ShareIn Washington, President Barack Obama today signed H.R. 4853, the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010.

Last night, 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 tax incentive and the renewable diesel incentive through 2011. The bill also renewed the 54-cent tariff on Brazilian ethanol through 2011.

Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis was invited to the signing ceremony for the Tax Relief Unemployment Extension Bill. At the ceremony, Buis presented the President with a letter on behalf of the American ethanol industry and its supporters, thanking him for delivering a common-sense ethanol tax policy.

In the letter, he wrote, “Every year, our addiction to foreign oil drains $1,000 for every man, woman and child out of our economy. That is money we should invest in Des Moines, not Abu Dhabi – Columbus, and not Caracas.  …by signing into law a one-year extension of the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit, your leadership has set the table for comprehensive, long-term energy policy, including reform of the American transportation fuels market, as proposed by Growth Energy’s Fueling Freedom proposal. Our plan to reform the market would encourage the installation of blender pumps and make every auto sold in the U.S. a Flex Fuel Vehicle, ultimately giving American consumers the power to choose their fuel at the pump, instead of having that choice made for them.”

Joy from US ethanol and biodiesel interests was tempered by a call by UNICA for Brazil to lodge a complaint with the World Trade Organization over the ethanol tariff.

At the same time, Senate Democrats abandoned a plan for a $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill that would have slashed funds for USDA loan guarantees and would have zeroed out funds for the Biomass Crop Assistance Program established under the 2008 Farm Bill. According to the Associated Press, “The 1,924-page bill collapsed of its own weight after an outcry from conservatives who complained it was stuffed with more than $8 billion in homestate pet projects known as earmarks.”

Reaction from industry included:

Mary Rosenthal, Executive Director, Algal Biomass Organization, said, “Congress’s decision to extend the incentives for the production and use of domestic renewable fuels is an essential step for the development of America’s biofuels industry. While long overdue, the extension of these important programs sends a strong signal of support for the importance of renewable, domestic fuels to our energy security, economy and environment.”

Joe Jobe, CEO, National Biodiesel Board, added, “Experience has shown that the biodiesel tax incentive is an effective tool to encourage the displacement of foreign petroleum with a superior, domestically produced Advanced Biofuel. Reinstatement of this proven incentive helps provide the policy framework needed to meet the nation’s renewable goals, and the NBB sincerely appreciates the bipartisan cooperation and support that made extension of this worthwhile incentive possible.

Randy Olson, Executive Director of the Iowa Biodiesel Board, added, “We are extremely pleased that the biodiesel tax credit extension has now been passed with strong bipartisan support in both the Senate and the House. Biodiesel has long been a bright spot in our state’s economy, supporting green jobs and generating economic activity on the farm and beyond. It’s also a vital component of our national energy security. Iowa’s biodiesel producers are looking forward to ramping back up to full-scale production of America’s first Advanced Biofuel and bringing jobs back to Iowa while helping our nation meet its commitment to Renewable Fuels.”

SOURCE: BIOFUELS DIGEST

“I’m led to believe the extenders of 2009 would be extended for the years 2010 and 2011,” the Iowa Senator said. That would be good news for the struggling biodiesel industry, which lost its $1-a-gallon tax credit at the end of 2009.

Grassley said the current 45-cent-a-gallon tax credit for ethanol, which expires December 31, will be extended through 2011, along with other expiring tax credits.

Grassley said that he doesn’t yet know if the ethanol credit will remain at 45 cents, or if it will be lowered to 36 cents, as it was in a tax bill authored by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT). The Baucus legislation, which would not have extended favorable tax rates for high income earners, was defeated on Saturday.

“I’ve been an advocate that we shouldn’t change any policy on these extenders,” Grassley said.

Grassley said he believes that a tariff on imported ethanol, which expires this month, will also be extended for one more year.

Grassley said he was pleased that the tax compromise also includes higher estate tax exemptions and lower estate tax rates for two years. The exemption will be $5 million per spouse at a 35% rate.

