RNG NEWS
DMT to supply desulfurization process to California AD facility
By Erin Voegele, Biomass Magazine.
DMT Clear Gas Solutions recently announced that Calgren Dairy Fuels LLC is going to install DMT’s desulfurization technology, Sulfurex BR. The anaerobic digestion (AD) facility is located adjacent to Calgren Renewable Fuels LLC, a 55 MMgy ethanol plant located in Pixley, California. The AD facility provides heat and power to the ethanol plant.
New technologies & cheaper costs are needed to reach the 100 percent goals for Hawaii and California
By Anne C. Mulkern, ClimateWire, via Scientific American.
California Democratic leaders want their state to commit to a future of 100 percent renewable electricity, a goal approved so far by only one U.S. state—Hawaii.
Top officials in both places hope their policies will serve as a model for others as the Trump administration rejects actions on climate change.
California and Hawaii offer very different models for committing their power sectors to clean electricity. They differ on everything from mandate deadlines to what's considered renewable.
By Anne C. Mulkern, ClimateWire, via Scientific American.
California Democratic leaders want their state to commit to a future of 100 percent renewable electricity, a goal approved so far by only one U.S. state—Hawaii.
Top officials in both places hope their policies will serve as a model for others as the Trump administration rejects actions on climate change.
California and Hawaii offer very different models for committing their power sectors to clean electricity. They differ on everything from mandate deadlines to what's considered renewable.
"For the country as a whole it shows the laboratory effect of having states take the lead on this issue," said Ethan Elkind, director of the climate program at the University of California, Berkeley, Center for Law, Energy & the Environment. "As Hawaii and California take the lead, it will provide examples of how it can be done for other states, both good and bad."
Hawaii passed its 100 percent renewable electricity mandate with a 2045 target two years ago. The Aloha State at the time had no blueprint for how to make it happen. Much of it remains in the planning stage, though leaders argue it's achievable.
"We are ahead of schedule on our path to 100 percent renewable energy goal," Hawaii Gov. David Ige (D) said at a clean energy summit this summer. "We are making significant progress toward getting off of fossil fuel and into clean energy, more aggressively than any other community in the United States."
In California, legislation offered by state Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin de León (D) provides a two-tiered approach to hitting the 100 percent mark. S.B. 100 mandates that utilities make 60 percent of their energy from renewables by 2030.
California's 100% clean power proposal moves forward in Sacramento
By Chris Megerian, Los Angeles Times.
Sept. 1 - California lawmakers advanced legislation on Friday to phase out fossil fuels for generating electricity.
The measure, SB 100 from Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles), was approved by the Assembly Appropriations Committee. If passed by the full Assembly in the coming weeks, it can be sent to Gov. Jerry Brown's desk.
The legislation would accelerate the state's adoption of renewable energy, requiring utilities and other electricity providers to obtain 60% of their power from sources like the sun and the wind by 2030. Then it would task regulators with ensuring the final 40% doesn't come from fossil fuels by 2045.
Carbon Negative Anaerobic Digestion Biogas Upgrading Plant Opened in Italy
By Ben Messenger, Waste Management World.
Milan, Italy based Tecno Project Industriale has completed a new anaerobic digestion waste treatment plant for the production of biomethane and carbon dioxide.
According to the company, the biogas plant is the first in Italy capable of producing biomethane and carbon dioxide exclusively from the treatment of the organic fraction of municipal solid wastes (OFMSW).
The company, a part of the SIAD Group, said that the biogas upgrading technology breaks down the biogas into its two main components: carbon dioxide (about 40%) and methane (about 60%).
EPA now requires political aide’s sign-off for agency awards, grant applications
By Juliet Eilperin, The Washington Post.
The Environmental Protection Agency has taken the unusual step of putting a political operative in charge of vetting the hundreds of millions of dollars in grants the EPA distributes annually, assigning final funding decisions to a former Trump campaign aide with little environmental policy experience.
In this role, John Konkus reviews every award the agency gives out, along with every grant solicitation before it is issued. According to both career and political employees, Konkus has told staff that he is on the lookout for “the double C-word” — climate change — and repeatedly has instructed grant officers to eliminate references to the subject in solicitations.
By Juliet Eilperin, The Washington Post.
The Environmental Protection Agency has taken the unusual step of putting a political operative in charge of vetting the hundreds of millions of dollars in grants the EPA distributes annually, assigning final funding decisions to a former Trump campaign aide with little environmental policy experience.
In this role, John Konkus reviews every award the agency gives out, along with every grant solicitation before it is issued. According to both career and political employees, Konkus has told staff that he is on the lookout for “the double C-word” — climate change — and repeatedly has instructed grant officers to eliminate references to the subject in solicitations.
Konkus, who officially works in the EPA’s public affairs office, has canceled close to $2 million competitively awarded to universities and nonprofit organizations. Although his review has primarily affected Obama administration priorities, it is the heavily Republican state of Alaska that has undergone the most scrutiny so far.
EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman said that grant decisions “are to ensure funding is in line with the Agency’s mission and policy priorities,” with the number of awards denied amounting to just 1 percent of those made since EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt took office. “We review grants to see if they are providing tangible results to the American people,” she said in an email.
Opinion: GOP considering a half-trillion-dollar tax-reform trick involving tax extenders
By Maya MacGuineas, The Hill.
