Blogs

On June 30, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would not review the constitutionality of the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). This decision is largely viewed as a win for the California Air Resources Board, the governmental body that regulates the LCFS, and supporters of the law. On March 20, 2014, Growth Energy and the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), which represent the ethanol industry, and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), along with the...

On June 26, 2014, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued a 38-page report on the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), "The Renewable Fuel Standard: Issues for 2014 and Beyond." The report examines potential compliance with the RFS through 2017 under three scenarios and evaluates the effects on food and fuel prices under each one. A copy of CBO's summary of the report is available online. A copy of the full report is available online. The report evaluated the impact on food...

On July 2, 2014, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's Bioenergy Technology Office published in the Federal Register a "Request for Information (RFI) Regarding Integrated Biorefinery Lessons Learned and Best Practices." According to the RFI, its purpose is "to solicit feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders on issues related to lessons learned and best practices...

On July 2, 2014, EPA issued a final rule outlining the elements of a voluntary third party quality assurance program to ensure the validity of renewable identification numbers (RIN) petroleum refiners use to confirm compliance with the annual fuel standard. Under the final rule, petroleum marketers may choose between two options to verify the validity of RINs generated between February 21, 2013, and December 31, 2014. Importantly, the final rule includes an affirmative defense for anyone except...

The Silver Nanotechnology Working Group (SNWG) was founded in 2009 as an industry-wide effort to advance the science and public understanding of the beneficial uses of silver nanoparticles in a wide-range of consumer and industrial products. It does this by fostering the collection of environmental, occupational and health, and consumer product data on silver nanotechnology. Since its founding, the focus of the SNWG has been to encourage the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other...

On June 30, 2014, the European Commission (EC) held a validation workshop to discuss the preliminary results of the study supporting the impact assessment on transparency measures for nanomaterials. As part of the workshop, the EC released the following reports: Study to Assess the Impact of Possible Legislation to Increase Transparency on Nanomaterials on the Market: Evaluation Report (second draft): This report is one of several outcomes of a study on regulatory oversight...

On June 25, 2014, the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) posted Progress Review on the Coordinated Implementation of the National Nanotechnology Initiative 2011 Environmental, Health, and Safety Research Strategy, which provides an overview of progress on the implementation and coordination of the 2011 NNI Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) Research Strategy that was developed by the Nanoscale Science, Engineering, and Technology Subcommittee’s Nanotechnology Environmental and...

Learn How to Pre-Screen New Chemicals Using EPA's Models and Methods at Sustainable Futures Training Workshop Co-hosted by the Biobased and Renewable Products Advocacy Group (BRAG®), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and George Washington University (GWU) August 5-7, 2014, at the GWU Campus in Washington, D.C. During this hands-on three-day workshop, you will learn about a variety of tools, methods, and models that can be used to assess the hazard and potential exposure of...

On June 23, 2014, U.S. algae developer Cellana, Inc. announced that it has entered into a letter of intent with Galil Algae Cooperative Agriculture Society Limited of Israel for the production of high-value algae products for aquaculture applications. The primary objective of this effort is to identify, cultivate, develop, and scale-up algae strains with immediate commercial value, emphasizing the high-value components for existing aquaculture, mariculture, nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals,...

On June 20, 2014, the U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of the fiscal year (FY) 2015 appropriations bill to fund the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), H.R. 4870, including language repealing Section 526 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (Section 526). Section 526 prohibits federal agencies from procuring synfuel unless its lifecycle GHG emissions are less than those for conventional petroleum sources. BRAG reported that last month the U.S. House of...