The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a final ruling that assures facilities producing ethanol for human consumption, industrial use or fuel are treated equally under Clean Air Act permitting requirements.
According to EPA officials, this final rule establishes the same emissions thresholds for new facilities that produce ethanol using a feedstock such as corn or sugar beets regardless of the product produced – 250 tons per year for the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permitting program. The thresholds for the nonattainment NSR and Title V programs will remain at current levels.
The final rule also will no longer require facilities producing ethanol for fuel or industrial purposes to count emissions of criteria pollutants that do not come from process stacks or vents when determining if they meet or exceed the emissions thresholds for the Clean Air Act operating permits, nonattainment NSR, or PSD programs.
Ethanol producers greeted the EPA decision enthusiastically. “This decision is a critical step forward for the ethanol industry and corn producers everywhere. The EPA’s decision fixes a fundamental regulatory unfairness and will allow for more efficient permitting of ethanol plants that will promote American energy independence,” said Bill Paulsen, President of the South Dakota Ethanol Producers, in a statement issued by Poet Energy of Sioux Falls, SD.
City buses in Victoria, British Columbia are now running on 5% biodiesel. The 
A new, hydrogen-powered bus has hit the streets of Hartford, Connecticut as a test of the technology that emits nothing but water vapor.
According to
The Andersons Marathon Ethanol LLC, a 50/50 joint venture between Marathon Oil Corporation and 
The president of oil-rich Venezuela is campaigning against President Bush’s plan to increase ethanol use in the United States, with the help of his close friend, Cuban President Fidel Castro.
Meanwhile, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega is also criticizing the Bush ethanol “fantasy campaign.” 
The first batch of biodiesel is expected to be ready in one week. Plant manager Russ Read said the production time will be cut to 12 hours once the testing phase is done. “We’ll be going at a slow speed and making sure all the pumps and level sensors work.”
When asked about the expected rule change during a press conference announcing the administration’s new Renewable Fuels Standard, administrator Stephen L. Johnson responded, “If you are using corn to produce alcohol for human consumption, you are under one air standard. If you are producing alcohol to be used as a fuel, there’s a different standard,” he said. “That doesn’t make sense. There should be a level playing field, a consistent approach, that is health protective and environmentally protective. And that’s what we are in the rule-making process of doing right now.”
It comes as no surprise that the 
At a press conference today, EPA Administrator Johnson, joined by Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator Nicole Nason, discussed the RFS program, increasing the use of alternative fuels and modernizing CAFÉ standards for cars.