Category: Policy
Midwest Aviation Sustainable Biofuels Initiative formed
Share In Illinois, United Airlines, Boeing, Honeywell’s UOP, the Chicago Department of Aviation and the Clean Energy Trust announced the formation of the Midwest Aviation Sustainable Biofuels Initiative (MASBI), designed to advance aviation biofuel development in a 12-state region holding significant promise for biomass feedstock, technology development, job creation and sustainable commercialization.
Chief of Naval Operations joins chorus of lawmakers, generals, admirals calling for US biofuels focus
Share In Washington, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jon Greenert, House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-WA), and Lieutenant General John Castellaw (USMC, ret.) joined the chorus of voices calling on the US Senate to support the Department of Defense’s energy innovation programs. Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Jonathan Greenert, writing Senator Mark [...]
Obama, G8 leaders issue Camp David declaration on short-term emissions
Share In Washington, President Obama announced that the G8 leaders have joined the new Climate and Clean Air Coalition for Reducing Short Lived Climate Pollutants. Short-lived climate pollutants include black carbon soot, methane, and hydrofluorocarbons, which are factory-made gases used in refrigeration and air conditioning and the fastest growing climate pollutant in the U.S. They [...]
National Biodiesel Board chairman testifies regarding Farm Bill
Share In Washington, Gary Haer, chairman of the National Biodiesel Board, testified at a House Agriculture hearing in favor of biofuels’ benefits for rural economies. The testimony, which urged the committee to include key programs like the Biodiesel Fuel Education Program and the Bioenergy Program for Advance Biofuels in the 2012 Farm Bill, estimated that [...]
Can plan based biofuels overcome sustainability concerns and enter US market?
Share In Washington, the Obama Administration will tussle shortly over the future of palm oil-based biofuels in the US. At issue: whether both direct and indirect land use change that is the result of palm’s expansion in Indonesia, should be enough to ban the otherwise climate-friendly feedstock from the US. Palm producers are on notice [...]
Storm breaks out over E15 ethanol engine test
Share What engines failed, and when and why. Was this test designed to fail? In Washington, the Coordinating Research Council, a non-profit research organization supported by the American Petroleum Institute and a group of automobile manufacturers, released a study that it said demonstrated the negative effects that blends of 15 and 20 percent ethanol in [...]
The USDA’s Regional Biofuels Rodmap: The Stakeholder responses
Share In Washington, the USDA has released its report on stakeholder responses looking at its Regional Biofuel Roadmap. During October and November 2010, the National Food and Agriculture Council conducted a series of workshops in 42 States and Puerto Rico and collected 57 reports of stakeholder answers to a common set of 16 questions. This [...]
US House reps question antibiotic use in ethanol production
Share In Washington, Representatives Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) have written to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ask hard questions about whether the agency is doing its job to protect the public in addressing the issue of antibiotic use in ethanol. Reps. Markey and Slaughter, in their letter to the [...]
Arizona passes key algal industry legislation: new algae hub?
Share In Arizona, legislation promoting the development of the algae industry has been passed in the House legislature after two bills were introduced in January by Rep. Matt Heinz (D-Tucson). The two bills will widen the tax definitions of agricultural property to include algaculture and add the growth and harvest of algae to the definition [...]
Canada awards $36M for biofuels, renewable chemicals, other innovative public-private partnerships
Share In Canada, The Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for Science and Technology announced that a total of 60 innovative partnerships between colleges and businesses will be provided more than $36 million over a period of up to five years through the College and Community Innovation (CCI) Program. The announcement includes 14 new Industrial [...]
