by Emily Druckman (Renewable Fuels Association) Despite continued claims by opponents of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), prices of the Renewable Identification Number (RINs) credits used for RFS compliance have not caused changes in retail gasoline …

(Argus Media)  US independent refiners seized on protectionist themes and two key biofuel industry victories this year to argue regulators must reduce federally mandated blending of renewable fuels.
Refiners framed a US-first pitch to slash more than …

by Jarrett Renshaw and Chris Prentice (Reuters)  Carl Icahn’s refining company CVR Energy (CVI.N) has begun buying biofuel credits for the first time in months, a sign the firm is starting to unwind a massive …

by Mikkel Pates (Agweek)  The Environmental Protection Agency predicted it might take six months to do an initial evaluation of “energy beets” for their environmental footprint as a feedstock for biofuels.
Six years — not months …

by Michael Hirtzer (Reuters)  Argentine biodiesel exports will be priced out of the U.S. market, its leading industry body said, after Washington decided on Tuesday to impose steep duties on imports that it said were …

by Eric Wolff (Politico)  The Trump administration plans to reject a proposal that would let oil refiners off the hook for complying with the federal ethanol mandate, a senior administration official told POLITICO, dashing the …

by Jeff Barber (Oil Price Information Service)  The head of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) says the ethanol industry group remains concerned that “market manipulation” is a “significant factor” driving the price of Renewable Identification …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Industrial biotech’s biggest and grandest show, the World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology, opened today in Montreal and BIO itself was in the newsframe with a striking report debunking myths around …

by Anthony Adragna (Politico’s Morning Energy)  EPA wants to cut imports of biofuels, but the biodiesel and advanced biofuels industries are mystified as to why it’s getting into that arena, Pro’s Eric Wolff reports . …

(Environmental Protection Agency)  On July 5, 2017 EPA issued proposed volume requirements under the Renewable Fuel Standard program for cellulosic biofuel, advanced biofuel, and total renewable fuel for calendar year 2018.  EPA also proposed biomass-based diesel volume standards for calendar year …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  The value of cellulosic fuels has reached $4.33 per gallon in the California market. That’s real-world, today, including the energy and the low-carbon attributes, and not based on speculation. The …

by Timothy Gardner (Reuters)  The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission informed eight Democratic U.S. senators last month that it is not investigating biofuels credits after the lawmakers had urged it to probe billionaire Carl Icahn’s …

by Mario Parker (Bloomberg/Southwest Farm Press)  Government work has paid off handsomely for billionaire Carl Icahn.  CVR Energy Inc., his oil refining company, saved about $60 million in the first quarter because of expectations that …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  … As you can see from the hard data, the production cost for ethanol today is $1.22 per gallon, which translates to $51.24 per barrel. Now, on an energy basis — …

(Office of Senator Elizabeth Warren)  U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), called on the …

by Brent Erickson (Biotechnology Innovation Organization/Biofuels Digest)  Members of the U.S. Senate are questioning whether Carl Icahn’s lobbying to change the Renewable Fuel Standard creates an ethics conflict with his role as advisor in the …

by Max McBrayer (The Hill/RaceTrac Petroleum)  …   My perspective comes from over 30 years in the fuels business. Currently, I am chief supply officer of RaceTrac Petroleum, a fuel retailer and operator of more than …

by Jarrett Renshaw and Chris Prentice  (Reuters)  Biofuels compliance expenses for CVR Energy’s refining unit fell to the lowest level in almost five years during the first quarter, the company said on Thursday, as the …

by Brian Scheid and Meghan Gordon (Platts)  Have refiners’ hopes for a quick rollback of the US biofuel mandate by the Trump administration fizzled out? The industry judged two early appointments as signs of the president’s …

by Meghan Gordon and Wes Swift (Platts)  RINs bottom out March 2 after four-month slide; EPA may hold 2018 mandate steady, start easing in 2019; Point of obligation debate fades into background  — Refiners’ and petroleum marketers’ hopes …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …  There’s a theory going around that biofuels are “government fuels” — and prices are set around a table in Washington, DC. But if you visit the big biodiesel and …

by Zachary Mider and Jennifer A Dlouhy  (Bloomberg)  Special adviser to president urges change in EPA rule; ‘It’s bothersome that one guy can control RIN markets’  —  Carl Icahn, the billionaire investor and adviser to President …

