RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.Toyota expected to detail plans to generate electricity from Landfill Gas
By Staff, The State Journal.
GEORGETOWN — Toyota Motor Manufacturing officials are expected to detail a partnership Monday with the Central Kentucky Landfill, they say will generate electricity from landfill gas beginning later this month.
The electricity generated will be enough to produce about 10,000 vehicles per year at the Georgetown manufacturing plant, according to reports from the automotive maker.
Republican lawmakers ask FERC to rethink PURPA
By Robert Walton, Utility Dive.
- Three Republican lawmakers have sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), asking the agency to schedule a technical conference to examine the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) of 1978 and to consider changes based on changes in the market in the last 40 years, Bloomberg reports.
- U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and U.S. Reps. Fred Upton (R-MI) and Ed Whitfield (R-KY) are the legislators calling for changes to PURPA, which mandates utilities purchase energy from small renewable sources.
- The lawmakers say the rule is no longer necessary after decades of market evolution and advancements in renewable energy, and could be costing consumers billions of dollars.
Ryder to fuel fleets with renewable natural gas
From Fleet Owner.
Ryder System and Clean Energy Fuels Corp. announced an agreement for Ryder to take the step in switching the fuel at its stations in Orange and Fontana, CA, to Clean Energy’s Redeem renewable natural gas (RNG).
The fuel at the two stations will be available in both compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) to individual and public fleet vehicles.
“Our decision to use 100% renewable natural gas is based upon our ongoing commitment to ensuring we are delivering solutions that help our customers reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Scott Perry, vice president of supply management and global fuel products, Ryder. “With Redeem we achieve that with a 100% renewable fuel.”
Stabenow Introduces Bill that Advances Tax Incentives for Producers of Renewable Chemicals
Via BusinessWire.
WASHINGTON - The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) today thanked Senators Stabenow (D-MI), Coons (D-DE) and Franken (D-MN) for introducing S. 2271, the Renewable Chemicals Act of 2015, a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide credits for the production of renewable chemicals and investments in renewable chemical production facilities.
S. 2271 would create a targeted, short-term tax credit of 15 cents per pound for production of eligible renewable chemicals from biomass feedstock. In lieu of the production tax credit, producers could elect to take a 30% investment tax credit for qualified investments for new renewable chemical production facilities. The companion bill in the House is H.R.3390.
Republicans Ask FERC to Reevaluate Renewable Energy-Enabling Law
By Brian Eckhouse, Bloomberg Business.
Three Republican lawmakers asked the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reevaluate a landmark 1978 law that helped promote wider use of energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Senator Lisa Murkowski and representatives Fred Upton and Ed Whitfield, who all lead energy committees or subcommittees, submitted a letter Nov. 6 asking FERC to hold a technical conference on the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act.
The law requires utilities to purchase power from renewable energy projects under some circumstances. The three legislators said that a policy drafted when clean-power technologies were still emerging may need to be revisited.
White House Science Adviser Says Natural Gas Is A Bridge To A Renewable Future
By Rupa Shenoy, WGBH News.
November 9 - Today, President Obama’s chief science adviser, John Holdren, is in town for several events, including a meeting with the Green Ribbon Commission created by Boston Mayor Menino to address climate change.
As nuclear and coal plants retire throughout New England, the natural gas industry is pushing for more pipelines to stabilize the energy supply, while environmental advocates argue against increasing dependence on fossil fuels that contribute to climate change.
Holdren is director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He says the priority should be placed on renewable energy sources like wind and solar. But he says those sources can’t meet demand overnight, so natural gas makes sense as a so-called “bridge” source of energy.
Rep. Donald Payne, Jr.: Don't weaken the RFS
By Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (R-N.J.), via The Hill.
For over a century, we have seen fossil fuels pollute our environment, damage our climate, and spew toxic chemicals into the air we breathe. Unfortunately, our most vulnerable communities are hit the hardest from this pollution. Poor air quality affects urban areas and communities of color disproportionately.
To combat the problem, Congress created America’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) in 2005. The RFS is Congress’s answer to lowering greenhouse gas emissions and expanding the nation’s renewable fuels sector while reducing reliance on imported oil. The RFS is the most successful law on the books that cuts greenhouse gas emissions and pollution. In fact, studies have shown that higher renewable fuel blends reduce asthma- and cancer-causing emissions by 6.6 percent compared to regular gasoline.
184 lawmakers want EPA to reduce 2016 biofuel mandate
By Kyle Feldscher, Washington Examiner.
Almost 200 House members want the Environmental Protection Agency to halt its plan to increase the amount of biofuels required in gasoline next year.
The 184 lawmakers from both parties sent a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy on Wednesday expressing their concern about the agency's plan to increase the Renewable Fuel Standard, which is the amount of biofuel that is added to gasoline.
Instead of requiring gasoline to contain a certain percentage of biofuel, the Renewable Fuel Standards requires a certain amount of biofuel to be added to gasoline every year. The standard would be increased to 36 billion gallons of biofuels added to the nation's gasoline supply by 2022.
Banks shift billions and billions into clean energy
By Barbara Grady, GreenBiz.
Follow the money, the advice goes, because the trail indicates where the future is headed.
The largest U.S. finance and banking companies lately are putting big money into renewable energy lending and investments — as highlighted by a Goldman Sachs announcement last week that it aims to triple its allocations to clean energy finance to $150 billion over the next 10 years.
That’s a lot of money. But the investment bank has company in Citi, which announced earlier this year a clean energy finance target of $100 billion in the next decade, and Bank of America, which plans to invest $125 billion over a decade "in low carbon business" — not to mention overseas banks that surveys find are even more active in this sector.
EPA’s Gina McCarthy Responds to Regulators’ Clean Power Plan Questions
By Gail Reitenbach, POWER Magazine.
Comments made at the annual meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) suggest that the regulatory group and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have been in regular dialog throughout the process of developing the Clean Power Plan (CPP), arguably the most complex environmental regulation affecting the power generation sector and electric utilities.
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy spoke today at the opening general session in Austin. In introducing her, NARUC President and Florida Commissioner Hon. Lisa Edgar said there had been “an unusual amount of outreach” from the EPA to regulators over recent agency regulations and the CPP in particular. The administrator followed up by saying that “NARUC has been a key partner of EPA’s . . . in a constructive way.”
McCarthy didn’t make news today with her comments, which largely noted the obvious—first, that publication of the final CPP in the Federal Register marked the “kickoff to litigation.” However, she said, “We’re really confident as we approach these legal challenges” because the rule, she said, is grounded in science and fact.
Don’t miss an update—join our weekly newsletter below.