by Erin Voegele (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Representatives of the North Dakota ethanol industry on Jan. 20 testified in favor of a bill that aims to create a sales and use tax exemption for carbon dioxide used for secure geologic storage. The state’s senate voted in favor of the bill the following day.
The legislation, Senate Bill 2152 was introduced on Jan. 8 and referred to the Senate Finance and Taxation Committee. The committee held a hearing on the bill on Jan. 20. Members of the North Dakota Senate voted 47 to zero in favor of the bill on Jan. 21. The North Dakota House will now address the legislation.
by Erin Voegele (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Legislation introduced in New Mexico on Jan. 19 aims to establish a Clean Fuel Standard within the state. The bill is supported by New Mexico Gov. Lujan Grisham, the Low Carbon Fuels Coalition, and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization.
If signed into law, the bill, SB 11, would require a 10 percent reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) from transportation fuels by 2030 when compared to a 2018 baseline. The required GHG reduction threshold would ramp up to 20 percent by 2040.
Those who refine, blend, manufacture and import fuel would be tasked with achieving the reductions. Fuel retailers would not be impacted.
by Erin Voegele (Ethanol Producer Magazine) The U.S. EPA is scheduled to publish a proposed rule in the Federal Register on Jan. 15 extending certain Renewable Fuel Standard deadlines for compliance years 2019 and 2020. A public comment period is open through March 11 and a virtual public hearing is scheduled for Feb. 9.
In the proposed rule, the EPA proposes to extend the RFS compliance deadline for the 2019 compliance year and the associated deadline for submission of attest engagement reports for the 2019 compliance year for small refineries. The new deadlines would be set for Nov. 30, 2021 and June 1, 2022, respectively.
In the proposed rule, the EPA explains its proposal to extend the 2019 compliance deadline for small refineries is due to uncertainty surrounding small refinery exemptions (SREs) under the RFS program. The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 8 announced it would review a January 2020 decision handed down by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals that invalidated three SR
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by Stephanie Kelly (Reuters) The Trump administration is considering requests from the oil refining industry and its backers for a sweeping nationwide waiver to exempt them from their obligations to blend biofuels, a measure they argue would help them weather the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is requesting comment on the potential general waiver for the 2019 and 2020 compliance years and also is proposing a new rule that would remove or alter the labeling for retail gasoline that contains higher ethanol blends, according to notices to be published to the Federal Register on Tuesday.