(Argus Media)  No one profits from credits used to track compliance with US biofuel mandates, Motiva chief executive Dan Romasko said today, wading into a controversy that has split the industry.
Refinery margins rise and fall …

by Susan Olson (BioCycle Magazine)  Because of an all-time high waiver credit value paired with strong advanced RIN prices, renewable natural gas could fetch $35/MMBtu in 2017. Since 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has mandated …

(Iowa Renewable Fuels Association/Ethanol Producer Magazine)  …  The main argument of the petitioners is that they are paying for millions of dollars of RINs to meet their RFS obligations, and that this is somehow unfair …

by Mario Parker (Bloomberg)  Association of American Railroads argues against Icahn efforts; Renewable fuel paper credits trading at one-week high — U.S. railroads, including Warren Buffett’s BNSF, are joining a corporate brawl over ethanol mandates that pits …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …  And it (the history of fracking) reminds us that one of the great tipping points for world civilization is when technology liberates a value great enough that the fear …

(Platts)  Renewable Identification Numbers traded at 14-month lows Wednesday following news that the Environmental Protection Agency will delay implementation of 30 regulations until March 21, despite industry groups saying 2017 blending mandates are unlikely to …

by David Williams (Houston County News/Lacrosse Tribune)  …  Billionaire investor and Trump confidant Carl Icahn is requesting changes to the Renewable Fuel Standard, the federal law requiring gasoline manufacturers to incorporate renewable fuels into their …

by David Williams (The Gilmer Mirror)  Incoming President Donald Trump’s promise to “drain the swamp” is getting an early test from one of his closest friends.
Billionaire investor and Trump confidant Carl Icahn is requesting changes …

by Brian Dabbs (Bloomberg)  Recent criticism of secrecy and alleged manipulation in biofuel credit trading, delivered by a top adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, is striking a chord among ethanol and other renewable fuel producers.
Those producers …

by Mario Parker (Bloomberg)  Icahn picked as special adviser to Trump on regulations; RINs market is a ‘black cesspool of trading,’ Icahn says  —  Billionaire Carl Icahn, a special adviser to Donald Trump and a skeptic …

by  John Campbell (Ocean Park Advisors) The RINs market would be improved with timely blend targets and compliance reporting, increased transparency and trading limits.  —  …  Although it might reduce undesirable trading practices, moving the …

by Mario Parker (Bloomberg)  Icahn refiner wants $15 billion renewable-fuels market changed; Cost of credits surged as U.S. mandates on biofuels at record — Six weeks before he becomes U.S. president, Donald Trump is already disrupting an …

by Meghan Gordon and Brian Scheid (Platts)  Total renewable fuel is slated to be more than 10% of the US fuel supply in 2017, breaking through the so-called blendwall. But how will a new presidential administration …

by Bradley Olson  (Wall Street Journal)  Some refiners stand to rake in $1 billion by selling fuel credits, while others must spend millions to comply  —  Environmental regulations designed to boost the amount of ethanol blended …

by Scott Irwin (Farm Doc Daily/University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)  RINs prices have been making headlines in recent months, with prices at times crossing the psychologically important $1 per gallon mark. Echoing earlier complaints (farmdoc …

(Environmental Protection Agency)  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice today announced the filing of a complaint against NGL Crude Logistics, LLC and Western Dubuque Biodiesel, LLC and a settlement …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In Washington, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization released the new white paper, “The Myth of High RIN Prices As Proof of the Blend Wall,” analyzing data recently released by EPA on …

by Brent Erickson (Biotechnology Innovation Organization/Biofuels Digest)  …  Data recently released by EPA refutes the widely held assumption that reaching and exceeding the blend wall caused the 2013 rise in RIN prices. This newly available …

by John Campbell (Biodiesel Magazine/Ocean Park Advisors)  The U.S. EPA has set off a debate within the petroleum industry by suggesting that the point of obligation for compliance with the renewable fuel standard (RFS) be moved …

by Chris Prentice (Reuters)  Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump on Thursday appeared to weigh into a debate over a controversial U.S. biofuels program with a proposal that would back the position of billionaire investor Carl …

by Marc J. Rauch  (The Auto Channel)  … Tobacco advertising that promoted doctor-endorsements appeared in all consumer media as well as leading medical publications like “The New England Journal of Medicine” and “The Journal of the American …

