RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.Tapping landfills to generate power is smart, but California's NOx and climate change rules are at odds
By Ralph Vartabedian, Los Angeles Times.
Tapping methane produced from decaying garbage in landfills to generate electricity was among California’s earliest experiments in renewable energy.
But in order to comply with a new regional rule to cut another pollutant — the one that often leaves Southern California blanketed in a layer of smog — a Riverside County landfill has decided to shut down its generators and will simply flare the methane, sending tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
US election: Trump outlines plan for first 100 days
By BBC News.
Donald Trump, lagging behind Hillary Clinton in polls, has outlined what he would do in his first 100 days were he to become US president.
With 17 days until the election, much of the recent focus has been on controversies linked to his campaign.
But in a speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, he sought to highlight changes he would introduce.
Among them were restrictions on lobbyists and a renegotiation on trade and climate change deals.
States Go Big on Renewables
By Martin Rosenberg, The Energy Times.
State legislatures around the country are dealing with a rising tide of proposed laws to buoy renewable energy deployments.
A total of 1,250 proposed renewable energy laws were considered last year and 185 of them were enacted in 42 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, according to a reportby the National Conference of State Legislatures.
That was up from 150 such laws passed in 2014. The increase comes while Republicans dominate many state legislatures.
Emails: Clinton team mulled stance on RFS; aimed to support advanced biofuels
By John Siciliano, Washington Examiner.
Hillary Clinton's campaign mulled supporting the elimination of the Environmental Protection Agency's renewable fuels program before a campaign tour through the corn state of Iowa last year, according to illegally obtained emails posted by the website WikiLeaks.
Senior campaign aides suggested in the April 2015 emails that coming out forcefully against the EPA would put her at odds with the Obama administration but would go "further" than any Democrat or Republican on the issue of EPA's Renewable Fuel Standard. Supporting the repeal of the standard, which requires certain amounts of ethanol and other biofuels be added into gasoline and diesel supplies, would put her at odds with many Midwest corn states and environmental groups that support the program.
"Many environmental groups see the RFS as a critical instrument in driving biodiesel and other advanced biofuels production," said senior campaign adviser Jake Sullivan in asking for feedback from campaign manager and campaign chairman Robby Mook and John Podesta, respectively. "Such a position would be surprising and clearly differentiated from other Democrats, the Obama administration, and a number of likely or announced Republican presidential contenders," Sullivan said.
Climate lessons from the Clinton campaign's hacked emails
By Elana Schor, Politico.
The WikiLeaks emails reveal a Hillary Clinton campaign team fixated on climate change — yet reluctant to make overly sweeping promises about what they’d do about it.
Campaign chairman John Podesta’s hacked inbox offers a veritable road map to the energy policy that Clinton would execute in the White House, as well as clear lessons to the environmental and industry groups that are getting ready to lobby her administration if she wins. And climate change and related issues feature prominently in the approximately 25,000 messages WikiLeaks has released so far from Podesta’s account.
California to spend $363 million to put more clean vehicles in disadvantaged communities
By Central Valley Business Times.
The California Air Resources Board has adopted a revised funding plan for money from the cap-and-trade tax program that could lead to more “clean” vehicles in disadvantaged communities.
Spending will include buying increased numbers of zero-emission heavy-duty trucks and buses as well as rebates for low- and zero-emission passenger vehicles.
"The investment of $360 million from our cap-and-trade program for these low-carbon transportation projects will continue to drive the market for new technologies, and put more ultra-clean and zero-emission trucks, buses and cars into the communities throughout California that need them the most," says CARB Chairman Mary Nichols.
NC again delays pig and poultry waste-to-energy goal
By John Murawski, News & Observer.
North Carolina, one of the nation’s leading agricultural producers, will once again fall short on a state mandate to generate electricity from hog waste and poultry droppings.
The N.C. Utilities Commission this week approved a one-year delay – the fifth such delay since 2012 – after Duke Energy and other power producers in the state said they will not be able to meet the goal.
North Carolina is the only state in the nation that requires electric companies to generate a portion of their power from hog sludge and poultry droppings. But the technology is not well-proven or economically viable, resulting in repeated requests for delays despite sluggish progress.
White House OMB reviews 2017 RFS rule
By Erin Voegele
On Oct. 19, the U.S. EPA delivered its proposed rule to set renewable fuel standard (RFS) volume standards for 2017 and biobased diesel standards for 2018 to the White House Office of Management and Budget. OBM review marks a final step before a final rule is issued.
The proposed rule was first issued by EPA on May 18. It aims to set RFS renewable volume obligations (RVOs) for 2017, along with the 2018 RVO for biomass-based diesel. In the proposed rule, the agency set the 2017 RVO for cellulosic biofuel at 312 million gallons, with the advanced biofuel RVO at 4 billion gallons and the RVO for total renewable fuel at 18.8 billion gallons. The 2018 RVO for biomass-based diesel has been proposed at 2.1 billion gallons.
Natural Gas Innovation Fund coming to Canada
Via Today's Trucking.
OTTAWA, ON — The Canadian Gas Association (CGA) says it’s creating a Natural Gas Innovation Fund to support avenues that research, demonstrate and deploy innovation in the natural gas value chain.
Hillary Clinton says 'clean energy economy' will create millions of jobs; can it?
By Heidi Garrett-Peltier, University of Massachusetts Amherst, via UPI.
Job growth is a prime topic in the U.S. presidential race, but Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have very different takes on the role clean energy could play in creating employment.
Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton says the United States can be the world's "clean energy superpower." Her plan, spelled out in detail online, would create millions of jobs and spur billions of dollars in public and private investment, while making infrastructure more resilient and lowering emissions.
Republican candidate Donald Trump says he's a "great believer in all forms of energy" but that the country's energy policies are a "disaster." In a 2015 interview with CNN, Trump said policies to support clean energy and reduce carbon emissions would "imperil jobs" and "the middle class and lower classes."
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