Articles tagged with: government subsidies
by Geoff Cooper (Renewable Fuels Association) As part of its ongoing review of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), the House Energy & Commerce Committee recently asked stakeholders to comment on the impact of the RFS on the …
by Howard Schneider (The Washington Post) Government subsidies of gasoline, electricity and other energy sources amount to about $1.9 trillion a year and should be ended or offset with taxes used to battle climate change and pay …
By Josh Rathod (Advanced Biofuels USA) In a recent webinar hosted by the American Council of Renewable Energy (ACORE), biofuel experts from Dupont, POET, Novazymes, and China’s Tsinghua University convened to discuss the next five …
by Terence Creamer (Polity.org.za) The South African government has confirmed that a carbon tax will be phased in from January 1, 2015, as part of South Africa’s efforts to mitigate the effects of climate …
by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail) The Conservative government is formally shutting down its controversial biofuels subsidy program, saying companies producing biodiesel have failed to meet ambitious production targets.
In a letter sent Thursday, Natural Resources …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Three dissident voices offer challenges to cherished orthodoxies.
…Though they offer tough love, they are written by friends of the movement. They don’t wish to cast you down to the devil, …
by Robert Pore (The Independent) …According to another speaker at the Agriculture Outlook Conference 2013, David Hightower, president of Hightower Report, ethanol has increased corn demand and added value to corn that wasn’t there prior to …
by Paul Dickerson and Thomas Burton (Reuters/Mintz Levin) …Clean technologies are likely to be the next great industry and economic success story. Whether that happens in the United States or not is up to us.
…Yet there …
by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Sorghum is poised to come into its own as an alternative to corn. It proved its mettle in the 2012 drought, producing decent dryland yields with very little …
by Ben Geman (The Hill E2Wire) … Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) and Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) said Thursday that they’re seeking support for a resolution declaring that a carbon tax would be economically harmful.
“There’s a …
by Cliff Meeuwsen (Holland Sentinel) Ethanol has become a dirty word for some, and I’m not sure why.
How did the cleanest burning, highest quality, cheapest form of liquid renewable fuel ever get to be such …
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Four executives of ethanol plants gathered on stage during the general session June 5 at the International Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo (FEW) to have a conversation about running …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …Attacks from the usual opponents are generally in the form of statements that sound vaguely scientific, or fact-based. Often with a scientist in tow. Beware. Not every person in the …
by Josiah Ryan and Ben Geman (The Hill) The Senate on Tuesday rejected plans to extend a host of lapsed or soon-to-expire tax breaks for renewable fuels and power sources.
Lawmakers voted 49-49 for Sen. Debbie …
by Wayne Lee (Biorefining Magazine/Lee Enterprises Consulting) …Since renewable fuels do not enjoy the longer-term subsidies and programs of oil, we are back asking Congress and the administration for some stability.
…First, we must understand …
by Jim Snyder and Brian Wingfield (Bloomberg) President Barack Obama, who pledged an “all of the above” energy strategy that included fossil fuels, renewed his proposal to cut more than $40 billion in tax breaks for …
by Leithen Francis (Aviation Week) The International Air Transport Association’s target of carbon neutral growth from 2020 can still be achieved, but the airline industry “can’t do it on our own,” says IATA head Tony …
(Los Angeles Times) The five so-called “super major” oil companies – Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, ConocoPhillips,Chevron and BP– have just wrapped up their fourth quarter earnings reports, but not without inspiring disdain over how they made those billions in …
by Mat McDermott (TreeHugger) We just learned, based on IEA calculations, if all fossil fuel subsidies were eliminated it would result in greenhouse gas emission cuts deep enough to get us halfway to preventing dangerous climate change. Indeed, …
by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com) In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Obama voiced strong support for renewable energy and an end to oil subsidies.