by Jarrett Renshaw and Chris Prentice (Reuters/Yahoo! Finance)  …  The alternative is for merchant refiners to increase their ability to blend ethanol. PBF Energy is the latest refiner to take this approach.
PBF has asked Delaware regulators …

by Barbara J Powell (Bloomberg)   …  RINS aren’t the real problem for the Philadelphia refinery, Robert Campbell, head of oil products research for London-based Energy Aspects, said in a telephone interview today.
“East Coast refiners are …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  … Is there some fundamental reason that the automotive biofuels people haven’t shifted to butanol or iso-butanol or some other compound that would be more compatible with gasoline and the present …

by Brian Scheid and Herman Wang (Platts)  Growing pressure for a federal probe of the opaque market underpinning the Renewable Fuel Standard could bolster efforts to dramatically reform the landmark biofuels policy.
Earlier this month, billionaire investor …

by Brooke Coleman (Bloomberg/Advanced Biofuels Business Council)  … (Carl) Icahn’s ask is pretty simple. He wants the EPA to change the rules midstream to relieve his petroleum refining assets of their obligations.
…
The RFS, for its part, …

by James Osborne (FuelFix)  Now gas station owners say they, too, are losing out after the price of RINs –  the credits which refineries must have to prove there is ethanol and other biofuels in …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  … There’s a separate category of RINs for advanced biofuels. These are fuels that have at least a 50% reduction in fossil fuels compared to 2005 baseline gasoline. Overall, to qualify …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Let me see if we got this right. Donald Trump loves the Renewable Fuel Standard  —   Carl Icahn loves Donald Trump   —   Therefore, Carl Icahn hates the Renewable Fuel Standard
With that, …

(Argus Media)  The bank of carryover RINs used to comply with US renewable fuel mandates faces a draw of nearly 500mn RINs this year to meet a stiff blend requirement of 10.1pc of the country’s …

by James Osborne (Houston Chronicle)  Earlier this year Jack Lipinski, chief executive of the Sugar Land refiner CVR Energy, flew to Washington to plead his case to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. His problem: the …

by Alex Guillén (Politico Pro)  The Renewable Fuels Association today asked the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and EPA to investigate whether anyone is manipulating the market for a key biofuels compliance credit to drum up …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In Texas, Reuters is reporting that “Valero Energy expects to get hit with a half-billion-dollar bill in the second half of the year” and the news agency attributed the costs …

(ADI Analytics)  There is an increasing level of interest in conventional and advanced biofuels around the globe. Many countries are increasing biofuel mandates for several reasons ranging from stimulating agriculture, energy security, and most notably to …

by Chris Prentice and Jessica Resnick-Ault (Reuters)  Prices of U.S. biofuels compliance credits jumped in early trade on Wednesday as worries mounted over potential supplies after Goldman Sachs Group signaled potential tightness next year on …

by Bob Dinneen (The Hill)  … It’s worth recalling why a bipartisan coalition of policymakers, including President George W. Bush, worked together in 2007 to expand the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which requires oil companies to …

(Argus Media)  US Environmental Protection Agency administrators should shift the burden of US biofuel blending mandates closer to retail stations, US independent refiner Valero said today.
The company, one of the largest US producers of both …

by Laura Blewitt  (Bloomberg)  Federally mandated ethanol blending is adding extra pressure to the faltering profits of U.S. refiners.
The worst crude oil downturn in a generation, which at first helped refiners’ profits, has now passed through …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … Renewable diesel demand is booming, booming, booming. We’ve tipped it repeatedly in The Digest, not least with our March Madness webinar last week on “Renewable Diesel’s Boom”. Any doubts may …

(OPIS)  The Renewable Fuels Supply Supplement is the first publication in the OPIS Market Trends series and is now available! This supplement is designed to analyze, educate and inform the global downstream industry of the …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Is ethanol really worth $3.81 for the octane but costs only $1.39 on the market? How could that be?  Math majors around the country are frequently perplexed by this one. If …

