Articles Tagged with ''E15''

 The Senate’s draft farm bill doesn’t include language for year-round E15 or the elimination of California’s Proposition 12, but Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman is still highly optimistic both measures will make it through Congress this year. The two biggest U.S. ethanol trade groups are defending the Trump administration against legal challenges to EPA biofuel-blending rules from environmentalists, biogas groups and oil refiners.

The American Petroleum Institute says Congress needs to stick with a House-passed E15 bill as President Donald Trump formally asks lawmakers to clear a new funding package that also includes the pro-ethanol measure. 

President Donald Trump made the biggest pitch for year-round E15 since his first term, calling on Congress to include the pro-ethanol measure in a nearly $88 billion legislative package to fund a raft of items, including the Iran war and $11 billion in financial aid for farmers. Members of Clean Fuels Alliance America gathered on Capitol Hill this week to stress the need to pass legislation to expand biomass-based diesel use in ocean-going vessels. 

Discussion on the potential for Senate passage of an E15 bill swirled on Capitol Hill Tuesday after the release of a draft farm bill that doesn’t include the pro-ethanol measure. A bill to expedite Emergency Conservation Program payments to producers whose land has been damaged by wildfires cleared the House Tuesday with a 386-19 vote. It now heads to the president’s desk for his signature.

Senate Agriculture Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark., is optimistic on the prospects for E15 and additional farmer aid to pass Congress. 

 As policy watchers await a draft farm bill from the Senate Agriculture Committee, lawmakers also need to focus on passing year-round E15, weighing in on California’s Proposition 12, and getting more economic aid into the hands of crop growers, American Farm Bureau Federation’s John Newton says. The Trump administration’s record-high biofuel-blending rules are a clear economic win for rural America, says Clean Fuels Alliance America CEO Donnell Rehagen.

The Agriculture Department is putting $105 million into 40 research projects aimed at better equipping the U.S. to combat the spread of New World screwworm, the agency says. The National Corn Growers Association and 15 state corn organizations are calling on USDA to fund research supporting the full value of corn as a driver of new market opportunities and farm revenue.

Demand for major U.S. crops like corn is waning while harvests get bigger, creating an urgent need to develop new new biofuel markets for American agriculture producers, a new study says.

The Senate Agriculture Committee is expected to consider a farm bill during the work period between July 4th and August recesses, Chair John Boozman, R-Ark., says. The Senate Agriculture Committee advanced the nomination of Glen Smith to be undersecretary of agriculture for rural development along party lines, setting the stage for a Senate floor vote. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune says work is underway to craft a new E15 bill, though what that looks like is still to be determined.