Last month’s proposed rulemaking for the Renewable Fuel Standard (“RFS”) from the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) proposed significant changes to the RFS Program, which we summarized in a prior post. One of the major changes in the proposed rule is its treatment of biogas and renewable natural gas (“RNG”): the rule would open up new potential RIN generation from biogas through changes to the eRIN program and the establishment of RNG as a biointermediate. … More
Category Archives: Biofuels
EPA Proposes Major Biofuels Regulation
On December 1, 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) proposed a sweeping new rule for the Renewable Fuel Standards (“RFS”) Program, the federal government’s flagship program for facilitating the production of renewable transportation fuels to offset fossil fuels. Administered correctly, the Program could be a critical tool to combat climate change, including by incentivizing needed low-carbon fuels for air travel and other difficult-to-electrify sectors.
The proposed rule is significant in many ways.… More
Biden Announces New Initiative on “Game-Changing” Technologies for Achieving Net-Zero Emissions
On November 4, 2022, the White House announced a new initiative to support research and development projects on 37 “game-changing” technologies to advance the Biden Administration’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.
Led by an interagency working group, the “Net-Zero Game Changers Initiative” will direct billions of dollars under the bipartisan infrastructure law, the CHIPS and Science Act,… More
D.C. Circuit 2019 RVO Decision is a Mixed Bag for Biofuels
The biofuels industry has had a challenging season in the courts. Several weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit that had limited EPA’s ability to grant waivers to small refiners that allow them to escape compliance obligations under the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Program. Then, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (the D.C.… More
Massachusetts Legislature Passes Bill Increasing Net Metering Caps, Creating Net Metering Task Force and Creating REC For Renewable Thermal, Solar Thermal, Geothermal Ground- and Air-Source Heat Pumps and More
In the final hours of its legislative session, the Massachusetts legislature passed legislation to create a thermal energy REC program in the Commonwealth, lift the caps on the Commonwealth’s existing net metering regime and appoint a 17-member “Net Metering Task Force” to study the “future of net metering.”
Net Metering Caps
Rather than enacting an anticipated comprehensive overhaul of solar regulations and incentives in the Commonwealth (which would have completely lifted net metering caps and blended the state’s net metering compensation method with its solar SREC program),… More