“We have subsidized oil companies for a century. …
by Ezra Klein, Brad Plumer (The Washington Post) …In 2010, the world spent $409 billion on fossil-fuel subsidies to artificially lower the price of coal, gas and oil. Eliminating those subsidies would curb fuel use …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …Brooke Coleman, executive director of the Advanced Ethanol Council, turned attention to free market principles and market access, after the New York Timesran astory on cellulosic biofuels mandates, titled “A Fine …
by Geoff Cooper (Renewable Fuels Association) …In recent weeks, many headlines have trumpeted the argument that gas prices will be higher as a result of expiration of the VEETC. As is often the case, a …
by Heather Thornstensen (AgriNews) While they had a leader from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association at their recent annual convention, the Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Association brought together a panel to discuss whether the ethanol and …
by Mark Steil (Minnesota Public Radio) A couple of key federal subsidies for the renewable fuel industry are about to end, cutting billions of dollars tax credits for the ethanol and biodiesel industries.
Congress could renew …
by Robert Pear (New York Times) …“We are in a fairly prosperous period for agriculture,” said Dean C. Taylor, a former president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association. “Agriculture has not been as much of a …
by Doug Sombke (Rapid CityJournal/South Dakota Farmers Union) …What the ethanol industry needs now is investment in improved infrastructure to get ethanol closer to being equal in the marketplace with regular gasoline.
For decades, big oil …
by Chris O’Malley (Indianapolis Business Journal) …But it looks like motorists, rather than ethanol makers, stand to feel the pain.
The reason is the survival of another federal measure, known as the Renewable Fuels Standard. It …
by Ken Anderson (Brownfield Ag News)The federal ethanol blenders’ tax credit for grain-based ethanol expired without protest from the ethanol industry at the end of 2011.
But the head of the Renewable Fuels Association—Bob Dinneen—says the …
by Nathanael Green (Energy Now/Natural Resources Defense Council) …Our dependence on oil hurts our economy, helps our adversaries and puts our security at risk. Each day we send over $1 billion overseas for oil, often …
by Jeanne Roberts (Energy Boom) On Wednesday, December 14, representatives from the nation’s biofuels, renewable chemicals and biobased products industries provided written testimony to a U.S. Senate Finance Subcommittee aimed at insuring the smooth continuation of …
(The Wall Street Journal) Review & Outlook: Years before the Obama Administration dumped $70 billion into solar and wind energy and battery operated cars, and long before anyone heard of Solyndra, President Bush launched his …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …Your calls and emails are always the highlight of our days. Most questions can be answered johnny-on-the-spot. Some are still out there and well worth arguing over. Here are the …
by Mike McAdams (Advanced Biofuels Association/Biorefining Magazine) As I write to you, I am witnessing history at 40,000 feet above the U.S., a rare privilege, as one of the first commercial passengers on board the …
by Luke Geiver (Biorefining Magazine) …Spending four days in Minneapolis amidst the largest and most impressive gathering of algae experts in academia, private business and government institutions, would convince anyone that in the algae industry …
(25 x ’25) Amid the political clamor surrounding congressional efforts to cut federal spending over the next decade and reduce the nation’s deficit, the ethanol industry has conceded that a seven-year subsidy benefiting the sector …
by Bret Korsgaard (SeekingAlpha) …Companies like Solazyme (SZYM), KiOR (KIOR), GEVO (GEVO), Amyris (AMRS) and Codexis (CDXS) were generally met with favorable terms in the public markets. The Street seemed to acknowledge that for a …
by Niluksi Koswanage (Reuters) Indonesian palm-based biodiesel shipments seeking a foothold in the United States will face stiff competition from feedstocks such as corn oil and waste oils, which will become cheaper as more supplies …
by Dan Piller (Des Moines Register) Ethanol producers will lose about 25 to 30 cents per gallon on operating profits when the tax credit for blenders goes away after Dec. 31.