“I didn’t think we would ever have that possibility after we lost it in April,” he said. Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) didn’t allow a vote on a similar proposal offered by Senators Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR).

Grassley said he believes all Republican members of the Senate and House will vote for the tax compromise but he doesn’t know how much support the legislation will have from Democrats.

SOURCE: AGRICULTURE

Vilsack also announced a range of federal assistance for renewable energy development through the Biomass Crop Assistance Program established in the 2008 farm bill.

“Domestic production of renewable energy, including biofuels, is a national imperative, and that’s why USDA is working to assist in developing a bio-fuels industry in every corner of the nation,” Vilsack said in a speech at the National Press Club. “By producing more biofuels in America, we will create jobs, combat global warming, replace our dependence on foreign oil and build a stronger foundation for the 21st-century economy.”

Vilsack’s statements on the tax credit appeared to reflect recent discussions between the ethanol industry and White House Chief of Staff Pete Rouse about changes to the ethanol tax credit and protective tariff, both of which expire at the end of the year.

Vilsack said the lapse in the biodiesel tax credit has caused a loss of 12,000 jobs. He also called for “a short term extension” of the ethanol tax credit, but declined to answer questions about proposals to lower the credit, saying that a “healthy discussion” about changes is taking place. Vilsack did not list an extension of the tariff in his formal remarks, but said in response to a question, “The tariff is likely to continue, but over time it is likely to be phased out.”

Vilsack said the ethanol tax credit still is needed because it is a relatively new industry that requires more investment.

Joel Velasco, the Washington representative of UNICA, the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association, said the U.S. corn-based ethanol industry is mature and does not need the tax credit or the tariff.

A growing market

But Matt Hartwig of the Renewable Fuels Association said the industry still is in the development stage and needs the credit. Hartwig said the tariff only is to cover the value of the credit and should be extended at whatever level the credit is extended.

The final rule for the Biomass Crop Assistance Program will be published in the Federal Register Oct. 22, and Vilsack emphasized Oct. 21 that the programs under it were funded in the 2008 farm bill and do not require further congressional action.

The programs include reimbursements to farmers of up to 75 percent of the cost of establishing a bioenergy perennial crop for up to five years for grassy crops and up to 15 years for woody crops and assistance for the collection, harvest, storage and transportation of biomass to biomass conversion facilities for two years. He also said USDA will help pay for construction of 10,000 blender pumps and storage systems to make renewable fuels more easily available to consumers.

Vilsack noted the opening of regional biomass research centers to accelerate the development of a commercial advanced biofuels industry. The centers will be located in Madison, Wis., Lincoln, Neb., and in Alabama, Georgia, Arizona, Washington state and Oregon.

He said USDA’s rural development division will announce assistance to biorefinery plant projects within 60 days and that USDA is trying to figure out whether it can make changes to its federal loan guarantee programs to make them more attractive to investors.

Vilsack said, however, that changes to the loan guarantees will depend on whether “we have the capacity to do that” and also noted that changes would have budget consequences.

Throughout his speech, Vilsack emphasized the importance of renewable fuels to the long-term vitality and job creation potential in rural America. Noting that rural America has experienced population decline and higher poverty levels than urban areas, Vilsack said “President Obama refuses to accept the notion that America’s rural past predicts its future.”

Tags: agribusiness, crops, biofuels, agriculture, farm

SOURCE: AGWEEK

Following the publication of the EPA’s draft Regulatory Impact Analysis this week which includes proposed changes to the Renewable Fuels Standards Program, the Argentine Renewable Energies Chamber expressed both concerns and optimism regarding the possible effects this will have on the export-driven Argentine biodiesel industry.