(Reuters/Business Times)  Ethanol producers may feel less pain from sinking oil prices than in previous tough times, as a government rule ensures a minimum use of the biofuel and recent consolidation gives them both financial …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In a time of rising gasoline demand and targets for higher engine efficiencies, the world could use more octane.  What about ethanol, and what about iso-octane itself? The Digest looks at …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Food vs Fuel, biofuels causing corn planting to skyrocket, low oil prices killing off renewable fuels, the subsidy myth, the emissions myth, the “people won’t buy the fuels” myth, and …

by Brent Erickson (Biofuels Digest/Biotechnology Industry Organization) After a painful and damaging two-year delay, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week published Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS) for 2014, 2015 and 2016. Unfortunately, the agency finalized a …

by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  The release of the U.S. EPA’s final rulemaking for the renewable fuel standard (RFS) was a shock to the RINs market—the renewable identification numbers used by obligated parties …

by Scott Irwin and Darrel Good (FarmDocDaily)  The EPA released the final rulemaking for 2014-2016 RFS standards on Monday, November 30. This release follows preliminary rulemaking released on May 29 of this year. Figures 1 …

by Robert Hackett (Fortune)  … Farmers and ethanol companies welcomed the change, according to the Wall Street Journal, since the cuts laid out earlier this year were originally more severe. But they were still dissatisfied that …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  … The US Environmental Protection Agency has discovered the following way of interpreting Energy Independence and Security Act.  To wit, if the transportation fuels supply chain — controlled by guess whom …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In the terrestrial world, oxygen is colorless, odorless, and try to get through an hour without some.  In the Bioeconomy Cinematic Universe, oxygen is harder than steel, heavier than a …

by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Ethanol D6 RIN prices have stayed relatively stable over the summer while D4 biodiesel RINs prices plummeted, Illinois economists Scott Irwin and Darrel Good point out in a recent …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Heard dire comments like “POET expects to stop all future U.S. cellulosic investments if EPA’s proposed base renewable fuel requirements are not strengthened.”  Want to understand the substantive concerns on …

by Robert Rapier (Investing Daily)  … If less fuel is being produced than the mandated level, it drives up the price of the RIN and in theory increases the incentive to produce the fuel (which is …

(Biofuels Digest)  Good morning, my name is Geoff Cooper and I am representing the Renewable Fuels Association.  By any measure, the RFS has been a tremendous success. It has stimulated growth in biofuel production, revitalized …

by Erin Voegele (Biomass Magazine)  On June 17, Fuels America hosted a press call during which American farmers and representatives of the biofuel industry discussed how legislative changes to the renewable fuel standard (RFS) would …

by Anna Simet (Biomass Magazine)  U.S. EPA Acting Assistant Administrator Janet McCabe fielded dozens of hard questions and endured heavy scrutiny during a June 18 hearing held to discuss the agency’s management of the federal renewable …

by Chris Prentice (Reuters)  Oil companies ultimately recover their costs of complying with the U.S. biofuels program, according to an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) analysis that marks the regulator’s clearest challenge yet to a key …

by Chris Prentice (Reuters)  Oil traders are rushing to import ethanol from Brazil for the first time this year after U.S. regulators moved to increase use of advanced biofuel, opening a wide spread in the …

by Erin Voegele (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  On June 11, Fuels America hosted a conference call to discuss a memo from the U.S. EPA that demonstrates the renewable fuel standard (RFS) does not increase—and, in fact, …

by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  The U.S. EPA’s May 29 proposed renewable volume obligations (RVO) is under scrutiny by University of Illinois economists in recent FarmDocDaily posts.
Jonathan Coppess examines the argument that EPA …

(Platts) …  In immediate reaction, market participants viewed the proposed obligations as bearish for corn-based ethanol (D6) RINs and bullish for biomass-based diesel (D4) RINs. Advanced biofuel (D5) RINs were expected to also track biomass-based …

(Renewable Fuels Association)  Retail gasoline prices from 2013 through the first quarter of 2015 were unaffected by prices for “RIN credits” (Renewable Identification Numbers) that are used to demonstrate compliance with the Renewable Fuel Standard …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In Washington, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) submitted comments today to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) expressing support for a proposed legal agreement that sets specific deadlines for establishing …