…(Walt) Wendland, who also is president …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Should biofuels have its own reserve accounting system and accompanying balance sheet booster, just as the oil & gas industry has? Ceres CEO Richard Hamilton says “yes”, and explains why, …
by Stefaniya Becking (Advanced Biofuels USA) Advanced Biofuels Markets conference held in San Francisco on November 8-10 provided a great gateway to get plugged into the biofuels industry. The conference offered an excellent line-up of …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …Recently, it became clear what fuel Rep. Boren did like in his truck, natural gas, when the Oklahoma congressman co-sponsored legislation that would pay American truck owners up to $64,000, per …
By Juliet Eilperin and Jon Cohen (The Washington Post) Support for putting federal funds into alternative energy sources such as wind, solar and hydrogen has slipped to its lowest point in polls since 2006, driven by growing …
by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine) Expiring biofuel tax credits and a dysfunctional Congress
…But given Congress subsidizing an obviously profitable oil industry, coupled with subjecting biofuels to stringent GHG emissions reductions while the petroleum industry has …
by David Schwartz (Algae Industry Magazine) …C.J. (Warner, Sapphire Energy’s President and Chairman) keynoted at the recent Algal Biomass Summit, attending along with Tim Zenk, Sapphire’s Vice President of Corporate Affairs, who was formerly executive …
by David Shaffer (Star Tribune) The latest clean-tech energy contender pushes toward commercial production, even as federal money is drying up.
The ingredient list for products ranging from jet fuel to dietary supplements may soon get …
by Ben Geman (The Hill/E2Wire) The latest effort came in a Friday letter from 38 members, spearheaded by Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.), that argues “the United States can no longer afford …
by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.org) A coalition of retailers, producers, equipment manufacturers have formed the Coalition for E85with the stated purpose of protecting consumer access to 85% ethanol blends.
According to the coalition, if the current tax credit for …
by Bob Dinneen (Renewable Fuels Association/The Hill’s Congress Blog) …Many quintessentially American industries with proven records of job creation hold the promise of exponential job growth if given a chance. American ethanol is one such …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Marie-Helene Labrie said that the company looked for markets where there was effective government support all through the project from R&D, pilot & testing, commercial demonstrations, and full scale commercialization, …
by Ron V. Lamberty (American Coalition for Ethanol/Ethanol Producer Magazine) …And, we need to make their customers comfortable buying new blends of fuel such as E15, E85 or other midlevel blends.
A gasoline retailer recently told …
by Kate Bechen and Porter J. Martin (Ethanol Producer Magazine) …But what often is missing in criticisms of ethanol is an acknowledgement that the oil industry significantly benefits from a variety of tax credits, incentives …
by David Shaffer (Los Angeles Times) Across the nation, biodiesel plants have been restarting or ramping up production, spurred by a revived federal tax credit and renewable energy mandates.
…At least 52 of the nation’s 170 …
by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Anti-ethanol interests have launched their latest campaign focused on ensuring the demise of ethanol subsidies with a letter sent Sept. 15 to all members of Congress urging them not …
by Ryan Alexander (Taxpayers for Common Sense/Seacoastonline.com) …For 16 years, Taxpayers for Common Sense has been advocating for the elimination of federal spending that does not deliver a fair return to taxpayers. Topping our list …
by Robert Rapier (Forbes) …My Plan: Award Direct Per Gallon Subsidies for Oil Displacement
Instead of offering grants and loan guarantees for cellulosic ethanol producers — and forcing blenders to pay when they can’t purchase product …
by Sarah Gustin (KXMB TV Bismark) …(Jeff Zueger / Blue Flint Ethanol) “We really need blender pump infastructure, we need flex fuel vehicle infastructure, so we can get to those higher level blends so consumers …
by Philip Brasher (Gannett/Des Moines Register) …The industry likely stands a better chance of protecting the annual usage mandates, known as the Renewable Fuel Standard, from being weakened by livestock or environmental interests. “I don’t …
Monica Von Dobeneck (The Patriot-News /PennLive.c0m) Ben Wooten is doubling his workforce, quadrupling his space and increasing his production tenfold at his Keystone BioFuels in Lower Allen Twp. Not bad in a stagnant economy, …
by Kent Theisse (Corn and Soybean Digest Blogs and Opinions) … Many people are very excited about producing ethanol from woodchips, switchgrass, algae and other substances; however, most of this type of ethanol production is still …
by Stephanie Dreyer (Growth Energy/Baltimore Sun) Letter to Editor: Karen Hosler’s recent opinion piece calling for an end to ethanol subsidies (“End the ethanol charade,” Aug. 30) uses sweeping generalizations that distort the truth about …
(Farm Business) US biodiesel production reached a new monthly high of 81 million gallons in June, according to the latest EPA statistics, marking a third consecutive month of record volumes and continuing a remarkable turnaround …
by Michael McAdams (Biorefining Magazine) …Washington’s jolting performance and the economic aftershocks have those of you on the verge of commercializing your replacement fuels questioning whether Congress and the White House can successfully provide the …
by Ron Kotrba (Biorefining Magazine) …I told him I’m the editor of two monthly magazines centered on renewable fuels and chemicals. He sort of scoffed, and I knew we were going to get into “the …
(The Record) Farm officials, hoping to get California farmers to plant as much as 25,000 acres of camelina, an oilseed, for a biomass start-up project are offering incentives to growers in San Joaquin County and …
by Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay (Chemical and Engineering News) Government mandates have shaped the market but not always for the best
By 2050, the global population will hit between 7.5 billion and 10.5 billion. Energy demands will soar, …
by Joseph Morton (World Herald Bureau/Omaha.com) The ethanol industry is preparing itself for life after federal subsidies.