Washington has a history of budgetary magic tricks — move money around enough, borrow from this to pay that, and it is hard to keep track of spending and easy to claim fiscal victory. Accounting gimmicks have put bottom lines in-line on paper for decades, all while creating huge and damaging deficits.
Tax reform may turn out to be no different.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have said tax reform should be revenue-neutral, meaning the plan raises as much money as the current tax code.
By Maya MacGuineas, The Hill.
Washington has a history of budgetary magic tricks — move money around enough, borrow from this to pay that, and it is hard to keep track of spending and easy to claim fiscal victory. Accounting gimmicks have put bottom lines in-line on paper for decades, all while creating huge and damaging deficits.
Tax reform may turn out to be no different.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have said tax reform should be revenue-neutral, meaning the plan raises as much money as the current tax code.
As a strong proponent of pro-growth tax reform, I would completely agree. With debt at near record levels, now is not the time to be adding to it.
Revenue neutrality is more than a preference — budget reconciliation rules that allow a plan to pass with a simple majority in the Senate also require it. No plan can add to the debt outside the 10-year budget window under the rules.
But as is so often the case with budgeting, it all comes down to the baseline, and for tax reform to be revenue neutral, the first question is: compared to what?
Ethanol Industry Joins the RNG Industry in Calling for a Forward Looking 2018 RVO
By Erin Voegele, Ethanol Producer Magazine.
The comment period on the U.S. EPA’s proposed rule to set 2018 renewable volume obligations (RVOs) under the Renewable Fuel Standard, along with the 2019 RVO for biomass-based diesel, closed at midnight Aug. 31. More than 44,000 comments were filed on the proposal. The agency will now review those comments as part of its effort to finalize the proposal. Under statute, the EPA is required to issue a final rule setting 2018 RVOs by Nov. 30.
The proposed rule calls for 19.24 billion gallons of total renewable fuel, including 238 million gallons of cellulosic biofuel, 2.1 billion gallons of biomass-based diesel and 4.24 billion gallons of advanced biofuel. The 2.1 billion gallon biomass-based diesel requirement for 2018 was finalized last year. For 2019, the new proposal calls for the biomass-based diesel RVO to be maintained at 2.1 billion gallons.
Industry associations advocate for RNG in feedback to EPA's proposed RFS rule
By Kristin Musulin, Waste Dive.
Dive Brief:
- The Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas (RNG Coalition), Energy Vision, the National Waste and Recycling Association (NWRA), Natural Gas Vehicles for America (NGVAmerica), and the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) filed joint public comments to the EPA to advocate for RNG under the proposed Renewable Fuel Volume Standard rule, according to an emailed press statement.
- The comments ask that the EPA set a final 2018 Renewable Volume Obligation that reflects "market reality" and considers all available RIN generation data including fuel from 32 projects scheduled to come online by end of 2018.
- This is the second letter filed to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in the last 10 days from waste industry-related groups calling on the EPA to amend the proposed rules.
Proposed Change to RVO Calculation Concerns RNG Industry
By Arlene Karidis, Waste 360.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a change in how it calculates the renewable volume obligation (RVO) as it pertains to cellulosic fuel. And many investors in renewable natural gas (RNG) worry that if it passes as it is, it would create an oversupply of product and could disincentivize RNG use for transportation.
By Arlene Karidis, Waste 360.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a change in how it calculates the renewable volume obligation (RVO) as it pertains to cellulosic fuel. And many investors in renewable natural gas (RNG) worry that if it passes as it is, it would create an oversupply of product and could disincentivize RNG use for transportation.
The RVO is an assessment, in the form of a draft rule, to set biofuel volumes that parties must purchase for compliance with the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which mandates that a percentage of annual fuel consumption come from renewable fuels, advanced biofuels, and cellulosic biofuels. The latter is a subset of advanced biofuel with the most stringent requirements; it must achieve at least 60 percent greenhouse gas emission reduction.
Cellulosic fuel’s inclusion in the RFS has sparked more projects and driven growth of this commodity.
The proposed change would mean beginning Nov. 30, 2017, gas production data from 2016 would be compared to 2017 data to develop growth rate percentage.
Icahn Says he Will Continue Biofuels Fight Concerning Point of Obligation
By Mario Parker & Jennifer Dlouhy, Bloomberg.
Billionaire Carl Icahn says an oil industry push for structural changes to the U.S. biofuels mandate will persist, even if the Environmental Protection Agency rebuffs requests from refiners to relieve them of the regulatory burden.
Icahn’s remarks came as convenience store owners took the fight to federal court and mark the investor’s first public comments since an Aug. 18 open letter announcing his departure as a special regulatory adviser to President Donald Trump.
By Mario Parker & Jennifer Dlouhy, Bloomberg.
Billionaire Carl Icahn says an oil industry push for structural changes to the U.S. biofuels mandate will persist, even if the Environmental Protection Agency rebuffs requests from refiners to relieve them of the regulatory burden.
Icahn’s remarks came as convenience store owners took the fight to federal court and mark the investor’s first public comments since an Aug. 18 open letter announcing his departure as a special regulatory adviser to President Donald Trump.
Independent oil refiners are convinced the design of the Renewable Fuel Standard program is flawed and have a number of tools to pursue changes, including litigation, Icahn said.
That includes a lawsuit filed Tuesday by the Small Retailers Coalition, a trade group representing about 200 convenience store owners and independent fuel retailers. The group is challenging the EPA’s latest slate of annual biofuel quotas, arguing the requirements give an advantage to big refiners and truck stops at their expense.