(Biofuels Journal)  When E10 first hit the market, Clarence, Iowa was one of five towns to introduce the new fuel at a local gas station. Nearly 40 years later, that same town is getting its first …

by  Shelby Shepherd  (KWQC)  An hour before Trump and Clinton battled it out in Las Vegas, Iowa’s U.S. senate candidates battled it out in the western part the state they are fighting for.  Republican Sen. …

by Michael McAdams (Advanced Biofuels Association/Biomass Magazine)  Addressing climate continues to be one of the major reasons to support and develop advanced and cellulosic biofuels. — Once again, we enter spring awaiting the U.S. EPA’s proposal …

(Renewable Fuel Association)  In response to the anti-ethanol rhetoric that has been dominating the presidential campaign in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) sent a one-pager to media outlets to …

(Environmental and Energy Study Institute)  On October 21, the Advanced Biofuels Association, along with the Petroleum Marketers Association and other retail fuel groups, expressed opposition to changing the biodiesel and renewable diesel blenders’ tax credit. …

(Advanced Biofuels Association)  During the Senate Finance Committee’s July markup, Senator Charles Grassley offered an amendment, co-sponsored by Senator Maria Cantwell, which would extend the biodiesel and renewable diesel tax credit for two years. However, …

by Duane Shimogawa  (Pacific Business News)  Hawaii Gov. David Ige said that he intends to veto a bill passed by the State Legislature that would repeal the ethanol facility tax credit and establish a renewable …

by Jennifer Blair (Alberta Farmer Express)  Effort would create more demand and help with reductions in greenhouse gases — The new provincial government needs to walk the walk — not just talk the talk — on …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Amazing questions get asked at ABLC — and except for attendees, you generally don’t hear them, or the answers. Let’s change that.  With great sessions at conferences, delegates are usually keen …

by Kevin Drawbaugh (Reuters)  Dozens of temporary tax breaks, including big ones for business research, wind power and foreign profits, were renewed by the U.S. Senate late on Tuesday, putting to rest worries that further …

by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine)  The synergies between co-located ethanol and biodiesel production have been discussed for a decade. The existing infrastructure to share process essentials, an in-house feedstock in distillers corn oil (DCO), and use of …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In Washington, Senate Finance Committee Chairman, Ron Wyden, released his “Chairman’s Mark” of the “Expiring Provisions Improvement Reform and Efficiency Act of 2014″ (EXPIRE Act).
The Chairman’s Mark extends all expired advanced …

by Erin Voegele (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  On Feb. 26, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman David Camp, R-Mich., released draft legislation to reform federal tax code. The draft, titled the “Tax Reform Act of 2014,” …

by Erin Voegele (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  On Dec. 12, Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., introduced two bills that would benefit the biofuels industry. One, H.R., 3758, aims to extend the second generation biofuel producer credit and …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  A new, technology-neutral tax credit for the domestic production of clean transportation fuel? Read on.
In Washington, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) unveiled the latest package in a series …

By Jacqueline Klimas  (The Washington Times) … More than 50 tax incentives will expire on New Year’s Eve — ranging from breaks on energy-efficient appliances to biofuel production to investments in businesses that serve low-income communities.
Chuck Marr, director of federal …

by Anna Simet (Biomass Magazine)  Tax provisions critical to the biofuel and biopower industries are set to expire at the end of the month—including the federal renewable energy production tax credit and cellulosic biofuel producer …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) As ABLC-Next concludes, here is the first installment in a review of the hottest slides, stories, intrigue and perspective from the Big Conversation amongst the bioeconomy’s elite.
… (see these slides and …

by Brian Kuehl  (Ethanol Producer Magazine)   … Two tax provisions are critical to continued development of the U.S. cellulosic industry. First, the tax code currently provides a Second Generation Production Tax Credit that gives ethanol …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In Indiana, federal officials are saying that a group of biodiesel operators associated with E-Biofuels stole nearly $100 million in a fraud scheme, and seven have been arrested in what …

by Scott Irwin and Darrel Good (FarmDocDaily)  …Here, we present a proposal for implementing the RFS2 through 2015 that recognizes the constraints implied by the E10 blend wall and will avert the impact of the …

by Emily Pickrell (FuelFix)  On Jan. 1, Congress made algae-based fuel production eligible for a $1.01-per-gallon cellulosic biofuel production federal tax credit.
Cellulosic biofuels typically are made from woody, non-food material such as grasses or wood …