Amanda Peterka  (E&E Publishing)  … Refiners aren’t buying cellulosic fuel credits through the renewable fuel standard program for what the company produces. And so Quad County has received as much as $600,000 less than expected for …

by Jordan Godwin and Wes Swift (Platts)  Corn-based (D6) ethanol RINs for 2015 firmed up to their highest level in more than three months Tuesday as the market continued to show a revival of aggressive bid …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In Washington, the EPA announced 2014 and 2015 Cellulosic Waiver Credit prices, and “a Clarification of the Data Sources Used in the Cellulosic Waiver Credit Price Calculation”.
…
The good news here? …

(Environmental and Energy Study Institute)  On March 11, at the Advanced Bioeconomy Leadership Conference in Washington D.C., Advanced Biofuels Association President Michael McAdams broke with the “Don’t Mess with the RFS” mantra that has been …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …Here’s our most recent update, focusing on 10 key issues (though not ranked in order of importance):
1. Oil price volatility — will it stabilize?
2. RIN price volatility — will the …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  How does the biofuels industry move from its roots in first-gen corn starch or cane sugar fermentation towards diversified products, more capacity and distribution, and new inputs like cellulosics?
How are …

by Wally Tyner (The Conversation/Purdue University)  … One challenge to commercializing biofuel made from non-food sources — called cellulosic biofuels — has been cost.
Unlike ethanol made from corn, cellulosic biofuels are made from the inedible parts …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  … Why must “the entire value chain of production from feedstock to finished product be conducted at a single location” asks Antoine Schellinger, VP of Strategy and Technology at Triten IAG.
Should …

(National Biodiesel Board)  EPA to Fast-Track Argentinian Biodiesel by Easing Sustainability Requirements
The National Biodiesel Board on Tuesday sharply criticized a decision by the EPA to allow streamlined Argentinian biodiesel imports to the U.S. under the …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Food vs Fuel, emissions, cost competitiveness, and RINsanity. Some of the most unfair bricks hurled at corn starch-based ethanol — and here’s why. …
In the field of renewable fuels, there’s …

by Mario Parker (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)  The biggest plunge in U.S. gasoline prices since 2008 is slowing as higher ethanol boosts the cost to make the motor fuel.  Ethanol futures surpassed gasoline last month for the first …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Oil prices are down, energy stocks are plunging, and the investor mood is giving Lord of the Flies a run for its money for mix of peril, fantasy and pessimism. …

by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  A Michigan ethanol plant has had success with its Yellow Hose program, blending E85 and supplying area retailers, as well as sales at an on-site fuel pump.
Carbon Green Bioenergy …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  How does $60 oil impact payback for natgas or hybrid electric vehicles, and cellulosic biofuels?  The going assumption is that low oil prices are bad for alternative fuels — but …

by Jacqui Fatka (Farm Futures)  Actions taken by EPA to help keep RFS alive have actually backfired and brought more attacks in defending Congress’ intent.
…
Wally Tyner, Purdue University ag economist, said it’s quite ironic that …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  How does the Congressional Budget Office look at biofuels and the Renewable Fuel Standard?
How does $3.00-$6.00 advanced biofuels RINs? A $0.26 per gallon hike in gasoline prices? A $1.27 drop …

by Scott Irwin (University of Illinois)  The EPA is apparently going to finalize 2014 RFS rules in the near future.  This will at least temporarily bring the tumultuous process to an end that started with …

by Katie Fletcher (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Many ethanol advocates attending and speaking at the 2014 American Coalition for Ethanol conference are not strangers to the ethanol industry. Even though they have been with the industry …

by Jim Lane (Biofuel Digest)  Thought the 2014 volume debate over the Renewable Fuel Standard was tough enough?What about the ticking bomb inside the RFS — that could completely flat-line the value of cellulosic RINs …

by Brent Erickson (Biotechnology Industry Organization/Biofuels Digest)   EPA’s proposed rule went too far in correcting a problem largely of the refiners’ own making.  It’s in the nation’s interest to put the final RFS rule back …

by John Kingston (Platts: The Barrel) Anna Temple of WoodMac tried at the annual AFPM meeting to put one aspect of the ethanol issue into a highly consumable number: eight.
The Houston-based downstream consultant, in one part of …

by  Rob Johansson and Seth Meyer (FarmDocDaily/USDA) Building on the discussion of RIN pricing and stock holding (here) we explore what a ‘healthy’ RIN bank may look like, estimate RIN stocks for 2014. The availability of RIN stocks …

