RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.Michigan Senate passes sweeping energy overhaul, 15% renewables mandate
By Jonathan Oosting, Detroit News Lansing Bureau.
Lansing – The Michigan Senate approved Thursday a sweeping package to overhaul state energy policy and rules for electric providers, changes a sponsor said will “keep us in control of our own energy future” amid federal regulatory uncertainty.
The legislation, supported by major utilities, continues to face criticism. It has divided the business community because of proposal regulations for alternative suppliers that offer lower electricity rates to some companies and schools.
The package will “ensure the continued availability of clean, reliable and affordable energy for our citizens and businesses,” sponsoring Sen. Mike Nofs, R-Battle Creek said between the 26-10 and 26-11 votes.
Election result opens door for tax reform legislation
By Naomi Jagoda, The Hill.
Donald Trump’s election victory and the Republican success in holding the House and Senate have opened the door for tax legislation in 2017.
Next year, Republicans will control the White House and both houses of Congress for the first time since 2006. Lowering tax rates has long been a top priority for the GOP, raising anticipation that legislation could be moving early on in the next Congress.
Trump taps climate-change skeptic to oversee EPA transition
By Brady Dennis, The Washington Post.
President-elect Donald Trump has made no secret of his disdain for the Environmental Protection Agency, saying the regulations it has put out under President Obama are “a disgrace.” He has vowed to roll back Obama’s signature effort to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, known as the Clean Power Plan, and to scrap a litany of other “unnecessary” rules, especially those imposed on the oil, gas and coal sectors.
The man planning how a Trump administration can obliterate Obama’s environmental legacy is Myron Ebell, a Washington fixture who has long been a cheerful warrior against what he sees as an alarmist, overzealous environmental movement that has used global warming as a pretext for expanding government. Ebell has argued for opening up more federal lands for logging, oil and gas exploration and coal mining, and for turning over more permitting authority to the states. And he has urged the Senate to vote to reject an international climate accord signed last year in Paris.
Crapo, Brady Will Handle Trump’s Tax, Finance Agenda
By Ryan Rainey, Morning Consult.
Donald Trump has promised a “massive tax reduction” for middle-income Americans, a child care tax benefit, a reduction in the corporate tax rate to 15 percent, and an end to “special interest loopholes.” He has also promised a moratorium on federal regulations that most observers say is leveled squarely at the Dodd-Frank banking law.
The Republican-controlled Senate and the House in the next Congress will have to navigate those proposals. But key leaders on these issues, such as House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), are expected to remain at the helm of some of Congress’ most powerful committees.
One notable change will come to the Senate Banking Committee, where Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) is expected to succeed Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) as the panel’s chairman.
Washington voters reject carbon tax
By King Staff and Associated Press.
Washington voters rejected what would have been the nation's first direct carbon tax on the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and gasoline.
With a total of 1,914,833 votes counted Wednesday afternoon, 59 percent of voters rejected Initiative 732.
I-732 would have encouraged businesses to conserve or switch to clean energy by making fossil fuels more expensive, and make the tax system fairer by using the revenues to reduce other taxes, supporters said.
CLEAN POWER PLAN: Rule's demise looms, but how Trump will ax it remains unclear
By Amanda Reilly, E&E News.
The Obama administration's carbon rules for power plants are in dire straits after last night's election of Republican businessman Donald Trump as president.
The Clean Power Plan is "in critical condition," said Michael Gerrard, faculty director of Columbia University's Sabin Center for Climate Change Law.
But how, exactly, the Trump administration could go about eliminating the Clean Power Plan is still very much linked to litigation that is pending in federal court, legal experts said today.
AmpCNG to build public-access fueling station in Buda, Texas to serve US Foods
By Fleets & Fuels.
AmpCNG is announcing today a new public-access compressed natural gas fueling agreement with US Foods. “Under the deal, AmpCNG will build a public-access fueling station in Buda, Texas to serve US Foods, the station’s anchor tenant,” states a release.
The station adjacent to the US Foods distribution center on Turnersville Road is to have two dual-hose dispensers serving two lanes. CNG fueling will be powered by twin 200-horsepower GE Gemini compressors, packaged by CDW, yielding about 1,400 scfm/standard cubic feet per minute.
Target fill rate is 10 to 12 DGE/diesel gallon equivalents per minute, says AmpCNG CEO Grant Zimmerman.
US elections: what Trump’s victory means for the bioeconomy
By Jim Lane, Biofuels Digest.
In Washington, Donald Trump captured the US Presidency in an upset victory that confounded pollsters and political pundits even as it delighted supporters of his maverick candidacy based on themes of immigration and trade reform coupled with a message that government policies of the past generation had failed for too many Americans.
An unexpected series of wins across US Midwestern states – capturing Iowa, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Ohio which had gone for Obama in 2012 – provided a comfortable margin of victory in the Electoral College and the popular vote.
5 Themes
Some immediate themes emerge for the global bioeconomy as the US turns now from its lengthy election process to the transition period between Administrations.
How will a Trump Presidency impact California's Policies?
By CALmatters.
As a state bluer than Lake Tahoe in sunlight, California has adopted a slew of progressive policies that drive Donald Trump nuts. They combat climate change, protect undocumented immigrants, evangelize for Obamacare and more.
So this week—as candidate Trump morphed into President-elect Trump—uncertainty swept the state. While protesters hit the streets and the hashtag #Calexit spiked with residents semi-seriously advocating U.S. secession, policy-makers scrambled to identify state programs at risk in the coming Trump administration.
The Legislature’s top leaders, both Democrats, issued a rare joint statement promising to “maximize the time during the presidential transition to defend our accomplishments using every tool at our disposal.”
Biomass, biofuel groups hopeful Trump will support bioenergy
By Erin Voegele, Biomass Magazine.
On Nov. 8, the U.S. elected republican nominee Donald Trump to serve as its 45th president. Representatives of the biomass and biofuels industries are saying they look forward to working with the new administration and federal lawmakers to expand the production of bioenergy.
"This election was in part about boosting the economy and creating more jobs in rural America, places where a biomass facility makes a real impact,” said Bob Cleaves, president and CEO of the Biomass Power Association. “We are getting to work planning for a Trump Administration and the investments in rural communities and infrastructure that are likely to come with it. We look forward to continuing our work with our many congressional biomass supporters on both sides of the aisle."
The Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas has pointed out that because Trump has not held prior elected office and does not have a voting record, there is a justifiable degree of inquisitiveness about the future. The organization also noted the most highlighted issue on the campaign trail impacting the RNG industry was the renewable fuel standard (RFS), which Trump consistently supported.
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