Sustainable Bioenergy, Farms, and Forests - July 27, 2018

RFS Roundup: To Grow Cellulosic Fuel Volumes, Address Low Hanging Fruit in RFS Changes

On Wednesday, July 25, the House Energy & Commerce Committee held a hearing to educate members on the complexities of the compliance markets for biofuels, as Environment and Economy Subcommittee Rep. Shimkus (R-IL), chair, explores reforming the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Shimkus (R-IL) and Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Walden (R-OR) have signaled their desire to significantly overhaul the RFS due to unrelenting calls from small oil refiners to lower compliance costs, as well as complaints from biofuels producers and refiners alike about a lack of transparency in the biofuels marketplace.

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EESI Briefing Recap: 

Decommissioning Nuclear Power Plants: What Congress, Federal Agencies and Communities Need to Know

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) held a briefing on the urgent need to safely decommission nuclear power plants, which are increasingly shutting down. The United States is facing a significant wave of nuclear plant closures for which it is unprepared. Most of the existing U.S. reactor fleet will inevitably close over the next two decades, as plants near the end of their operational lifespans. Decommissioning is the process of dismantling the closed plant and securing or removing radioactive waste while lowering the site’s residual radioactivity to safer levels. Getting decommissioning right is critical to communities’ health and safety, while getting it wrong could pose an existential threat. For more information, check out the briefing highlights. 

 

 

Headlines: 

1. EPA to Keep Pursuing Biofuel Changes Under New Leadership: Wheeler
2. Most Voters Want Congress to Preserve SNAP, Ag Benefit Programs in Next Farm Bill, Survey Shows
3. To Ease Pain of Trump’s Trade War: $12 Billion in Aid for Farmers
4. Meat and Dairy Companies to Surpass Oil Industry as World’s Biggest Polluters, Report Finds
5. Dicamba Moves Beyond Bean Fields and Into the Public Eye
 

 

To Contact the Editor: Jessie Stolark at [email protected]

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