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On August 4, 2015, Elevance, a BRAG member, announced the addition of Elevance Clean™ 1000 to the Elevance Clean™ Product Line. The new ingredient is a biobased cleaning ingredient that improves the performance of d-limonene formulations, especially when used to remove asphalt/tar and to degrease. D-limonene is extracted from citrus rind and has recently been impacted by the decline in orange supply resulting from increases in orange grove diseases in the U.S. and Brazil. The...

On July 29, 2015, a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide credits for the production of renewable chemicals and investments in renewable chemical production facilities, and for other purposes (H.R. 3390) was introduced in the House. The bill would expand production and investment tax credits that are currently available to renewable energy producers to apply also to renewable chemical manufacturers. The program allows manufactures to choose either: (1) a 15 cents per pound...

On August 4, 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the availability of a final guidance document entitled “Guidance for Industry:  Use of Nanomaterials in Food for Animals.”  The Guidance is intended to assist industry and other stakeholders in identifying potential issues related to safety or regulatory status of food for animals containing nanomaterials or otherwise involving the application of nanotechnology.  FDA states that the Guidance is...

On August 4, 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the availability of a final guidance document entitled "Guidance for Industry: Use of Nanomaterials in Food for Animals." The Guidance is intended to assist industry and other stakeholders in identifying potential issues related to safety or regulatory status of food for animals containing nanomaterials or otherwise involving the application of nanotechnology.

TSCA/FIFRA/IRIS/NTP/TRI EPA Issues Direct Final Rule On Significant New Use Notification Electronic Reporting: On July 20, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a direct final rule amending the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Section 5 electronic reporting regulations. 80 Fed. Reg. 42739. The electronic reporting regulations establish standards and requirements for use of EPA's Central Data Exchange (CDX) to submit electronically premanufacture notices (PMN), other...

On July 21, 2015, the Senate Finance Committee voted to pass a $96 billion package of tax extenders. The tax credits in the package include Individual Tax Extenders, Business Tax Extenders, and $16.4 billion in Energy Tax Extenders. The wind production tax credit, a $1.01 per-gallon production credit for second generation biofuels, energy efficiency credits, and a renewable electricity production credit that includes biomass and municipal solid waste, were all included in the tax credit...

On July 27, 2015, two petitions for review of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) second conditional registration of a nanosilver pesticide product were filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) filed a petition (Case Number 15-72308), as well as the Center for Food Safety (CFS) and International Center for Technology Assessment (ICTA) (Case Number 15-72312). Both suits ask the court to set aside EPA’s final order...

On July 27, 2015, two petitions for review of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) second conditional registration of a nanosilver pesticide product were filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

On July 16, 2015, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) announced the following appeals in which the keywords include nanoforms: J.M. Huber Finland Oy, Case A-011-2015; RHODIA OPERATIONS SAS, Case A-010-2015; IQESIL SA, Case A-009-2015; and Evonik Degussa GmbH, Case A-008-2015. The cases all concern silicic acid, aluminum sodium salt. The contested decisions were adopted December 17, 2014, following a compliance check under the dossier evaluation procedure of the submitted registration. In each...

The July 25, 2015, Canada Gazette includes a notice announcing that the Minister of the Environment requires, for the purpose of assessing whether the substances described in the notice are toxic or are capable of becoming toxic, or for the purpose of assessing whether to control, or the manner in which to control the listed substances, any person described in the notice who possesses or who may reasonably be expected to have access to the information required to provide that...

The 12th Annual World Congress On Industrial Biotechnology was held by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) on July 19-22, 2015, in Montréal. Lynn L. Bergeson offered opening remarks at the Women in Industrial Biotechnology Reception, sponsored by BRAG, and spoke on the importance of continuing to fight for gender equality for women working in science and other fields. Ms. Bergeson also opened the Renewable Chemicals and Biobased Materials track, in which Richard E. Engler, Ph.D....

As reported in last week's update, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy put out a call for nominations for candidates to join the Biomass Research and Development (R&D) Technical Advisory Committee. The Committee meets quarterly, typically for two days, and advises DOE and USDA on the Biomass R&D Initiative. The Committee is looking specifically for engineers or scientists from non-federal government or academia; an individual...

Competing proposals are working their way through the House and Senate to amend the Toxic Substances Control Act, the nation’s primary law for managing chemicals in commerce. In this article, former senior Environmental Protection Agency officials Charles Auer and James Aidala and attorney Lynn Bergeson discuss making the bill clearer and how congressional direction can be provided on what EPA is to do with certain new provisions to implement them in the first years of any amended TSCA.

? LEGO, "LEGO Group To Invest 1 Billion DKK Boosting Search For Sustainable Materials" ? Mitsubishi Chemical, "DURABIO™, Bio-based Engineering Plastic from Mitsubishi Chemical, Used on the Front Panel of Sharp's New AQUOS CRYSTAL 2 Smartphone" ? Wageningen UR, "Pulp2Value: European Project Realises New Value Chains for Sugar Beet" ? Network Rail, "Buying a Coffee in Britain's Biggest and Busiest Railway Stations Has Just Got Greener" ? KU...

On July 15, 2015, DOE posted a solicitation notice for candidates for the Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee. According to the notice, DOE is specifically looking for candidates with experience in biobased industrial/commercial products, non-federal government engineers or scientists, academia with expertise in biofuel and biobased products, and experts in crop or soil science. Candidates with other experience can also be nominated. Nominations should be submitted by...

On July 9, 2015, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $18 million in funding for six projects to develop bioproducts and biofuels from algae. The funding is intended to reduce the cost of algae-based biofuels to less than $5 per gasoline gallon equivalent (gge) by 2019 to help reach DOE's target of $3 per gge for advanced algal biofuels by 2030. The projects that were selected for the funding are run by Producing Algae and Co-Products for Energy (PACE), Marine Algae...

EPA is inviting public comment on its analysis of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the production and transport of cottonseed oil feedstock used in the production of biofuels. The Federal Register notice also provides an overview as to how EPA may apply its analysis in future determinations, as to whether biofuels from cottonseed oil will meet the criteria for renewable fuel under the Renewable Fuel Standard program. EPA notes that, based on its current analysis, it anticipates that biofuels...