RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.Bipartisan Group of Farm State Senators tell EPA to Stop Giving Big Oil Refiners a Pass on Biofuels Rules
Bipartisan senators on Tuesday asked the EPA to stop issuing waivers that allow oil refiners to avoid obligations to blend biofuels into gasoline.
EPA has reportedly issued 25 of the "hardship" waivers, usually reserved for small, distressed refiners who cannot meet federal biofuel blending requirements.
The senators pressed EPA to provide justification for why the agency has allowed an unusual number of large, profitable refiners to sidestep the biofuels mandate.
By Tom DiChristopher, CNBC News.
RNG Bill Moves Forward in California
By NGT News.
April 17 - Today, the California Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications advanced a pro-renewable natural gas (RNG) bill sponsored by the Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas (RNG Coalition).
S.B.1440, introduced by State Sen. Ben Hueso, would create additional market certainty for projects that use the state’s food waste, agricultural waste, landfill gas and wastewater resources to create RNG. The bill would do so by establishing an RNG procurement program for California’s natural gas utilities, the coalition explains.
2018 Farm Bill would extend rural development grants, allocate $50 million annually to advanced biofuels
The House Committee on Agriculture recently released H.R. 2, the 2018 Farm Bill, which has the potential to affect organic waste policy in multiple areas.
The bill changes funding levels for some grants related to waste management programs in rural areas. It also appropriates funding for biorefining projects, and extends technical assistance programs for rural waste management programs by adding that such programs should "identify options to enhance long term sustainability of rural water and waste systems."
By Cody Boteler, Waste Dive.
Dairy Waste to RNG Facility Given the Green Light in Kern County, CA
The California Energy Commission (CEC) has given the green light to a facility that will turn biogas into renewable natural gas (RNG) for transportation.
At a meeting on April 11, the CEC approved a $3.05 million grant for California Bioenergy LLC to construct the facility. California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) findings showed that the company’s proposed Kern Dairy Cluster Biomethane Upgrading Facility Project “presents no new significant or substantially more severe environmental impacts beyond those already considered and mitigated,” according to the CEC.
By NGT News.
Sacramento, Calif., Anaerobic Digester Working to Overcome Challenges
Incline Clean Energy is working to overcome challenges with an anaerobic digestion plant in Sacramento, Calif.
A Sacramento, Calif., anaerobic digestion plant that was making transportation fuel from municipal solid waste has hit a roadblock, and its new owner, alternative energy investment group Incline Clean Energy, is trying to get back on track.
By Arlene Karidis, Waste 360.
Fortistar Poised to Enter Construction on a Portfolio of Landfill Renewable Natural Gas Fuel Projects
Company Will Be Attending WasteExpo to Discuss New Deals with Potential Customers and Partners
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fortistar, LLC, a sustainability-focused private company helping to facilitate the transition to a zero-carbon economy, announced today that they will be entering construction shortly on a portfolio of new landfill RNG projects for transportation fuel projects. Company executives will be attending the 2018 WasteExpo in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 23-26, 2018 to discuss potential new projects with landfill owners, operators and project developers.
Renewable Natural Gas (RNG or Biomethane) is American-made from sustainable sources such as landfill gas and digester methane emissions. RNG is carbon-neutral and chemically identical to geothermal natural gas, allowing it to be to be used as a transportation fuel in natural gas vehicles and trucks. Landfills are the major source of RNG.
Are Shale and Biomethane the Future of the Gas Industry?
Could shale and biomethane represent the future of gas? That was the speculation at the 2017 Future Energy Scenarios event. Here, we will look at each of these sources of gas to find out just how they are being used and if they have the potential to become the most used form of gas of the future…
By OilVoice.
Trump Proposes Higher Ethanol Sales, Pledges Help for Refiners
By Mario Parker, Jennifer A Dlouhy, and Justin Sink, Bloomberg.
Gasoline with a higher ethanol content will now be sold year-round, as refiners also get waivers
President Donald Trump on Thursday outlined changes to U.S. biofuel laws that would allow more ethanol to be used, a nod to farmers caught in the crosshairs of a potential trade war with China, while also offering some relief to fuel suppliers who have complained about compliance costs.
Senators' Joint Statement: Pruitt’s EPA Again Admits RFS Compliance Doesn’t Hurt Small Refiners
Secret EPA ‘Hardship’ Waivers for Multibillion Dollar Oil Companies Threaten to Break Trump Pledge to Support Biofuels
WASHINGTON – In response to a January letter sent by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), John Thune (R-S.D.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), EPA again confirmed that oil refiners aren’t negatively impacted by compliance with the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), stating that it stood by its previous conclusion that “all obligated parties, including merchant refiners, are generally able to recover the cost of the RINs they need for compliance with the RFS obligations through the cost of the gasoline and diesel fuel they produce.”
Renewable Identification Number (RIN) credits were created as a voluntary alternative compliance mechanism for refineries that choose not to blend biofuels as required by law since 2006. In its response, EPA also reiterated that the agency led by Administrator Pruitt “was not persuaded by arguments that merchant refiners are put at a distinct disadvantage when compared to integrated refiners.”
Warrior Project Biogas Facility in Dodge City, KS is Operational
The City of Dodge City is set to host a ribbon cutting celebrating the completion of the Warrior Project Biogas Facility on Saturday, April 14 at 10:30 a.m.
The ribbon cutting will take place at the project site located at 11079 Warrior Road, Dodge City, Kansas and a reception will follow at Boot Hill Museum in the Long Branch Saloon.
In 1984; the City of Dodge City’s South Wastewater Treatment Plant was completed, with an expansion project completed in 2004.
By Dodge City Daily Globe.
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