Key tax credits that pay blenders for using the renewable fuel are set to expire at the end of …
by National Biodiesel Board (Biodiesel Magazine) …The new numbers, coming after Congress reinstated the biodiesel tax incentive this year, demonstrate the power that strong domestic energy policy can have in helping create jobs and economic …
by Bob Dinneen (Renewable Fuels Association/Ethanol Producer Magazine) …But the mischief that lawmakers are hiding behind a veil of budget concern extends far beyond the tax credit for ethanol blending.
Using the appropriations process, lawmakers from …
(The Economist/Free Exchange) LAST week I noted that volatile oil prices have played an underappreciated role in recent business cycles. Over the weekend, James Hamilton published additional analysis of oil-price changes since last year, and he presents …
by Janet Kubat Willette (AgriNews.com) Expect direct payments to take a hit in the next farm bill, Sen. Al Franken told a Farmfest audience Aug. 3.
The Minnesota Democrat said the super committee of 12 Congresspeople could …
by Andrew Restuccia (The Hill/E2Wire) A dozen environmental groups Tuesday told congressional leaders that lawmakers who support slashing oil industry tax breaks and other subsidies should be appointed to the deficit-cutting “supercommittee.”
In a letter, the groups …
by Julian Richardson (Jamaica Observer) Jamaica Ethanol Processing has shut down its ethanol plant and terminated 31 jobs after 26 years in the business.
The move was completed last week after three consecutive years of rising …
by Graham Warwick (Aviation Week) The U.S. aviation industry is pressing Congress to extend funding for goverment programs providing support to start up commercial-scale production of renewable biofuels.
…Work on the 2012 Farm Bill is getting …
by Joelle Brink (Biofuels Digest Asia) Months are passing but New Zealand ’s new government still won’t say whether or not it will incentivise biofuels production and new plant construction. Latest in this shoot-your-own-economy-in-the foot …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Financing of clean energy got you down? The Green Bank clears a key Senate hurdle, and Bank of America chairman Chad Holliday helps explain why that’s important
Last month, amidst the …
by Bryan Sims (Biodiesel Magazine) After sitting idle for a year, Inland Empire Oilseeds LLC managed to restart production at its 8 MMgy canola-based biodiesel facility, including an adjacent canola crushing plant, in Odessa, Wash.
…Edmonds …
by Darren Goode & Darren Samuelsohn (Politico) Popular energy and environmental programs should prepare for a decade of spending cuts under the debt deal reached late Sunday between the White House and congressional leaders.
Less clear, …
by Brent Erickson (Biofuels Digest) Reports of the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit’s (VEETC) early demise have been a bit overblown. Though several groups and reporters believed the die was cast and the potential revenue …
by Tom Doggett (Reuters) …Despite years of research, testing and some hype, the next-generation ethanol industry is far from the commercial success envisioned by President George W. Bush in 2006, when he pledged so-called cellulosic …
by Lori Potter (Kearney Hub) The ethanol industry is willing to immediately give up $1.3 billion in tax breaks for federal debt reduction.