by Rob Johansson and Seth Meyer (USDA/FarmDocDaily)  … It is clear that the bankable (and borrowable) nature of RINs allow obligated parties to optimize their compliance costs over time.  In the past, pre-blendwall, it was relatively inexpensive to generate …

by Bob Dinneen (Renewable Fuels Association/US News and World Report)  Ethanol is less expensive than gas, and consumers will benefit more if it’s used.
Logic is nowhere to be seen in petroleum analyst Gregg Laskoski’s call …

by Ron Lamberty (Ethanol Producer Magazine/American Coalition for Ethanol)  The ability for independent fuel marketers to sell renewable fuels at lower prices while improving profit margins by selling RINs, has given independent fuel marketers something …

by Scott Irwin (FarmDocDaily/University of Illinois)  … The purpose of today’s post is to show that the recent behavior of prices in the RINs market suggests the odds of the EPA reversing the proposed write down …

by Herman Wang (Platts)  The US Environmental Protection Agency will finalize the 2014 Renewable Fuel Standard in about four months, a top official said Wednesday.
“Our goal was to finalize [the rule] by spring,” said Chris …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Reform, repeal or compete: the options laid out for ethanol by Big Oil by Marathon’s Product Supply & Optimization Director in a frank keynote at the National Ethanol Conference.   The …

by Jordan Godwin (Platts) Current-year corn-based ethanol (D6) RINs were assessed at their highest level in nearly four months Monday on firming buying interest and continued uncertainty regarding the 2014 Renewable Fuel Standard, sources said.
…
RIN prices skyrocketed …

(MarketWatch/KiOR)  KiOR, Inc., provided today (December 23, 2013) an update on the operations at its Columbus, Mississippi, facility.
KiOR expects that, given current and anticipated operations through the remainder of the year, the Columbus facility will …

by John Davis (DomesticFuel.com)  The case for keeping the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) as-is is being made today at an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hearing in Arlington, Va. Our friends from the Renewable Fuels Association …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Today, the EPA has scheduled a day of testimony on its proposed 2014 Renewable Fuel volume targets — and a proposed 40 percent slash in the advanced biofuels category to …

by Mario Parker (Bloomberg)  Ethanol gained on speculation that rising production won’t be enough to keep up with demand and bolster stockpiles.
The additive’s discount to gasoline, based on January contracts, narrowed 0.47 cent to 96.07 …

by John Kingston (Platts)  The University of California-Davis has a new study out about California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard. Once you get past the standard dry academic writing, much of it is fairly startling.
We care about …

by Steven Mufson (The Washington Post)  The “now hiring” sign is up online for Emmetsburg, Iowa, where the nation’s largest maker of ethanol used for motor fuel is putting the final touches on a manufacturing …

by Cezary Podkul (Reuters)  Swiss trading company Vitol SA is among the biggest beneficiaries of an opaque U.S.-government-mandated trading scheme established to help boost the share of ethanol in the nation’s fuel supply, market sources …

(The Center For Agricultural And Rural Development/Sacramento Bee)   Meeting demand is key to achieving federal renewable fuel volume mandates
A new paper by Iowa State University economists Bruce A. Babcock and Sebastien Pouliot identifies a bottleneck of too …

(Center For Agricultural And Rural Development/PR NewsWire/Yahoo!Finance)  A new analysis by Iowa State University economists Bruce A. Babcock and Sebastien Pouliot of the EPA’s ethanol market system finds that it works effectively and as intended …

(Agri-Pulse)  The Renewable Fuels Association, Growth Energy and the Biotechnology Industry Organization filed Friday a motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to intervene in a lawsuit filed by the …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  The pressure has risen to 30 atmospheres and the temperatures are rising into the hundreds of degrees.  You think: “I’m in a dream, on a journey to the center of …

by Cezary Podkul (Reuters)  Thirteen U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday urged the derivatives market regulator to examine fraud and manipulation in the cash market for ethanol blending credits known as RINs, as political scrutiny of the …

by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)   What’s behind the plunge in renewable identification number (RIN) prices? University of Illinois economist Scott Irwin examined the question in another of his ongoing series of FarmDocDaily posts following …

by Cezary Podkul  (Reuters)  … “The increase in (RIN) price is indeed translated into an additional cost for the company (around $100 million) and as a consequence, Total plans to increase exports and jet (fuel) production” …

by John Davis (DomesticFuel.com)  It’s been a pretty good couple of weeks for E85 ethanol, as the green fuel made its way into 24 more stations across the country and got another study with supportive …