(The Star/Reuters)  A blending tax credit for alternative fuels has helped re-open the way for shipments of palm biodiesel to the United States, giving top producers Indonesia and Malaysia an outlet for palm oil stocks …

(Internal Revenue Service)  The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (Pub. L. 112-240) retroactively extends certain fuel tax credits that expired on Dec. 31, 2011. The retroactively extended fuel tax credits are the biodiesel mixture …

by Douglas L. Faulkner (“The Cleantech Conservative”/BiofuelsDigest)  … That is, the cost of renewed tax breaks for the biofuels industry came at a great cost relative to the benefits gained. Being lumped in with Hollywood filmmakers, rum …

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 Bob Dineen (Renewable Fuels Association)  Flint, Mich., is known throughout the world as the birthplace of General Motors. When an economist from Flint gets the facts about motor fuels all wrong, it’s time to …

(FarmDocDaily)  …The RFS for 2013 is expected to require a minimum blending of 1.28 billion gallons of biodiesel and 2.75 billion gallons of all advanced biofuels. The difference between the minimum biodiesel requirement and the …

by Anya Litvak (Pittsburgh Business Times) Rick Price is gearing up for a busy year, thanks, in part, to Congressional compromise.
As executive director of Pittsburgh Region Clean Cities, a group that works to promote alternative transportation fuels, Price’s …

by Brent Erickson (Biotechnology Industry Organization/Biofuels Digest)  It is not often I disagree or take issue withBiofuels Digest; however, the recent article and analysis on cellulosic tax credits left out some key points. There are a number …

by Dan Piller (Des Moines Register)  The extension of a $1.01 per gallon tax credit for cellulosic ethanol will  help the fledgling industry later this year or in 2014 when plants now under construction in …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Finding it hard to explain to taxpayers why the PTC is needed, for the jump to cellulosic biofuels lightspeed, or to ward off predatory fossil-fuel evildoers?
…So, although the “fiscal cliff” …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …Four tax provisions were in the bill that directly impact biofuels.
Cellulosic biofuels producer tax credit.  … The provision would extend this production tax credit for one additional year, for cellulosic biofuel …

(NAFA Fleet Management Association/Free-Press-Release-Center)  Uncertainty surrounding a pair of alternative fuel incentives is impacting vehicle purchase decisions and fuel planning by many fleets.
While the country is focused on the so-called “fiscal cliff”, lost in the …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …Those momentum killers. Company wreckers. The investor flight-inducing crevasses along the route to the top – that take away a level playing field, remove your access to markets, delay a …

by Zack Coleman (The Hill E2Wire)  A spending watchdog group said Monday that Congress could cut $123.2 billion from energy programs over 10 years in an effort to avoid automatic budget cuts, known as sequestration.
Taxpayers …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  … Meanwhile, the Senate Finance Committee marked up the Family and Business Tax Cut Certainty Act of 2012, which included key energy efficiency and biofuels tax credit provisions.  Included in …

(Platts)  The $1.01/gal federal tax credit for cellulosic fuel production, as well as the $1/gal biodiesel tax credit, would each be extended under a proposal released Wednesday by the Senate Finance Committee.
The cellulosic credit would …

