Governors' Biofuels Coalition

Archer Daniels Midland alleges a federal court in Illinois erred when it released sealed company information as part of a May 3 ruling in an ethanol markets lawsuit. The U.S. District Court for the District of Central Illinois granted the plaintiffs, AOT Holding AG, access to documents and other communications related to the 2019 suspension of an ADM accounting employee.

A proposal to build a new soybean processing facility in Casselton, North Dakota, prompted a recent not-in-my-back-yard response from the local ethanol plant. Potential competition between soybean and corn acres and future revenue concerns led Tharaldson Ethanol, the nation’s seventh-largest ethanol plant, to oppose the construction of North Dakota Soybean Processors (NCSP). The attempt to thwart the neighboring soybean crush plant from being built failed, but it created a division in the community and angered many farmers who supported having another market for their crops that would likely increase prices.

EPA is expected to release proposed Renewable Fuel Standard volumes for 2023 by Sept. 16 with plans to finalize by April 28, 2023, as a result of a legal settlement reached with Growth Energy, the group announced in a news release on Friday. As part of another settlement with Growth Energy, EPA is expected to finalize already-late RFS volumes for 2020, 2021 and 2022 by sometime in June.

Renewable diesel use is skyrocketing due to green initiatives by federal and state governments and companies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and save the planet. Renewable diesel and biodiesel GHG emissions are, on average, 80% less than petroleum diesel. Petroleum companies found they can make a lot of green selling renewable diesel due to various tax incentives and credits. Thus, production capacity has increased 86% over the last year.

The government of Panama and energy companies, including SGP BioEnergy, plan to develop a major, advanced biorefinery to increase supply of lower-carbon aviation fuel, the companies said Wednesday. The move comes as the airline industry seeks to achieve a goal of zero net carbon emissions by 2050 and as governments worldwide are pressing companies to increase clean energy investment.

If you feel as though it has jumped straight to summer, you’re not imagining things. A major episode of sweltering heat, which has already toasted Texas, is about to swallow much of the central and eastern Lower 48. Temperatures in the mid-90s will surge as far north as the Canadian border by Saturday, running 25 degrees or more above average. Amarillo, Tex., reached 101 degrees on Tuesday, breaking a record that has stood for nearly a century. In Dallas, the past 11 days have hovered at or above 90 degrees, the earliest such streak on record.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said yesterday she was “pretty bullish” on a $325 billion clean energy tax credit package that is the heart of Democrats’ reconciliation push. The comments came amid other signs of life on Capitol Hill for a potential deal on climate and energy.

Iowa lawmakers are seeking to block carbon pipeline developers from using eminent domain to secure land for their projects until next year. House lawmakers introduced a bill Wednesday through an unusual maneuver — filing an amendment to an unrelated piece of legislation, replacing that proposal with language blocking any carbon pipelines from seeking or exercising eminent domain authority before March 1, 2023. Eminent domain powers would allow pipeline companies to condemn land needed to build their projects and to force unwilling landowners to sell easements at “fair market value.”

Senators are scrapping a moratorium that would have prevented developers from seeking eminent domain authority to seize property for carbon pipelines before next February. The Iowa House attached the moratorium to a budget bill in March. Late Wednesday, Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee passed a similar budget bill, but there was no reference to the carbon pipelines in the bill and lawmakers on the committee didn’t mention it.

The U.S. EPA on May 17 submitted a proposed rule to the White House Office of Management and Budget that aims to create an alternative renewable identification number (RIN) retirement schedule for small refineries under the Renewable Fuel Standard. OMB review marks a final step before a proposed rule is released for public comment. The proposed rule was not included in the OMB’s most recent unified agenda, and the OMB did not post a summary indicating the specific provisions contained within the proposed rule. The EPA did not immediately respond to a request for additional information on the proposed rule.