Lake, Volusia and Polk.

Using less petroleum by burning the biodiesel in the tourist area’s buses will help Florida reach Gov. Charlie Crist’s goal of reducing production of greenhouse gases by government groups by 10 percent by 2012, as well as helping the county hit its goal of cutting fossil fuel use by 20 percent by 2010.

Biodiesel

Biofuels Focus at Classic

Cindy Zimmerman

The 2008 Commodity Classic is getting underway here in Nashville at the Opryland.

Farm Bill and biofuels are the main topics of discussion at this meeting of corn, soybean and wheat growers. Today is mainly commodity group delegate meetings and tours for those not involved in the business sessions. Activities really get rolling Thursday afternoon with the opening of the huge trade show.

After Friday’s general session, John Deere will be holding a Learning Center on “Starch and Cellulose as Ethanol Feedstocks.” The session includes “a realistic timetable for cellulosic development and the importance of starch as today’s primary ethanol feedstock.” Should be a popular and interesting session.

There will also be a Learning Center on Wind Energy as Another Cash Crop, sponsored by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Domestic Fuel coverage of the 2008 Commodity Classic
is sponsored by: John Deere

2008 Commodity Classic Photo Album

Commodity Classic, corn, Ethanol, John Deere, News, Wind

Getting More Washington Perspective

Chuck Zimmerman

Tom DorrOur Undersecretary for Rural Development, Tom Dorr, was first up on the program here this morning at the National Ethanol Conference to speak about the farm bill and focus on renewable fuel policies and provisions.

He says the ethanol industry is going through some growing pains, or put another way, transitional challenges. He’s convinced these will be overcome. Like many of the speakers here he talked about the attacks on ethanol, especially of late, in terms of sustainability. He said that some of the same regulatory rhetoric being discussed in Europe in regards to biofuels is creeping up in the debate in Washington, DC. He pointed out that farmers have long been working on sustainability and the facts show that they’re increasing yields while reducing inputs.

You can hear most of Dorr’s speech here (I missed the very beginning): [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/rfa/nec-08-dorr-1.mp3]

National Ethanol Conference Photo Album

Audio, Ethanol, Government, National Ethanol Conference, News

$2.5 Million Grant Goes to Florida Wind Project

John Davis

fpl_logo.gifFlorida Power and Light has picked up a $2.5 million state grant to help build a major wind power plant.

This story on TCPalm.com has more details:

FPL wants to place six turbines on its own land at the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant and three on state owned land managed by the county at Blind Creek Park. The FPL Project, called “St. Lucie Wind” in the grant paperwork, was one of eight projects out of 139 proposals to get money from the state Department of Environmental Protection.

“We applaud Gov. (Charlie) Crist and the state of Florida for their commitment to addressing the important challenge of developing new renewable energy sources,” said FPL spokeswoman Amy Brunjes in a statement. “Irrespective of the specifics regarding any particular project, we know that many renewable energy projects will be needed to achieve our goals as a state.”

The $2.5 million award was the maximum amount possible through the Renewable Energy Technologies Grant Program, designed to encourage renewable energy projects involving solar, hydrogen, wind and other technologies. The wind turbine project is estimated to cost about $60.8 million.

Wind

California Working on Biofuel Access

John Davis

caflag.gifWhile California leads the nation in alternative fuel stations, pumps offering E85 ethanol and biodiesel are still extremely rare.

In fact, this Los Angeles Times story posted on Checkbiotech.org says that out of the 835 alternative fuel stations, 379 offer electricity, 215 pump liquefied petroleum gas, and 174 dispense compressed natural gas… with just a handful offering biodiesel or E85. But that could change:

Now, however, California has adopted ambitious new goals for alternative fuels and cutting greenhouse gas emissions – and it can no longer afford to leave the public out of the mix.For starters, the state is going to increase the use of ethanol as a fuel additive to all gasoline sold here.

For years, California’s gasoline has contained 5.7% ethanol to boost octane and comply with federal emissions rules; starting in 2010, that will rise to 10% ethanol. For a state that consumes about 43 million gallons of gas each day, that change alone represents a huge jump in ethanol consumption.

Meanwhile, biodiesel backers have helped build a statewide roster of more than 50 sites that offer the fuel, with many selling to the public and offering blends ranging from B10 (10% biodiesel and 90% petroleum diesel) to B99, a nearly pure biodiesel fuel.

New state and federal grants will help add E85 sites. In May, the state air board set aside millions to help set up 34 public E85 stations. Most are planned for the Sacramento area, but new sites will also open in the coming weeks in Carlsbad and Oceanside in San Diego County. Separate grants will fund new E85 sites elsewhere later this year.