(Lincoln Journal Star)  A “somewhat meager rally” may be underway for spot gasoline prices, but oil market expert Tom Kloza said lower corn prices are causing “radical changes” for ethanol, and even for Renewable Identification …

by Brent Erickson (Roll Call/Biotechnology Industry Organization)  … What’s really behind this year’s rapid rise in the price of RINs? And will their cost be passed to consumers at the pump?
A simple exercise in following the …

by Christopher Doering   (Des Moines Register)  As controversy swells over the cost of special credits tied to ethanol, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley asked the agency charged with overseeing the country’s renewable policy for details …

by Greg Akagi    (KansasAgNetwork)  Michigan Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow, Chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, today called on the Commodities Future Trading Commission to review recent allegations about possible …

by Christopher Doering  (Des Moines Register)  A study from Iowa State University said the cost of installing tanks to handle fuel with 85 percent ethanol could be cheaper than purchasing energy credits to avoid blending …

by Conglin Xu (Oil & Gas Journal)  E85 motor fuel—gasoline blended with as much as 85% ethanol and commonly used by flexible-fuel vehicles (FFV) in the US and Europe—is becoming increasingly price-competitive with gasoline in several Midwestern …

by Gretchen Morgenson and Robert Gebeloff (The New York Times)  …But a little known market in ethanol credits has also become a hot new game on Wall Street.
…But many people believe that is what happened …

by Mike Lux (Huffington Post)  …If the 2009 financial crisis taught us anything, it’s that market manipulation and speculation is a recipe for disaster. Four years later, we don’t seem to have learned our lesson. …

by Mario Parker (Bloomberg/Fuel Fix)  Valero Energy Corp., the world’s largest independent refining company, called on the Obama administration to waive the country’s biofuel target immediately, saying the cost to reach it has skyrocketed.
“We need …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  … “What you really are in the business of,” Aemetis CEO Eric McAfee reflects, “is capturing the arbitrage between the commodity price of your most expensive feedstock — and the price …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …Based on our industry sources, here’s an outline for a “change the RFS” outcome – what that might look like.   We see four key elements — ethanol, drop-ins, biodiesel and …

by Bob Dinneen (Renewable Fuels Association/Pottstown Mercury) I am writing in response to Senator Pat Toomey’s Op-Ed that ran in The Mercury entitled “Federal regulations threaten Pa. refineries.”
The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is not threatening refiners …

by Steve Everly  (Kansas City Star)  … Ethanol has so far reduced the need for petroleum in gasoline by about 7 percent, which no other alternative fuel has come close to doing.
But a shift is already …

by Patrick Meehan and Pat Eiding  (The Wall Street Journal)  The price of EPA compliance rose 3,625% since the end of 2012.
…
As a display of regulatory failure at its finest, current regulations place the compliance obligation …

(Platts)  US RINs prices continued to slide Wednesday, reflecting a widespread morning market selloff and despite a later bounce after US gasoline stocks data was released.
All current-year RINs assessments fell for the sixth time in …

by Janet McGurty (Platts)  …This month PBF Energy and Alon USA both told analysts they had new plans to blend renewables like ethanol and biodiesel with gasoline and petroleum-based diesel as a way to fend off high prices …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  A month ago this week, Syntroleum (owner of a half interest in Dynamic Fuels, the renewable diesel technology) announced that it was “evaluating strategic alternatives” — and just a few …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  As a Perfect Storm of price problems ends, will E85 finally find its market and help end a divisive debate over ethanol distribution?
2014 is the year of E85, if there …

By Sabina Zawadzki (Reuters)  For U.S. refiners facing a multibillion-dollar bill linked to the soaring cost of renewable fuel credits, a U.S. move toward easing biofuel mandates brought to mind the first step in breaking …

by Kristen Hays (Reuters)   … Rising costs of ethanol credits mandated by the U.S. government also weighed on profits, Valero said. The company warned on July 11 that its second-quarter profit would be lower than …

by Mario Parker (Bloomberg)  The value of certificates that track compliance with a U.S. law to use corn-based ethanol dropped the most since March on speculation Congress will adjust biofuel consumption targets.
Renewable Identification Numbers, or …