On March 26, 2015, Senators Rand Paul (R-KY) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced S. 899, the Fuel Choice and Deregulation Act of 2015, a bill to provide regulatory relief to alternative fuel producers and consumers. The bill would require EPA to provide a volatility waiver to E15, allowing the higher ethanol blend to be sold year round. Fuels have volatility limits in the summer to prevent excess evaporation that results in smog. Some areas cannot obtain the lower-volatility gas that would be...
On March 26, 2015, Representative Todd Young (R-IN) introduced H.R. 1665, the Alternative Fuel Tax Parity Act, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to equalize the excise tax on liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (propane). This legislation would attach federal tax parities for LNG and propane to the Alternative Fuel Tax Credit (AFTC) that currently covers alternative fuel mixtures, alcohol fuel, and biodiesel. The AFTC has expired and is awaiting renewal. If H.R. 1665...
On April 7, 2015, the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Energy and Commerce announced that the Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy will hold a legislative hearing on a new discussion draft of the TSCA [Toxic Substances Control Act] Modernization Act, released by Committee Chair John Shimkus (R-IL) the same day -- April 7, 2015. The hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, April 14, 2015, at 10:15 a.m. (EDT) in Room 2322 of the Rayburn House Office Building. U.S. Environmental...
On March 26, 2015, a group of ethanol and agricultural groups sent a letter (the industry letter) to the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies to express their strong opposition to including certain language harmful to the ethanol industry in the Fiscal Year 2016 Agriculture, Rural Development, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Related Programs Appropriations bill....
On March 25, 2015, EPA announced the direct final rule, Regulation of Fuels and Fuel Additives: Cellulosic Waiver Credit Price and Minor Amendments to Renewable Fuel Standard Regulations, that would result in cellulosic waiver credit prices being posted on the EPA website rather than as a result of the rulemaking process. This would allow the credit prices to be announced as soon as the needed data for the wholesale price of gasoline is available, which would provide more certainty to the...
On March 30, 2015, the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) submitted a petition to EPA seeking reconsideration and a request for stay of EPA's approval of the Argentinian Camara Argentina de Biocombustibles (CARBIO) Alternative Biomass Tracking Program. According to the NBB press release, EPA failed to provide an opportunity for public comment on the EPA decision and a lack of transparency as to how the Argentinian biodiesel producers will demonstrate compliance with the Renewable Fuel Standard...
On March 30, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) withdrew a Direct Final Rule for Partial Exemption of Certain Chemical Substances from Reporting Additional Chemical Data. The direct final rule, issued in January 2015, would have exempted manufacturers of six biobased diesel chemicals from reporting processing and use information for the compounds under the Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule. It resulted from a regulatory petition filed by the Biobased and Renewable Advocacy...
On March 26, 2015, Mr. David Saltman, Chairman of Biobased and Renewable Products Advocacy Group (BRAG®) member company Malama Composites, spoke at NPE2015: The International Plastics Showcase on "Designing the Future: How Materials Can Change the World."
March 27, 2015
Legislation Introduced In Senate To Phase Out RFS
On March 18, 2015, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced S. 791, "The American Energy Renaissance Act of 2015." Representative Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) introduced companion legislation, H.R. 1487. The legislation would phase out the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), approve the Keystone XL pipeline, open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas exploration, and stop EPA from regulating GHG emissions. Under the bill, the RFS would start to be phased out in 2016 with a 20 percent reduction...
March 27, 2015
Pennycress Oil Notice Published In The Federal Register
On March 20, 2015, the Notice of Opportunity to Comment on an Analysis of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Attributable to Production and Transport of Pennycress (Thlaspi Arvense) Oil for Use in Biofuel Production that was discussed in the March 19, 2015, Biobased and Renewable Products Update was published in the Federal Register. The docket number is EPA-HQ-OAR-2015-0091 and comments on the notice close on April 20, 2015.