But getting commercial stations on board might be a little tougher. The article says it costs about $50,000 to add E85 pumps. In addition, the big oil companies, which own most of the commercial outlets, are not warm to allow alternatives to petroleum to be sold at their stations.

GM, which has sold the largest number of the six million E85 vehicles on the road in the country today, is trying to help pump up the use of E85 by underwriting events such as selling E85 for just 85 cents a gallon in an effort to get more people to use the greener fuel.

Biodiesel, E85, Ethanol, News

London Biofuels Conference Set

John Davis

bioconflondon.jpgGovernment to Greenpeace will be taking part in the Biofuels Conference at the end of April in London, England.

The one-day conference is scheduled for April 29th and is being billed as the “must attend” event of 2008:

Moderated by Sarah Montague of Radio 4, this high quality debate will outline the challenges of biofuel production and highlight possible future solutions.

Leading biofuel producers will be joined by farming groups and other organisations including Greenpeace to discuss these questions & to take questions from the floor.

What are the Government’s plans for reducing the UK’s Carbon footprint?

Jim Fitzpatrick, MP, will be laying out the Government’s vision for biofuels and the low carbon economy.

In addition, various feedstocks for biofuels, including algae, waste and landfill gas will be discussed.

If you register by Friday, February 29th, you’ll save nearly $200 off the approximately $900 registration fee.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News

Shannon Brown Performs at National Ethanol Conference

Chuck Zimmerman

Shannon BrownThe National Ethanol Conference got a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll tonight and a whole lot of corn fed. I don’t know about you but I love being corn fed and I love Shannon Brown’s song. I got to meet her this afternoon here at the National Ethanol Conference and she and her band performed an awesome show.

I asked her about the song and how it all came about and what she thinks of the ethanol business that she’s been involved in through her sponsorship by VeraSun Energy.

Shannon says the song reflects the fact that she’s a corn fed Iowa girl and the song signifies who she is and where she comes from. She says that working with VeraSun has been an eye opener and she’s fully behind the mission of the ethanol industry. She says consumers should definitely feel comfortable putting it in their car.

You can hear my interview with Shannon here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/rfa/nec-08-brown.mp3]

And if you’d like to hear how this song sounded on stage then you can also do so here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/rfa/nec-08-corn-fed.mp3]

National Ethanol Conference Photo Album

Audio, Ethanol, National Ethanol Conference, News

Andy Karsner Speech

Chuck Zimmerman

Andy KarsnerBob Dinneen, RFA President, isn’t the only one to preach a powerful sermon here at the National Ethanol Conference. I was very surprised and pleased to hear Andy Karsner, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, speak at today’s luncheon. He gave a very passionate speech that you would really enjoy listening to. That’s why I decided to post a link to the full speech below for you. I know it’s a little long but you can listen to as little or as much as you’d like this way.

I think he went to great lengths to talk about the mis-information filtering out to the public about renewable fuel sources. In fact, as so many of you know, it’s hard to believe how much of it is out there. So he addressed those problems head on with good scientific information.

He tells a very moving story about how much he travels for his present position and how that has affected his family and young children. He says that even though it’s difficult, it’s minor compared to what our military men and women are doing to fight the war on terror overseas. He says it’s the least we can do to do our part here at home which includes developing sources of energy that make us more independent of those countries that would do us harm.

Another message that came through loud and clear was his idea that the solutions to our energy needs are something that will be done by not just the government but by private industry and government working together.

You can listen to Andy Karsner’s speech here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/rfa/nec-08-karsner.mp3]

National Ethanol Conference Photo Album

Audio, Energy, Ethanol, Government, National Ethanol Conference, News

Ethanol Industry is Sound

Chuck Zimmerman

Bob DinneenThe Reverend of Renewable Fuels got up and preached a powerful sermon today on the state of the ethanol industry. Bob Dinneen, President of the Renewable Fuels Association, gave his annual state of the industry speech this morning.

Speaking before more than 2,200 attendees at the 13th Annual National Ethanol Conference in Orlando, Florida, he declared that the state of the U.S. ethanol industry is sound:

“With your continued commitment, I can report to you without exaggeration or hyperbole that the state of the U.S. ethanol industry is sound, that we are prepared to meet the opponents of change with facts, with a resolute spirit, and with renewed dedication to the proposition that together we can change our nation’s energy, economic and environmental destiny.”

The complete text of Dinneen’s State of the Ethanol Industry Address can be found here (pdf).

You can listen Bob’s speech here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/rfa/nec-08-dinneen-speech.mp3]

National Ethanol Conference Photo Album

Audio, Ethanol, National Ethanol Conference, News