(Environmental and Energy Study Institute)  On May 4, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released monthly data on biodiesel production in the United States since 2009. Biodiesel production fell dramatically during 2010 when Congress decided not …

by Dan Piller  (Des Moines Register)  The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) Thursday asked Congress to reinstate the $1 per gallon biodiesel tax incentive “to avoid further disruption to an emerging American industry that is creating …

by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com)  Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) introduced an amendment to the Transportation Bill (S.1813) Thursday that would extend tax incentives for domestically produced energy sources, including biodiesel, ethanol, cellulosic biofuels, electric vehicles, wind energy and …

by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine)  Last week as the National Biodiesel Conference took place in Orlando, a group of biodiesel producers and stakeholders in the Northwest U.S. came together in a joint statement to support …

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 Robert Pore (The Independent)  …Nebraska’s ethanol industry could be adversely impacted if Congress doesn’t extend key tax incentives, especially those for cellulosic ethanol, a Nebraska Ethanol Board official said.
The incentives that the Advanced Ethanol …

by Garry Niemeyer   (National Corn Growers Association)  Back in August, the Green Scissors Project identified ways the federal government could shave $380 billion from the federal budget over five years. But their $380 billion in …

by Will Buss (News-Democrat)  Two state lawmakers believe they have a solution to Illinois’  high unemployment rate.
Rep. Dwight Kay, R-Glen Carbon, and Rep. Paul Evans, R-O’Fallon, have a blueprint that they believe will attract and …

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 …

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, …

(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 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 …

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) (Biodiesel Magazine)  Q.  Why do you support the production of biodiesel?
A.  Too much of America’s energy comes from fossil fuels imported from countries that don’t like us.  We can reduce dependence …

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 …

(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 …

by Lori Montgomery (The Washington Post)  A majority of Senate Republicans appeared to break Tuesday with two decades of GOP orthodoxy against higher taxes, voting to advance a plan to abruptly cancel billions of dollars …

by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com)  Senators John Thune (R-SD) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) along with a bipartisan group of nine other Senate colleagues have introduced the Ethanol Reform and Deficit Reduction Act. The bill is designed …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …Instead of simply not collecting a portion of the fuel tax, the consumer is charged the whole amount, which is collected by the gas station and paid to the government. …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Genencor CEO Tjerk de Ruiter says, “As long as they create a mandate, the $1.01 a gallon cellulosic tax credit will help, but could live without it.”
Last week, Genencor released …

by Steven Mufson (The Washington Post)  …The paper industry — which in 2009 raked in billions of dollars in federal subsidiesoriginally intended to promote alternative highway fuels — is now using a different biofuel tax credit …

(OPIS)  …According to sources familiar with the proposal, the Renewable Fuels Association, Growth Energy, the American Coalition for Ethanol and the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) have agreed to phase down the current 45 cts/gal …

(IowaPolitics.com)  Floor Speech of Sen. Chuck Grassley Ethanol and Energy Independence Delivered Monday, March 07, 2011
…We must look to alternative and renewable resources so we can improve our energy and national security.
This includes supporting energy …

(Wallaces Farmer)  …NCGA (National Corn Growers Association) delegates attending the meeting in Tampa, Fla., adopted ethanol policy that states “NCGA supports reforming existing ethanol tax policy. Ideas to replace existing tax law, in the following priority …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …Tom Buis, CEO, Growth Energy: “Anyone who blames ethanol for pain at the pump simply hasn’t looked at the market, where ethanol is historically cheaper than gasoline. In fact, ethanol …

by Candace Krebs  (AgJournal.com)  Since Stratton Equity Co-op installed Colorado’s first “blender pump” offering a range of ethanol based fuels last April, interest has slowly been rising, right on track with national ethanol usage overall.
“We’ve …

by Antonio Acost  (Faribault County Register)  It pays to conserve energy. Especially, if you are producing ethanol.
Corn Plus officials in Winnebago will soon receive a check in the mail for $12 million.
“It’s going to keep …

by Philip Brasher  (Des Moines Register)  Boom times are ahead for a biodiesel industry that struggled just to stay alive in 2010.
The industry could produce as much as a billion gallons in 2011, nearly triple …

