Blogs

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is hosting a second public meeting examining future biotechnology products on June 1-2, 2016. This two-day meeting will run from 9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. both days, with a public comment period open to in-person attendees at the end of each day. The meeting will be held at the National Academy of Sciences Building in Washington D.C., and members of the public will have the opportunity to observe in person by pre-registering or via live...

Northwest Green Chemistry and the Washington State Department of Ecology are presenting a four-part webinar series introducing and providing training on the Quick Chemical Assessment Tool (QCAT). QCAT allows users to evaluate chemical ingredients and provides alternative chemical recommendations. During the webinar, users will be given instructions on how to use QCAT as well as time to practice using the tool. The webinar will occur over four consecutive Thursdays on June 9, 16, 23, and 30,...

On May 11, 2016, the University of California, Riverside (UCR) provided more information about the project that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is funding with $1.3 million as part of the Biomass Research and Development Initiative (BRDI). UCR received $1.3 million in funding to create biofuels and chemicals from waste plant materials. Ford Motor Company Chair in Environmental Engineering at the Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT) and Chemical and Environmental...

On May 18, 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposed increase of the renewable fuel volume requirements under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program for all biofuels in 2017 and biomass-based diesel in 2018. While both the renewable fuel volume requirements and the proposed percentage standards are increases from previous years, the volume requirements for cellulosic biofuel, advance biofuel, and renewable fuel still fall short of the volumes proposed for 2017...

In May of 2016, the DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) awarded the University of Illinois and the University of Florida $300,000 to continue researching ultra-productive biofuel crops. The research project is called Plants Engineered To Replace Oil in Sugarcane and Sweet Sorghum (PETROSS), and this is the third round of funding that it will receive from ARPA-E. PETROSS is engineering sugarcane and sorghum to produce 20 percent oil, compared to the 0.05 percent oil that...

On May 16, 2016, the DOE's BETO invited applications for abstracts for the poster session of the ninth annual conference Bioenergy 2016: Mobilizing the Bioeconomy through Innovation. Poster abstracts are due by June 3, 2016, and must fit the following guidelines: Not exceed the maximum of 300 words;   Explain validity and technical merit of the approach;   Discuss how the poster will be used to engage Bioenergy 2016 attendees;   Highlight applicability to BETO...

On May 16, 2016, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that up to $10 million in funding is being given to six projects that are creating innovative solutions to advance bioenergy development. The work will support the Bioenergy Technologies Office's (BETO) goal of developing non-food biomass competitive biofuels with reduced technical investment risks. The selected projects are: Arizona State University, a project engineering cyanobacteria to produce ethyl laurate;   Arizona...

According to an item in the Spring 2016 Regulatory Agenda, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is “developing a final rule related to” its April 6, 2015, proposal to require reporting and recordkeeping requirements under Section 8(a) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for certain chemical substances when they are manufactured or processed at the nanoscale.  EPA proposed to require persons that manufacture, import, or process, or intend to manufacture, import, or process...

On May 16, 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promulgated, through a direct final rule, significant new use rules (SNUR) for 55 chemical substances that were the subject of premanufacture notices (PMN), including functionalized carbon nanotubes (CNT) (generic).  EPA states that it determined that any use of the functionalized CNTs without the use of impervious gloves, where there is potential for dermal exposure; manufacturing the PMN substance for use other than as a thin...

On May 11, 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Compliance (OC) and Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) issued a memorandum to its regional Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) Division Directors and Branch Chiefs to establish a joint position of OC and OPP “for how regions should respond to requests for EPA-issued Certificates of Establishment (COEs) and Certificates of Origin (COOs).” OC and OPP state that the need for a joint position is...