RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.McCarthy defends EPA on WOTUS, renewable fuels, pesticides
By Stephen Davies, Agri-Pulse Communications.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 11, 2016 - EPA chief Gina McCarthy put up a stout defense at a House Agriculture Committee hearing today to charges that her agency is out of touch with the farming community, stating that she works closely with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and has “great respect” for USDA.
As she has at other congressional hearings, McCarthy heard from lawmakers who accused EPA of “regulatory arrogance.”
Chairman Mike Conaway, R-Texas, stressed that he would like to see EPA consult with USDA.
High court emissions ruling won't deter clean energy drive
By Valerie Volcovici and Scott DiSavino, Reuters Business Insider.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. power sector's shift toward burning less coal and using more natural gas and renewable energy will not be derailed by the Supreme Court ruling against the Obama administration's limits on carbon emissions, state regulators and utilities said on Wednesday.
The U.S. Supreme Court decided 5-4 on Tuesday to block the Environmental Protection Agency’s carbon emissions crackdown on coal plants until a legal challenge is resolved.
Some states may now slow work on compliance with the EPA's Clean Power Plan. But some experts said they were confident the rule will survive the legal challenge when the D.C. circuit court makes a decision this summer.
UPS Expands Agreement for Renewable Liquefied Natural Gas in Texas
By GLOBE NEWSWIRE.
Feb. 10, 2016 - UPS today announced it has expanded its agreement with Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (NASDAQ: CLNE) to use up to 500,000 gallon equivalents of renewable liquefied natural gas (RLNG) annually in Texas. UPS stations in Houston and Mesquite will dispense the RLNG to a fleet of about 140 UPS tractors. The deal builds on UPS’s current agreement with Clean Energy Fuels whereby UPS is using approximately 1.5 million gallon equivalents of renewable compressed natural gas (RCNG) annually in California where UPS operates nearly 400 CNG vehicles.
“Renewable natural gas is helping us to meet growing customer demand while reducing our environmental impact,” said Mark Wallace, UPS senior vice president, global engineering and sustainability. “Today’s agreement demonstrates UPS’s commitment to develop alternative fuels and advanced technologies. By the end of 2017 we will have driven one billion miles with our alternative fuel and advanced technology fleet.”
Redeem® by Clean Energy is a renewable natural gas program that sources RNG, also known as biomethane, using a variety of methods. It can beused as CNG or LNG and is derived from many abundant and renewable sources, including decomposing organic waste in landfills, wastewater treatment and agriculture.
Los Angeles exercised options for an additional 350 CNG buses
By USGasVehicles.com.
February 12, 2016. New Flyer of America Inc., a subsidiary of New Flyer Industries Inc., the leading manufacturer of heavy-duty transit buses and motor coaches in the United States and Canada, announced that the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (LA Metro) has exercised options for 350 heavy-duty 40-foot compressed natural gas (CNG) buses.
Placing the Clean Power Plan in context
By Jonathan H. Adler, Washington Post.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued a stay blocking the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, a set of regulations controlling greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants under the Clean Air Act. Under the stay, the EPA cannot take actions to implement or enforce the CPP until pending legal challenges against the rule are resolved in the courts. These cases are currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
As a follow-up to last night’s post about the stay, this post is intended to provide more background on the underlying legal issues. One thing this post should make clear is that while the Supreme Court’s action is, in many respects, without precedent, so too is the CPP. It is not only the most ambitious climate-related initiative undertaken by the EPA, but it also relies upon unprecedented assertions of legal authority. And, to be clear, by “unprecedented” I mean just that — without precedent. This is not the same thing as saying that a specific argument or action is unlawful or wrong, only that it raises new legal questions that courts have not had cause to answer before.
Environmental groups call to remove wood-based biomass from EU Renewable Energy Directive
By Bioenergy Insight.
More than 110 environmental groups across the globe have signed a declaration demanding that bioenergy be excluded from the EU's next Renewable Energy Directive (RED).
The EU is considering renewal of the RED for 2020 onwards in a consultation which ended yesterday (10 February). A decision is expected by the end of the year.
The RED will determine Europe's path forward on meeting its carbon emissions reductions targets following the Paris agreement signed December 2015.
Report: Biomass, biogas, waste-to-energy add 224 MW of capacity in 2015
By Arlene Karidis, Waste Dive.
- The newly released Sustainable Energy in America Factbook, produced by the Business Council for Sustainable Energy and Bloomberg New Energy Finance, shows renewable energy trends — including biomass, biogas, and waste-to-energy — added 224 MW of capacity last year, up 15% from 2014.
- Capex for waste-to-energy and anaerobic digestion showed a slight decrease in 2015, however due to relatively few WTE projects under development at any given time, the costs of individual projects can significantly fluctuate these figures.
- There has been an increase in asset finance for new biomass, as well as an increase in capacity. Biogas capacity has been declining, despite that asset finance has rebounded, with low natural gas prices among main reasons. And more than half of renewable energy investments go to solar technologies, as reported in Biomass Magazine.
Long Beach to Power Vehicles with Renewable Natural Gas
By USGasVehicles.com.
February 3, 2016. Long Beach (California) officials announced Tuesday that roughly 18 percent of its vehicle fleet will switch to renewable fuels such as natural gas and renewable diesel.
“The shift to these renewable fuels is an important part of the city’s commitment to sustainability and greenhouse gas reductions,” Mayor Robert Garcia said in a written statement. “I’m proud that Long Beach has one of the greenest fleets in the United States.”
A total of 393 vehicles will now be powered by renewable fuels, out of 2.185 vehicles in the city’s total fleet.
Senate Energy Bill Shelved for Two Weeks While Democrats Focus on Flint Aid
By Mike DeBonis, Washington Post.
Congressional Democrats continued pressing for federal help for Flint, Mich., saying that $195 million in new state aid proposed Wednesday by Gov. Rick Snyder amounted to only a fraction of the resources necessary to rebuild the city’s poisoned water system and address the health of its residents.
Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), who represents the city of 100,000, said Wednesday he had “no confidence” in the ability of Snyder (R) to commit sufficient state resources and called on Congress to make an emergency appropriation of $765 million to be matched with state funds.
“It’s a situation that requires a response equal to the gravity of the problem,” he said. “The governor has been woefully delinquent in his responsibility to make it right for the people of Flint. … If the governor won’t correct the mistakes that he made, we’re going to have to do everything we can here at the federal level to get people in Flint the help that they deserve."
Senators: No deal yet on Flint aid, energy bill
By Timothy Cama, The Hill.
The leaders of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee said Monday that they still haven’t come to an agreement on an aid package for Flint, Mich.’s drinking water crisis.
Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said they worked throughout the weekend to come to a deal that both parties could support, which would allow passage of the broad energy reform bill the senators have been working on for more than a year.
"With our time on the Senate floor running short, we are working toward an agreement to allow our energy bill to move forward," Murkowski and Cantwell said in a joint statement. "At the same time, we are working to help advance a measure to address the Flint water crisis and hope that it will be brought up as soon as possible."
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