The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed a nearly 9 percent increase in biofuels use this year under the federal Renewable Fuel Standard, launching an annual debate over the use of ethanol and other alternative fuels in cars and trucks.
The announcement of proposed targets by EPA opens a 45-day comment period. EPA also proposed changes to address fraud in the Renewable Identification Numbers system used by the biofuels industry and fuels marketers to show compliance with the RFS.
The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed a nearly 9 percent increase in the use of biofuels this year under the federal Renewable Fuel Standard.
The agency set an overall total of 16.55 billion gallons to be used in transportation, compared to 15.2 billion gallons last year. The 2013 target includes increases in the use of advanced biofuels, biomass-based diesel and cellulosic biofuels.
The American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday released oil industry-funded research that it said revealed potential auto damage from higher ethanol blends in gasoline.
Ethanol groups quickly criticized the findings as flawed and misleading, however, and contended the tests were devised to support the oil industry's opposition to the Renewable Fuel Standard.
A federal court on Friday granted a partial victory to opponents of the Renewable Fuel Standard by rejecting the Obama administration's 2012 cellulosic biofuels estimate.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency overestimated 2012 cellulosic biofuels output, sending the calculation back to the agency. It was unclear, however, how the order would affect refiners who must pay credits to the government based on the estimate, and how it would change EPA's estimate for 2013.
The Environmental Protection Agency reported that the biodiesel industry produced 1.1 billion gallons of fuel in 2012, a slight increase from 2011, FuelFix reports.
The U.S. Trade Representative's office expressed disappointment with a European Union proposal to levy duties on American ethanol imports to balance U.S. subsidies, Reuters reports.
Using a process called "cow power," some farms have transformed animal manure into clean-burning fuel to generate electricity, sometimes enough to power entire towns, The New York Daily News reports.
British researchers have found a gene in willows that causes trees that grow diagonally to produce up to five times as much biofuel as upward-growing trees. Such biofuel is used in the U.K. to power vehicles and provide heating, R&D reports.
Business and policy groups including the Business Roundtable and the Chamber of Commerce called on the Senate to approve the Shaheen-Portman energy efficiency bill, The Hill reports.
Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell told the Interior Department his administration is willing to invest up to $50 million in an assessment of oil reserves of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Bloomberg reports.
The Supreme Court declined to hear a case from an Alaskan village arguing it should be allowed to sue energy companies for climate change damages, Reuters reports.
Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee called on the EPA to suspend rulemaking for stormwater runoff until the agency opens the process to small businesses.
Six Western Senate Democrats called on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to strengthen Dodd-Frank regulations on energy markets, The Hill reports.
The United States and the European Union plan to negotiate settlements with China for the import of cheap Chines solar panels into Western markets, The New York Times reports.
A report from the Bipartisan Policy Center projected U.S. supplies of natural gas are abundant enough to export without spiking domestic prices, FuelFix reports.