Buenos Aires, May 8, 2009 – A recent study published by the Environmental Protection Agency of the United Status (EPA) is promoting biofuels that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by no less than 50% when compared to their fossil fuel counterparts. This same report classifies different categories of biofuels and concludes that soy-based biodiesel reduces GHG emissions by only 22%. If approved, the EPA’s proposal could cause grave harm to Argentine biodiesel producers, since more than 95% of Argentina’s biodiesel is made from soy oil. Additionally, the industry is export-driven and the United States is Argentina’s second largest export market after the European Union.

“The EPA’s analysis has the potential to drastically reduce Argentine biodiesel exports to the United States. It makes decisions regarding land use change for countries other than the U.S., yet doesn’t appear to take into consideration the positive effects of Argentina’s No-Till farming methods which plays a role in ensuring that Argentine soy biodiesel meets and exceeds the newly proposed stringent U.S. standards,” said Carlos St. James, president of the Chamber.

“While we fully understand and appreciate each nation’s right to establish standards and goals
for products consumed in their country, facts need to correct. We know that Argentine soybased
biodiesel is among the cleanest and environmentally-friendly options. This has been evidenced in scientific studies developed in the U.S. itself some years ago and more recently by our country’s National Institute of Agronomy Technology (INTA, by its initials in Spanish), both of which show reductions in GHG emissions that exceed 70%.”

The EPA has proposed a 60-day window in which the various industry actors can better understand the assumptions in the study and to offer counterproposals and corrections to this data. “Argentina has sound scientific elements to defend its position. We need to work internally with all industry interests along with relevant government agencies to present a common voice to ensure we are heard properly,” affirmed Lucas Trotz, the Chamber’s Manager. The Chamber is requesting a 40-day extension to the initial window, and various Chamber members will travel to Washington to participate in the July 9-11 workshop being organized by the EPA to discuss the draft.

The Chamber will also seek this extension as member of the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance, a global association whose members represent 65% of world biofuels production. Bliss Baker, Executive Director of GRFA from its headquarters in Toronto added, “Argentina, as one of the world’s largest biodiesel producers and exporters, will undoubtedly play a key role in ensuring that the industry continues to grow sustainably and we will work with them to present our organization’s point of view regarding the EPA study.”

St. James concludes, “We are confident that at the end of the day common sense, a frank and open dialogue, and the facts will carry the day. If not, the ideals of fair and open trade as espoused by the U.S. will take a step backward in the ongoing task of creating global markets.”

Speaking in the Chamber of Commerce Brazil-France, Cunha declared that they already have contacts with French and Spanish companies keeping in view the installation of biodiesel factories that will use brazilian raw material. Â

“We are seeing the possibility to develop biofuels production projects in Europe. And since the European energy matrix is based on gasoil, it could be initially a biodiesel production plant”, Cunha said.Â

The executive made it clear that the negotiations are still in the “embryonic”stage, but he pointed out that companies of the two mentioned countries established contact with Petrobras to discuss combined projects.Â

They also have conversations in that sense with Colombian authorities, that would also include the production of ethanol and the establishment of biofuel distribution nets.Â
“To locally produce it is necessary to have a distribution net, what can be made by association or by purchase of existing nets”, Cunha explained.Â

He also said that in the two “premium” refineries that the company will build in the Northeast region of Brazil generating units of electricity will be used starting from biomass and this will be used as preservative of the petroleum.Â

Of the two refineries that will be built in the states of Maranhao and Ceará, with processing capacities of 600.000 and 300.000 daily barrels, the first one should be that of Ceará whose cost was estimated in 6.800 million dollars.Â

“It petroleum will be refined together with biofuels, in a new concept that is that of the ‘biorefineries”, said the executive. Â

Nextfuel Argentina-Biodiesel.com.ar

JATROPHA CURCAS, ENERGY AND SOCIAL CULTIVATION

The Second Monographic International Conference on Jatropha Curcas, held during the past 14th and 15th of May in Madrid, fulfilled its objective of showing the current state of this important energy cultivation. Of the hand of Global Energy, the appointment gathered ten important experts at world level with more than 150 conference members interested in the production and commercialization possibilities of the Jatropha Curcas. The reports also highlighted the important social side of this cultivation.Â

