Photo by qthrul. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

Since the Energy Policy Act of 2005 went into effect, there has been a nationwide renewable fuels standard (RFS) in the U.S. The amount of biofuels required by the bill were increased by the Energy Independence and Security Act in December of last year. As we all know, the economic realities of corn ethanol have been quite the topic of discussion since then, and the state of Texas is looking to take advantage of a provision of the the 2005 Energy Policy Act that allows the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to change the RFS "if implementation of the RFS would severely harm the economy or environment of a state, region, or the entire country, or if EPA determines that there is inadequate domestic supply of renewable fuel." An economic hit is exactly what Texas governor Rick Perry is worried about, and wrote a letter to the EPA on April 25 asking the Agency to halve the nationwide renewable fuels standard mandate (2008, the RFS is nine billion gallons). The EPA is accepting comments for 30 days here and will decide within 90 days of the April 25 receipt. Read the EPA's call for comments after the break.

When is cellulosic ethanol not cellulosic ethanol? When it's grown on public land. Let us explain.

Apparently, when cellulosic ethanol is made from biomass grown on public lands (or on private lands but is not intentionally grown and managed as ethanol feedstock), U.S. law does not count that ethanol towards the Renewable Fuels Standard. A U.S. Rep, Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD), is trying to get Congress to change this little quirk, according to a story in Domestic Fuel. She testified on the issues and explained how a South Dakota plant that's making ethanol from wood waste, run by KL Process Design Group, is affected by the law. The Argus Leader notes that this is a bi-partisan effort, as Sen. John Thune (R-SD) is also supporting the change.

[Source: Domestic Fuel, Argus Leader]