RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.EPA Considering Petitions to Change Renewable Fuel Standard Obligation
By Jack Fitzpatrick, Morning Consult.
Environmental Protection Agency Acting Assistant Administrator Janet McCabe told lawmakers Wednesday the agency is considering how it enforces the Renewable Fuel Standard, which requires renewable fuels to be blended into gasoline.
McCabe said in a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing the EPA has received several petitions calling for the agency to switch the burden of compliance off of refiners, adding that the possibility of changing the obligation is “very much on our minds.” McCabe said she didn’t have a timeframe for responding to the petitions but called it an “important issue to look at.”
Refiners have petitioned the EPA to change the point of obligation to blenders, or “the entity that holds title to the gasoline or diesel fuel, immediately prior to the sale from the bulk transfer/terminal system … to a wholesaler, retailer or ultimate consumer.”
Environmental groups unite to oppose energy bill
By Devin Henry, The Hill.
Nearly two dozen environmental groups on Wednesday urged senators not to work with the House on an energy policy reform bill this session.
In a letter to senators, 23 groups said the House-passed bill “undermines the progress our nation needs” on energy policy. They said the Senate should not vote to go to conference with the House so long as policies they oppose are included in the bill.
“The House-passed amendment would undoubtedly take our country down the wrong track and contains so many controversial and problematic provisions it is impossible to see how agreement could be found,” wrote the groups, a collection that includes the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, the League of Conservation Voters and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
New Holland unveil new methane powered tractor
By MJ Doran, Agriland.
UK and Irish farmers got a first-hand look at New Holland’s new methane powered T6.180 tractor at Cereals 2016.
James Ashworth, Marketing Manager for New Holland Agriculture UK and ROI said that this 2nd generation prototype would offer fuel cost savings of up to 20% and emit 80% less polluting emissions than a standard diesel tractor, making it more environmentally friendly
Farmers that attended the Cereals 2016 event on 15-16 June in Chrishall Grange, Nr Duxford, Cambridgeshire, got a first-hand look at the tractor.
EPA chief tangles with GOP on regulations
By Devin Henry, The Hill.
The top Republican on the House Science Committee sparred with the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday, criticizing the EPA's scientific work and accusing it of being “an agency in pursuit of a purely political agenda."
Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy got into a heated discussion about the agency’s rulemaking agenda and the science it uses to justify those rules during a Wednesday hearing.
The two tangled on the findings of a year-old federal report that concludes energy prices might go up as coal-fired power plants close under the Clean Power Plan, the EPA’s landmark climate rule for power plants.
EPA proposes CPP state renewable energy incentives despite SCOTUS freeze
By Robert Walton, Utility Dive.
Dive Brief:
- Federal regulators last week proposed more detail for a voluntary incentive program that is a part of the Clean Power Plan, moving to assist states with renewables and low-income efficiency measures despite the Supreme Court's decision to stay the climate change rule, the Hill reports.
- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Energy Incentive Program is designed to credit states for early CPP compliance action, and because it is voluntary, the government believes issuing proposed rules is consistent with a delay in the law's implementation.
- The proposed incentive program rules include clarifications about project eligibility, including expanding eligibility to solar energy project in low-income communities, and provide states with the flexibility to choose one or more existing definitions of low-income communities.
Scientists, advocates spar over role of biomass energy in climate change policies
By Robert Walton, Utility Dive.
Dive Brief:
- The Washington Post reports that appropriations bills for fiscal year 2017 being considered in the U.S. House and Senate could direct the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to consider biomass energy as carbon neutral, over the objections of some scientists who say it is no so clear-cut a distinction.
- While forests do store carbon over time, some scientists say their ability to act as a carbon sink takes place over years—while burning trees for energy releases the carbon all at once.
- Earlier this year, the Senate included a biomass amendment when it passed the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2016, directing the Environmental Protection Agency to develop policies considering biomass to be carbon neutral.
Tax-Writers Gear Up to Release Proposals; Senate Democrats Hope to Move Energy Tax Extenders
Legislative Activity
Coming Soon: The GOP’s Tax Reform “Blueprint”
With House Republicans expected to roll out their comprehensive tax “blueprint” this month – and lawmakers set to leave Washington on Friday, June 24 – it is likely that we will see the proposal released this week. The “blueprint,” however, it is quite possible that the final product may not contain many substantive details (though perhaps more detail will be included on the corporate and international tax portions); instead, it will likely serve more as a messaging piece for Republicans’ tax priorities in the 115th Congress. In speaking about what to expect, House Ways and Means Committee member Kenny Marchant (R-TX) noted that he hopes not to “alarm people” by how “radically [we’ve] lowered the rate, and change[d] the revenue side of [things] – how many deductions have to go away to get to that result.”
As for Senate Republicans, we may also soon see Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch’s (R-UT) “corporate integration” proposal, which is expected to seek to provide a dividends-paid deduction to corporations in an effort to end the double taxation of corporate income. Senator Hatch had previously indicated his proposal would be released sometime in June once it receives a score from the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT). The Senate will be in session next week while the House is on recess, which may be a particularly opportune time for Senator Hatch to finally unveil his proposal.
GOP panel to question McCarthy on scientific basis for rules
By Amanda Reilly, E&E Publishing.
In what's likely to be a contentious matchup, U.S. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy this week will face congressional critics over her agency's use of science.
The hearing Wednesday in the House Science, Space and Technology Committee could cover a broad range of topics, as GOP critics on the committee have expressed concerns about the scientific underpinning of a number of agency rules.
"The purpose of this hearing is to examine the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) recent regulatory agenda, the scientific and technical justification for these regulations, and these regulations' impacts on the American people," a Science Committee spokesperson said Friday.
Report: Global bioenergy sector to grow at ‘steady pace’
By Bioenergy Insight.
The global bioenergy sector is growing at a steady pace, reveals the 3rd Global Bioenergy Statistics report by the World Bioenergy Association (WBA).
In the year 2013, global biomass supply increased to 57.7 exajoules (EJ), accounting for 10% of the global energy supply.
In terms of final energy consumption, the bioenergy use increased by 1.23 EJ – a modest increase of 0.05% over the past year – and the share of bioenergy in final energy was 13.9%.
The share of renewables was steady at 18.3%, with renewables contribution in electricity at 22%, and the slow pace of growth is unsettling, WBA says in the report.
Ambitious New York climate bill dies in Senate
By Argus.
Washington, 20 June — A bill to slash greenhouse gas emissions in New York, potentially by creating only the second economy-wide cap-and-trade program in the US, died in the state Senate without a vote.
The ambitious legislation, which did not advance out of committee, would have required the state to achieve zero emissions by 2050 and to get half of its electricity from renewables by 2030. It would have effectively put into law and expanded on proposals supported by governor Andrew Cuomo (D).
The Assembly, which Democrats lead, had approved the bill, A10342 , earlier this month by a 96-43 vote. Environmentalists said the bill also had enough support to pass the Republican-controlled Senate, but it was not called up for a vote before the legislature ended its session over the weekend
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