Jatropha CurcasÂ

This bush, native from Central America but that at the present time has extended to several continents, is popularly known by the high content in oil of its seeds (approximately 40%) and for its special resistance, what allows it to adapt to almost any land and be used to combat the desert or to rehabilitate degraded lands. It is important to highlight that its seeds are toxic, for what its price is not influenced by the competition with the alimentary uses.Â

The different reports of the conference, enlarged this information, also showing, real experiences of cultivations and of its use as raw energetic material.Â

The opening of the conference was in charge of professor Reinhard Henning. The current founder and CEO of Baganí, German consultant specialized in the realization of studies of viability on the Jatropha, began to work with it in 1987 inside a program of the government from Mali for the development of plantations of this bush. Of this collaboration the successful “System Jatropha” was born, a program that looked for the production of oil from the plant as a way of facilitating the rural development of the areas where it was planted.Â

The economic impact that has the cultivation of Jatropha Curcas in the local communities also centered the report of the president of Getco, James V. Fanning. The company Getco expects very positive impacts in the areas where Jatropha is cultivated. Thus, during the congress, it presented two of the projects in wich he works, one in Colombia and another in Peru. In both he considers enough to use only 5% of the arable land to create, after ten years of production, oil for the value of more than 146 million dollars and 18.000 work positions in the Colombian case and oil for the value of more than 258 million dollars using 32.000 people in the Peruvian project. James V. Fanning demonstrated, in his report, his clear bet on the profitability of the cultivation of Jatropha Curcas.Â

Jatropha Curcas for the electricity productionÂ

Another of the outstanding presenters of this international conference was the energy cultivations investigator of the FACT Foundation, Ywe Jan Franken. This dutch foundation has as mission the production and commercialization of biofuels for the local development and it has active projects in Mali, Mozambique and Honduras. In these areas the cultivation of Jatropha Curcas is very positive since its oil is used for the electricity production and biogas. The investigator points out that they also use the peel and the cake of the plant, triplicated this way, the energy production. At the present time, the FACT Foundation carries out, in cooperation with the Technical University of Eindhoven, a study that is focused in the biogas use as blended fuel with conventional diesel and pure vegetable oil. This project is obtaining promising results at the present time.Â

Another option, is the use that contributed to the congress James Scruby, president of Viridesco. This English company is specialized in the elaboration of pure oil for the substitution of the conventional diesel. Viridesco centers its projects, as that of Mozambique that presented in the conference, in the energy creation for local use. This African country offers the lands and the appropriate manpower for the plantation in big extensions of Jatropha Curcas. The obtained oil is used directly as fuel in diesel motors type Elsbett with excellent results.Â

Positive examples in Colombia and MexicoÂ

Three of the speakers arrived from the other side of the Atlantic to tell to all the present their experiences in plantations of Jatropha Curcas. The first one was Jorge Bendeck, executive president of the Federación Nacional de Biocombustibles of Colombia. The plans of this country are to substitute all the imports of diesel for biodiesel of own production in 2020. In his conclusions on the studies made in the plantation of Jatropha he highlighted the high social value of this cultivation, since its manual gathering favors the little qualified manpower placement.Â

Who also shared this opinion were the mexican Rubén Lazos and Eduardo García, responsible for an important project of plantation of Jatropha Curcas in one of the most degraded areas in Mexico, the state of Michoacán. The work, that has lasted already five years, offers to the local farmers a profitable alternative in excluded areas, since the oil obtained is treated in a pilot plant located in the same state and that has an annual capacity production of nine thousand tons of biodiesel. In the Mexican case, the Jatropha will energize the activity in poor areas and will put a stop the desert in areas of marginal cultivations.Â

The Hindu betÂ

India, the country of the world where the energy demand grows most quickly, had an important representation in this Second Monographic International Conference on Jatropha Curcas organized by Global Energy. The new Hindu business sector was represented by Bhaskar Chalasani, managing director and CEO of Naturol, the first company that manufactures biodiesel in India. While the investigating sector of the country had as representatives to the speakers Dilip K. Kulkarni and K.K Meher, both investigators of the Agharkar Research Institute. The doctor Kulkarni presented us the results of a deep study on the variety “Nana” of the Jatropha Curcas, endemic variety of the India.