(State Journal-Register)  …As a former secretary of agriculture, I know that continuing to encourage the ethanol industry is good for rural America and the entire nation. Ethanol generates jobs, preserves the environment, and protects our …

by Charles Abbott and Timothy Gardner (Reuters)  U.S. ethanol makers face a battle over reforming subsidies next year after current incentives are rolled over in the tax package signed into law by President Barack Obama on …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In Washington, the US House of Representatives voted by a 277 to 148 margin to approve the Obama tax deal, which extends the ethanol tax credit through 2011, and retroactively extends the biodiesel …

by Steve Maddox  (The Hill)  …Although conventional, corn-based ethanol is not the darling of the environmental movement, it does have certain national security benefits that cannot be overlooked. And the next generation of biofuels being …

by Stacy Feldman ( SolveClimate/Reuters)  With over 100 start-ups hard at work, industry predicts it can deliver success in under a decade if granted production tax credits
…The head of the 170-member Algal Biomass Organization (ABO), Mary …

by Matt Hartwig (Renewable Fuels Association)  Earlier this week, Iowa State University Professor Bruce Babcock released a policy brief entitled “Impact of Ethanol, Corn, and Livestock from Imminent U.S. Policy Decisions.”  Much of this analysis …

Global Biofuels Alliance, Inc. (GBA), established in 2010, is a new nonprofit trade association representing small to midsize biofuels producers, traders, marketers, distributors, and other interested biofuels parties.  The GBA’s formation was prompted by the …

by Geoff Cooper (Renewable Fuels Association)  Ethanol prices have strengthened over the past several months in response to higher corn prices and growing ethanol demand. Some have attempted to single out the escalation in ethanol prices …

by Eric Staats  (NaplesNews.com) …Today, growing algae to turn into biofuel is serious business, and (US Senator Bill) Nelson wants to give the fledgling industry a tax break.
Nelson, D-Fla., toured the headquarters and research labs of …

by Todd Neeley (Progressive Farmer)  In the eternal mudslinging between supporters and opponents of biofuels, “subsidies” are one of the opponents’ biggest and most painful mud balls.
“If ethanol is such a good idea, why does …

Interview of BIO’s Brent Erickson by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …BE: I have been a little bit disappointed in the Obama administration. When he was in the Senate he as very pro-biofuels.  He had to …

(GlobalPaperMoney)  KapStone Paper and Packaging Corporation (NYSE: KS) announced that the company was notified that its registration as a producer of cellulosic biofuel for the tax year 2009 has been approved. With this registration, KapStone may …

by Sasha Lyutse  (Natural Resources Defense Council)   …
As a result, the VEETC has not only concentrated the ethanol industry in just a handful of states, but siphoned scarce resources away from more competitive biofuel technologies …

by Gary Truitt (Hoosier Ag Today)  A variable subsidy for ethanol producers could cost the government less and provide more security for producers than current fixed rates, according to a Purdue University study. A variable …

by Darrin Ihnen (The Hill/National Corn Growers Association)   …Unfortunately, many of the articles we’re seeing don’t get the facts quite right. The New York Times, for example, asserts that the Renewable Fuel Standard mandates the …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Back in 2008 the death watch began on Imperium Renewables.
Though its 100 Mgy multi-feedstock plant in Grays Harbor was, at the time, the largest and most modern biodiesel facility in the …

(Growth Energy)  The New York Times’ July 29th Editorial “Energy Subsidies – Good and Bad,” mischaracterizes Growth Energy’s proposal to open the American transportation fuels market and fails to acknowledge the technological advancements that have made …

by Joe Ruff (Omaha World Herald)  It’s time for the federal government to move beyond offering tax credits to companies that combine ethanol with gasoline, said the CEO of the fourth-largest ethanol producer in the country.
Instead, …

by John M. Urbanchuk   (ENTRIX/The Hill)  In his July 27 blog posting “The economics of U.S. ethanol policy” Professor Bruce Babcock of Iowa State University reports the results of new research suggesting that allowing the current …

by Jay Heflin (The Hill)  
A new study by the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development shows a reduction in the ethanol tax credit proposed by the House Ways and Means Committee and removing tariffs on …

