Renewable Energy Memo

Our weekly compilation of renewable energy news and information from around the web.

$600 Million for Biofuels

U.S. DOE Secretary Steven Chu and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack last week announced the selection of 19 biorefinery projects to receive up to $564 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to accelerate the construction and operation of pilot, demonstration, and commercial scale facilities. The projects – in 15 states - should validate refining technologies and help lay the foundation for full commercial-scale development of a biomass industry in the United States. The projects should produce advanced biofuels, biopower, and bioproducts using biomass feedstocks at the pilot, demonstration, and full commercial scale.

Our friends at Biofuels Digest published a lengthy analysis of the awards and the process followed by the DOE.  It makes for interesting reading.  According to the analysis, the DOE published a Funding Opportunity Announcement in May of 2009.  After submitting lengthy written applications, there was a first cut and those who survived were invited to participate in a “GoToMeeting.com” online chat and presentation session.  DOE participants were never identified in the process, and never spoke directly on the conference call, but submitted questions online as they were identified as “Review #1″ and so on. 

As one successful recipient CEO was quoted to say, “what you win is the right to negotiate.”  Winning companies will now be able to negotiate the terms of their grants for a period of several months with the hopes of actually receiving cash in mid-2010.  While the ARRA intended for funds to get put to use in 2009, in this instance it wil have taken more like 1.5 years for the cash to actually be put to use.

EPA Issues GHG Endangerment Finding

Coming on the heels of the ClimateGate scandal, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson last week finalized the EPA’s GHG endangerment finding, ruling that greenhouse gas emissions are an air pollutant under the Clean Air Act and are a threat to public health.   The endangerment finding is an outgrowth of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in EPA v. Massachusetts in which the Supreme Court held that the EPA’s authority to regulate air pollutants under the Clean Air Act extended to greenhouse gas emissions.

Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe suggested that the EPA would use the endangerment finding as a means of accomplishing through administrative ruling what it could not accomplish through legislation.  He reasoned that climate change legislation (whether in the form of the Waxman Markey bill or some other form) was unlikely to pass Congress during 2009 and that the Obama administration needed the legal support provided by the endangerment finding in order to make commitments at the Copenhagen talks on climate change.

EPA Delays Decision on E15 Waiver

On Dec. 1 the U.S. EPA announced that it will not make a final determination of the E15 fuel waiver until mid-2010. In March 2009, Growth Energy submitted a waiver to allow for the use of up to 15 percent ethanol in gasoline. Under the Clean Air Act, EPA was required to respond to the waiver request by Dec. 1, 2009.

The EPA has been working to evaluate the waiver request and has received a broad range of public comments as part of the administrative rulemaking process. In a letter sent to Growth Energy on Dec. 1, the agency said that to-date testing has indicated that the engines of newer cars will likely be able to handle ethanol blends higher than the current 10 percent limit. However, the agency will delay making a final decision on the fuel waiver until more testing data is available. On a positive note, the EPA also announced that it has begun the process to craft the labeling requirements that will be necessary if the blending limit is raised.

“As we are evaluating [the] E15 fuel waiver petition, we want to make sure we have all necessary science to make the right decision,” said the EPA in a letter addressed to Growth Energy Co-Chairmen Gen. Wesley Clark and Jeff Broin. “Although all the studies have not been completed, our engineering assessment to date indicates that the robust fuel, engine and emissions control systems on newer vehicles (likely 2001 and newer model years) will likely be able to accommodate higher ethanol blends, such as E15. However, we continue to evaluate the question of component durability when E15 is used over many thousands of miles and there is ongoing study being conducted by [the U.S. DOE] that will provide critical data on this issue.”

New DOE Loan Guarantee Rules

The DOE published its new rules for loan guarantee applications.  The new rules incorporate comments from industry participants and are intended to accelerate the loan guarantee process.   The new rules were effective December 4, 2009. 

American Bar Association Renewable Energy Committee

Our Renewable Energy Committee of the ABA’s Public Utility Section is meeting for the first time today on a conference call.  We’ll be charting a course for the coming year and planning some webinars and other projects.  Membership on the Committee is free to members of both the ABA and the Public Utility Section.  Check with the ABA website for more details.