On the other hand K.K. Meher closed this conference with an interesting report focused in the biometanization of the cake of Jatropha. During the presentation he explained the important bet that India is beginning for the substitution of fossil fuels by biocarburants and other renewable energy sources and the possibilities of the cultivation of Jatropha inside these plans. As other speakers, doctor Meher, highlighted the social character of this cultivation, since the cake of Jatropha is being used at the present time for the biogas obtaining that provides electricity to many families of the India.

The fight to stop the climatic change. The measurement will cost three Euros per week to each citizen; it forsees to reduce the discharges of greenhouse effect gasses in a 20% towards 2020.

Photo:EFE

BRUSSELS (AFP). – The European Commission today revealed an ambitious plan of fight against the climatic change to reduce in a 20% its discharges of greenhouse effect gasses in 2020. The curiosity is that it will cost three Euros per week to each European and the industry will have to pay to have the right to contaminate.

As it was expected, the plan developed in Brussels demands an important effort of the industries of the Old Continent and will be object of hard negotiations with the national governments of the 27 members of the European Union (the EU), worried about the competitiveness of their economies.

In a presentation before the Europarliament, the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, said that it is the “most complete package of measures of the world” to fight against the overheating of the planet, with a cost of “three Euros per week per person” from now until 2020.

Decided to become world-wide leader in the fight against the global heating, in March of 2007 the EU committed itself to reduce in a 20% the carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) in 2020 regarding the 1990 levels.

EU also had decided to lift to 20% the percentage of renewable energies (Aeolian, solar, biomass, geothermal) in the total consumption of the block in 2020, against the current 8.5%, and to increase to 10% the use of biofuels in transport sector for the same year.
Now, it´s time to divide that effort at national level between the 27 members, and the proposal of the European Commission demands to Sweden that half of its power consumption comes from renewable sources in 2020, whereas Spain must reach a percentage of 20%, France 23%, Germany 18%, Italy 17% and the United Kingdom 15%.

The national governments questioned the calculation and the form of distribution, whereas the industrialists raised the ghost of the power plant transfers with the objective, partly successful, to attenuate the proposals of Brussels in this first stage.

 Since the plan must be approved by the Europarliament and all the Member States, a second negotiations phase is expected that would have to end in an agreement towards the end of 2008, according to the commission.

The set of Brussels proposals focuses in a considerable effort of the heavy industry, responsible for half of the greenhouse effect gas discharges of the EU, that from 2013 on will have to pay to contaminate.

“The electricity sector, responsible of most of the emissions of the European Union, will have to pay in a complete way from the beginning of the new regime in 2013 ?, the plan indicates.

“Other industrial sectors, like aviation will have to do the same, in a gradual way”, adds Brussels, that until now granted free emissions quotas of CO2.

As far as the other half of the polluting emissions of the EU, they come from transports, agriculture and residues, that will have to be reduced in a 10% for 2020.

Meanwhile, Durao Barroso indicated that the cost of the measures would have to be compensated by the gas and petroleum imports of savings in the EU, of 50,000 million annual Euros.

Regarding the sale of contaminate permissions, these would have to generate other 50,000 million Euros, amount that would go to the coffers of the members of the EU and would serve to finance the necessary technical innovations for the reduction of emissions.

Brussels expects much from the climatic change negotiations initiated in Bali in December of 2007 and bets on an international agreement in 2009 to limit the impact, under the threat to impose taxes to the imports of the countries that do not respect their environmental norms.

Source: La Nación