All Knowledge & Insights By Date

By Lynn L. Bergeson On July 3, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it was holding a public hearing for the proposed rule “Renewable Fuel Standard Program:  Standards for 2019 and Biomass-Based Diesel Volume for 2020” on July 18, 2018, at 9:00 a.m. in Ypsilanti, Michigan.  83 Fed. Reg. 31098.  The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on July 10, 2018.  83 Fed. Reg. 32024.   The notice states that the public...

By Lynn L. Bergeson On July 10, 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Office of Procurement and Property Management announced it was amending the Guidelines for Designating Biobased Products for Federal Procurement to add 12 sections that designate product categories within which biobased products will be afforded federal procurement preference by federal agencies and their contractors via a final rule.  83 Fed. Reg. 31841.  The Federal Register publication...

By Lynn L. Bergeson On July 2, 2018, Midwest AgEnergy announced that the North Dakota Industrial Commission, a division of North Dakota’s State Department of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, had awarded it a $83,810 grant to research using North Dakota barley to produce ethanol with a protein concentrate byproduct for use in aquaculture.  This would be the first ethanol produced North Dakota from a feedstock other than corn, and would include an expansion of the Dakota Spirit...

By Lynn L. Bergeson On July 5, 2018, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd announced that it had developed a 100 percent biobased, thermally formable, biodegradable material, that is suitable for furniture applications.  This product is an attractive alternative to wood and other biocomposite materials that are already available in the market, with the added benefit of formality and coloring properties.  "All the goals we set were achieved: the material is 100% bio-based,...

Plastics Insight, “EU-Funded Researchers to Develop Eco-Friendly Bio-Based Materials for Aircraft” Biomass Magazine, “ISO Committee Advances Development of Standards for Solid Biofuel” University of Portsmouth, “John McGeehan Key Player in Discovery of ‘Promiscuous’ Enzyme That Converts Plant Waste into...

On July 12, 2018, Bloomberg Environment quoted James V. Aidala, Senior Government Affairs Consultant with Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) regarding Acting Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Andrew Wheeler’s experience with the chemical regulatory landscape.  The EPA’s new acting administrator is more familiar than past agency heads were with the nation’s primary chemicals statute, giving him insight into tensions arising in...

On July 12, 2018, Bloomberg Environment included comments from James V. Aidala, Senior Government Affairs Consultant with Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) regarding difficulties that the Trump administration may face in nominating a head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA)  chemicals and pesticides office after a difficult confirmation process caused the former nominee, Michael Dourson, to withdraw. Beck could be a candidate for the assistant...

On July 9, 2018, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) published a one-page document on its Nanotechnology Research Center (NTRC), which conducts research to understand the potential effects on human health of exposure to engineered nanomaterials and develops methods to control or eliminate exposures.  NTRC’s accomplishments include: Publishing 101 journal articles in the peer-reviewed scientific literature during 2017; Publishing a new chapter in...

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published a July 4, 2018, report entitled Investigating the Different Types of Risk Assessments of Manufactured Nanomaterials:  Identifying Tools Available for Risk Management Measures and Uncertainties Driving Nano-Specific Data Needs.  The report presents the findings from a survey conducted in 2016 that aimed at investigating the different types of risk assessment.  The survey was conducted to gather the...

The NanoSafety Cluster announced that its projects NanoReg2 and Gracious, which focus on grouping, have come together with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Working Party for Manufactured Nanomaterials (WPMN) to host a two-day conference in Paris on September 12-13, 2018.  The “Scientific workshop on Grouping of Nanomaterials” will immediately follow the September 11, 2018, WPMN meeting on physico-chemical parameters framework for the risk...