(Grainnet)  The Green Scissors campaign, a diverse coalition of taxpayer, environmental and consumer groups, released July 22 Green Scissors 2010, a report highlighting government programs and subsidies that are wasteful to taxpayers, harmful to the environment …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …Two new data points have been introduced. A Congressional Budget Office report on the  ethanol tax credit, and a report from Bruce Babcock et al at Iowa State, funded by …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Growth Energy, the Renewable Fuels Association, the Environmental Working Group, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the American Meat Institute, and several members of congress are among …

(Congressional Budget Office)   The federal government supports the use of biofuels—transportation fuel produced usually from renewable plant matter, such as corn—in the pursuit of national energy, environmental, and agricultural policy goals. Tax credits encourage the …

by Anna Austin (Biomass Magazine)   With their extreme versatility and often complicated nature, it isn’t easy for most people to wrap their brain around advanced biofuels, and the definitions in the renewable fuels standard 2 …

(Union of Concerned Scientists)  The Billion Gallon Challenge: Advanced Biofuels from diverse sources such as grasses and agricultural waste hold the promise of sustainably reducing U.S. oil dependence and global warming emissions. Unfortunately the advanced biofuels …

(Renewable Fuels Association)  The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE), Growth Energy, the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), and the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) today countered the tired claims of the Environmental Working Group (EWG) that …

(Advanced Biofuels Association)  The Advanced Biofuels Association launched a new online video series today.  The Clean Fuels Forecast spotlights the top public policy issues and maneuvering in Washington affecting the advanced biofuels industry. 
In its first episode, …

(PR Newswire)  The Advanced BioFuels Association applauded the leadership of U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) as he recently introduced a biofuels tax incentive bill that extends the Investment Tax Credit to advanced biofuels.  
The Nelson bill, S. …

(Biodiesel Magazine)  Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack toured Middletown Biofuels in central Pennsylvania on May 7, where he highlighted biodiesel production as a critical component in America’s strategy to create jobs and revitalize the rural economy. …

(AP, Bloomberg Businessweek)  U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin says she will propose a tax credit aimed at encouraging investment in development of the next generation of renewable fuels. …She says her bill would create a …

U.S. Reps. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA), Mark Schauer (D-MI) and Brian Bilbray (R-CA) introduced bipartisan legislation yesterday that will encourage the next generation of biofuels or fuels made from living things such as plants and algae.  
The …

Nick Snow (Oil and Gas Journal)  US senators from agricultural states introduced legislation on Apr. 20 that would extend the federal ethanol tax credit through 2015. Failure to do so would cost 112,000 jobs nationwide …

by Robert Rapier (Forbes)  …In order to better understand the intricacies of the issues involved, I have been engaged in dialogue with a number of industry groups and economists. Here I will try to shed …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …The ethanol cold war developed into a hot one this week when television and print advertising campaigns debuted both from Brazil’s UNICA and the US-based Growth Energy.
…The Growth Energy campaign …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In New York, a battle royal has been joined on the comments page of the Natural Resources Defense League (sic) following posts on the economic and greenhouse gas benefits (or lack …

by Patrick Westhoff  (Washington Times letter to editor)  The editorial “Stop ‘Big Corn’ ” (Opinion, Monday) did not accurately describe the analysis of ethanol policy conducted by our institute.
The editorial says we at the University …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)   In Washington, the Health Care Bill passed the US House of Representatives and included – as part of a 42-page “manager’s amendment”, a provision striking a biofuel tax credit used …

Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) issued the following statement on the Second Generation Biofuel Producer Tax Credit Act of 2009.  Congressman Van Hollen introduced the legislation yesterday to improve and enhance the existing cellulosic biofuel …