Governors' Biofuels Coalition

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear oral argument Oct. 13 in litigation pitting biogas producers against refiners regarding EPA’s partial waiver of renewable fuel standard (RFS) blending mandates for cellulosic fuel for 2024, with the suit also implicating separate litigation over 2025 RFS mandates.

The US Environmental Protection Agency proposed on Tuesday to make larger refiners blend more biofuels into their products over the next two years, a move that will likely appeal ‌to farm-state voters ahead of November’s congressional elections.

The proposal would help offset concerns about lost demand for ethanol producers and farmers after the EPA announced in August it would waive renewable fuel volume obligations for 29 small refineries that argued the requirements would cause economic hardship.

The administration’s approach underscores the difficult balancing act for Trump between the oil and agriculture industries, two important constituencies with competing demands on biofuel policy. The result is a compromise that gives refiners billions of dollars worth of breaks while softening the blow to producers of ethanol and biodiesel. Oil companies with larger refineries, however, are left with a heavier burden.

Electricity prices and other energy costs keep rising, but USDA has severely restricted one of the biggest tools farmers and small rural businesses have had to produce solar power on their farms to offset costs, according to a new lawsuit.

Farmers in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin, along with solar energy groups, filed a lawsuit Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, suing USDA and department officials over changes to the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) that plaintiffs argue were done to effectively block funding for nearly all on-farm solar projects.

The farm and renewable energy groups are represented by attorneys for Earthjustice and the Environmental Law & Policy Center.

President Donald Trump’s looming changes to a rural energy program that has distributed billions of dollars in recent years will make it harder for many farmers to access funds ‌for such things as solar arrays and energy efficiency projects, farmers, energy companies and analysts said.

It is Trump’s latest move to slash government support for renewable energy. While working on the changes, the administration had halted applications this year for the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America Program, or REAP.

California congressional Democrats are seeking details about a former White House official and the government support she gave to an oil company shortly before she took a job there, according to a letter POLITICO obtained.

Brittany Kelm left the White House in August to take a job as Sable Offshore’s vice president of policy and commercial.

The letter highlighted Kelm’s comments and those of other administration officials boosting Sable while she worked in government, along with an instance where a Sable executive credited Kelm’s efforts to help the company.

The statements from groups representing both major trucking companies and independent truckers — typically close Trump allies — cast doubt on the president’s claims Monday that the move would save truckers hundreds of dollars and help bring down the cost of goods across the economy. The high cost of diesel — averaging $6.31 a gallon, or about $2.64 higher than last year — is dragging on Republicans going into next month’s elections.

Sixth-generation Nebraska farmer John Hansen leaned into baseball lingo to describe his take on dual diesel directives by President Donald Trump and Gov. Jim Pillen. He compared the impact to a bunt single.

The swing was less than full and the outcome far from a home run, he said.

“It’s somewhat helpful but small in scale by far,” said Hansen, whose leadership of the Nebraska Farmers Union spans nearly 40 years. “We’ve got a much bigger hole to fill.”

US car shoppers have been slow to warm back up to electric vehicles since a key federal subsidy expired a year ago, despite persistently high gas prices, while Europeans have flocked to the cars.

EV sales in the US are down 30.7% this year through ‌September, according to research firm Motor Intelligence, accounting for just 6% of overall sales. That’s less than the 8.5% at this time a year ago, when buyers rushed to beat the expiration of a $7,500 federal tax credit.

 Battleground districts in Iowa, Michigan and North Carolina are among a whopping 18 U.S. House races shifting in favor of Democrats, a top election forecaster says. As of Friday, Democrats are seen picking up nine to 19 congressional seats in next month’s elections, giving the party a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives with 224 to 234 seats, according to new analysis from the nonpartisan Cook Political Report with Amy Walter.