However, that probably can’t happen unless authorizing legislation is attached to a successful …
by Erin Ailworth (The Boston Globe) …“One of the big challenges with the federal budget is whether ARPA-E is going to be funded,’’ said Peter Rothstein, president of New England Clean Energy Council, a trade group …
(San Francisco Chronicle/Bloomberg) Ethanol manufacturers are set to thrive even if they have to give up $6 billion a year in U.S. tax subsidies because a government mandate for increased use of the fuel may …
(Wisconsin Ag Connection) Wisconsin Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner is stepping up his efforts to do away with proposed mandates that would require gasoline for newer vehicles to use 15-percent ethanol. This week, the Brookfield Republican wrote …
(California Ethanol Vehicle Coalition) Continuing her long support for oil industry interests at the cost of clean, domestic, renewable fuels, California Senator Dianne Feinstein announced today she has taken yet another step to raise taxes, …
(Office of Senator Amy Klobuchar) Agreement would put savings toward deficit reduction, infrastructure
U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), John Thune (R-SD), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) today announced that a bipartisan agreement has been reached that allows …
(CBS3Springfield.com/The White House) …Q Our next response from southwest Ohio, Mostlymoderate: “Cut subsidies to industries which are no longer in crisis or are unsuccessful, cotton, oil, corn subsidies from ethanol.”
THE PRESIDENT: Well, there’s been …
(The Washington Post) …Either way, the supports must go. Congress has protected ethanol three ways: with a $6 billion-a-year tax subsidy to those who blend it into gasoline, a tariff on competing imports and a …
by Walt Wendland (Des Moines Register/Iowa Renewable Fuels Association) …When presidential candidates have discussed reforming the ethanol incentive, several news articles called this either “bold” or “risky” in Iowa. These stories operated under the …
by Andrew Restuccia (The Hill/E2Wire) President Obama pressed lawmakers Wednesday to cut a slew of oil industry tax breaks as part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling, arguing that the alternative is to …
(Environmental and Energy Study Institute) EESI published an issue brief on policies that subsidize the production of fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas). In recent years, major international institutions such as the G20, International Energy …
by Jacob Barker (The Columbia Daily Tribune) Policies fueled the boom in industry.
Federal subsidies for ethanol push up ethanol production and the price of corn, according to a report released today (June 27, 2011) from …
by William Petroski (Des Moines Register) …Santorum, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, said he advocates phasing-out the existing tax incentive for ethanol production, commonly known as the blenders’ credit, by reducing the credit …
(AP/Bloomberg/The Washington Post) If a $5 billion-a-year federal subsidy that helped build the ethanol industry comes to an end, it will likely mean two things, experts who have followed its development say.
First, it doesn’t guarantee …
(Platts) …But even if hypothetically the subsidies did end June 30, it would in all likelihood not affect corn and ethanol demand, owing to the current prices between the two, and conventional gasoline, Morgan Stanley …
(StarTribune) Why is one fuel being targeted but another — oil — isn’t? …The best way to pay down the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt?
“Reducing wasteful spending a billion dollars at a time,” Coburn said.
Coburn has …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …EPA proposes to mandate the blending of 15.2 billion gallons of renewable fuel into the US fuel supply, and increased the proposed mandate for advanced biofuels by 48 percent, to …
by Steven Mufsonand Lori Montgomery (The Washington Post) The Senate on Thursday approved an amendment that would end tax credits for ethanol that refiners blend into motor fuel in a vote closely watched as a …
(National Biodiesel Board) America’s Advanced Biofuel Supporting Thousands of New Jobs While Generating Billions in Household Income, Tax Revenues
The U.S. biodiesel industry will grow to support more than 74,000 jobs throughout the economy by 2015 while …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Washington, on a cloture vote in the Senate to proceed to an amendment that would end the current ethanol tax incentive immediately, Senator Coburn’s amendment lost 40-59, falling 20 votes …
