RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.Landfill Gas Project Financing Falls Through in Oregon's Deschutes County
By Ted Shorack, The Bulletin.
A landfill gas-to-liquid fuel energy project fell through last week after the company involved was unable to meet prescribed deadlines made by Deschutes County.
Waste to Energy Group LLC, the Irvine, California-based company proposing the project, repeatedly said it had trouble financing the estimated $20 million endeavor.
The county chose to terminate a contract with the company Tuesday. Negotiations between the county and Waste to Energy for the project began in 2011.
Breaking Down the GTL Project at an Oklahoma Landfill
By Megan Greenwalt, Waste 360.
Final contracts have been signed to bring a joint venture gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant to the Waste Management East Oak Landfill site in Oklahoma City, Okla. These last contracts will cover the installation of process modules, related piping and ancillary equipment, for ENVIA's Oklahoma City GTL plant.
ENVIA Energy is the joint venture, between Houston-based Waste Management, Ventech Engineers International LLC, and Velocys, formed in March 2014 to produce renewable fuels and chemicals from biogas and natural gas using GTL.
Ventech Engineers International LLC designs and fabricates process modules for the oil and gas industry, with more than 350 modules, encompassing 25 different hydrocarbon processes, built in Ventech's Pasadena, Texas fabrication facility. Velocys, commercially based in Houston, Texas, deals with smaller scale GTL that turns natural gas or biomass into premium products such as diesel, jet fuel, waxes and base oils.
RNG Big Seller For Clean Energy Fuels
By Richard Nemec, NGI's Daily Natural Gas Index.
Renewable natural gas (RNG) sales for Newport Beach, CA-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp. more than doubled last year as part of its fueling options in the natural gas vehicle (NGV) sector.
Branded as "Redeem," Clean Energy's RNG offering expanded beyond its California fueling outlets to ones in Oregon and Texas last year.
Clean Energy sold more than 50 million gasoline gallon equivalents (GGE) last year, compared to 20 million GGEs of Redeem in 2014, the company said on Thursday, noting some major fleet operators who are using the product in their NGVs, such as United Parcel Service (UPS), Santa Monica, CA's Big Blue bus system, and the University of California, San Diego, campus.
Canada, U.S., Mexico agree to 'continental approach' on clean energy
By Josh Elliott, CTVNews.ca.
Canada, the United States and Mexico agreed to greater clean energy co-operation in North America Friday, at a press conference interrupted by an anti-pipeline protester in Winnipeg.
Jim Carr, Canada's minister of natural resources, said Friday that the agreement "strengthens our collective energy security," while presenting "a bold vision for our continent."
The agreement will allow Canada, the U.S. and Mexico to work together on developing strategies to address low-carbon electricity, clean technologies, carbon capture, energy efficiency and oil and gas emissions.
Gov. Jerry Brown makes budget the latest battleground on climate change
By Christine Mai-Duc, Los Angeles Times.
Gov. Jerry Brown is looking to make good on a promise to curb California's petroleum use by shifting away from new legislation and instead tucking his fuel-reduction goal inside the state budget.
Oil companies spent millions of dollars in 2015 to strip a controversial climate change bill of its provision slashing petroleum use in half by 2030. At the conclusion of that bruising fight, a defiant Brown stood before reporters in the Capitol and declared war.
"Oil has won the skirmish. But they've lost the bigger battle," he said. "Because I am more determined than ever ... we're not going to miss a beat."
Energy bill passes Oregon House as bill readings delay Legislature
By Kristena Hansen, Associated Press, via The Statesman Journal.
When the Oregon Legislature began its whirlwind 35-day session two weeks ago, Republicans employed a rarely-used tool to stall the legislative process.
The issue centers around the fact that each bill is being read aloud in its entirety before lawmakers can cast votes, a constitutional requirement usually avoided on the first day of the session by a two-thirds vote in both chambers. But without support of the Republican minority, the bills are being read in full. The GOP is pushing the tactic because it is unhappy with the policy changes being proposed by Democrats.
That became problematic Monday when that tactic prompted House lawmakers to hold a marathon floor debate for more than six hours, forcing the delay and eventual rescheduling of several committee hearings and floor votes to the following day - costing time that is already limited for this year's jam-packed short session.
Oil group API sues U.S. EPA over biofuels policy
By Chris Prentice and Lisa Shumaker, Reuters.
NEW YORK - The American Petroleum Institute (API) has sued the U.S. environmental regulator over its plan for biofuels use, the group said on Thursday, on the heels of a similar lawsuit from another oil association.
API is challenging the Environmental Protection Agency's failure to meet deadlines for the 2014 and 2017 biomass-based diesel standards and for mandating more cellulosic ethanol in 2016 than exists, a spokesman for the group said in a statement.
The group is seeking review by a U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., according to a document filed on Thursday.
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.
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