Governors' Biofuels Coalition

Biofuels industry and oil sector groups are clashing over EPA’s plan to allow eight Midwestern states to sell 15 percent ethanol fuel (E15) during the summer ozone season, with biofuels advocates criticizing EPA’s implementation delay to 2024 while some in the refining sector are pressing for a further extension to allow for infrastructure changes.

Proponents for the ethanol industry told the Environmental Protection Agency in a Tuesday hearing on a petition by several Midwest governors to offer summertime E15 access in their states that the agency should remedy its foot-dragging on the proposal by implementing it this summer.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said a group of lawmakers is planning to reintroduce the bipartisan Next Generation Fuels Act this week after if died in the previous Congress. In addition to Grassley, Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) are also cosponsors of the legislation, one of the many biofuel bills facing an uphill battle in the Senate.

Iowa farmers could lose about $1 billion in annual farm income if carbon capture pipelines aren’t built to ensure the state’s largely corn-based ethanol will remain viable as the country seeks to slow down climate change, says the second part of an industry-backed report. Iowa is the nation’s largest producer of both corn and ethanol. A 75% estimated loss in ethanol production if the pipelines aren’t built would force the state’s growers to ship about 44% of their crop outside of the state, primarily to neighboring ethanol-producing states Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota, says the report.

North Dakota’s Burleigh County has approved an ordinance to require special permits for companies that want to build pipelines for hazardous liquids such as carbon dioxide. County commissioners voted 4-0 Monday night with one member absent to approve the proposal. Commissioners, however, acknowledged the ordinance is likely to draw a lawsuit from carbon-capture pipeline developer Summit Carbon Solutions, the Bismarck Tribune reported.

They were parents, grandparents, great-aunts and great-uncles, ranging in age from their 50s to their 80s and beyond, and together they braved frigid temperatures to protest all through the night, and to rock. Bundled in long johns, puffer coats, layered knit hats and sleeping bags, and fortified by cookies sent by courier from a sympathetic supporter, dozens of graying protesters sat in rocking chairs outside of four banks in downtown Washington for 24 hours, in a nationwide protest billed as the largest climate action ever undertaken by older folks.

In the oldest refining town in the American West, Phillips 66 is promising a greener future as it moves to halt crude-oil processing and build a massive renewable diesel plant, leading a global trend.
That plan, announced in 2020, was initially welcomed by residents weary from a history of pollution and toxic leaks. But some have grown skeptical as the project’s details cast doubt on the environmental benefits of revamping the 127-year-old complex on 1,100 acres in Rodeo, California.

The likely failure of the world’s most ambitious climate goal just went mainstream. Scientists have urged the world for nearly a decade to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius, beyond which the planet is expected to face increasingly catastrophic climate impacts. Now, they’re warning — in the starkest tones yet — that the world is all but certain to overshoot that threshold. That’s the message of a dire new report released on Monday by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Republicans have gathered here to refine their messaging on the economy, inflation and energy but are going into overtime while hashing out issues behind closed doors. “It’s always more challenging when you’re the majority, because you’re expected to put ideas forth and be able to pass them,” said House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) Monday. “And when you’re in a slim majority, it makes it that much more difficult.”

n 2019, E&E News took an electric vehicle road trip across the United States to document the state of EVs and charging in America. A few months ago, I took another one to answer a question: What has changed? The short answer: quite a bit, although not nearly enough to make long drives enjoyable and easy for most people. Many more EVs are populating the roads, a sign that the tens of billions of dollars that automakers are plowing into EV manufacturing is starting to pay off. But the charging network — except for some incremental improvements — remains sparse and glitchy. The inconveniences of yesteryear are still inconvenient, just a little less so.