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The U.S. EPA finalized amendments to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program that include new renewable fuel production pathways for renewable diesel, renewable naphtha, and renewable electricity (used in electric vehicles) from landfill biogas. According to the EPA, “Adding these new pathways will enhance the ability of the biofuels industry to supply advanced biofuels, including cellulosic biofuels, which greatly reduce the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) compared to the petroleum-based fuels they replace.” However, these changes don’t address some of the fundamental problems associated with the RFS, according to critics. For example, NACS, the international trade association that serves the convenience… [more]
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Pennsylvania’s Act 13 of 2012 created a three-year Natural Gas Energy Development Program that will allocate $20 million in grant funds to purchase or convert vehicles to natural gas. The goal of Act 13 is “to help the state’s ongoing effort to move towards energy independence.” Last week, Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection issued the first $6.7 million of the competitive grant funds to 18 organizations across the state. The grant money comes from Pennsylvania’s drilling impact fee, which has raised $200 million from the gas industry flourishing in the Marcellus Shale. The grants are capped at 50 percent of… [more]
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Last week Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), the senior Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, published a blueprint for energy policy, titled “Energy 20/20: A Vision for America’s Energy Future.” The blueprint offers ideas to “align federal policy with… our national interest to make energy abundant, affordable, clean, diverse, and secure.” Among the main ideas in Sen. Murkowski’s blueprint are: Establishing a national goal to become independent of OPEC imports by 2020 by increasing domestic oil, biofuel and synthetic fuel production. Approving the Keystone XL pipeline. Opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling and… [more]
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Advisor
Fuel Freedom Foundation
The recent projections for future energy consumption from Exxon Mobil’s report, “Outlook for Energy,” and the EIA’s “Annual Energy Outlook, 2013” essentially said the same thing concerning the potential for natural gas and its derivative methanol: Natural gas use now is only about 1 percent of the total fuel used in vehicles, and by 2040, it will only rise to 4 percent. This increase will take place in the trucking sector and liquefied natural gas (LNG). Owners of automobiles will not rush to natural gas, because of a lack of pumping stations and the low density of natural gas. Adam… [more]
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NRDC’s recently released report ranks states in two critical areas related to our nation’s continuing addiction to oil: gas price vulnerability – calculated as the percentage of personal income spent on gasoline by the average driver in each state – and state’s adoptions of solutions to reduce oil dependence. The report yields some conclusions: All states are impacted by oil dependence, but some states’ drivers are hit harder economically than others. The top 6 states most vulnerable to gas prices are Mississippi, West Virginia, South Carolina, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Texas, with the average drivers in these states spending 7.3-9% of… [more]
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The burgeoning U.S. shale industry that has helped reduce natural gas prices to record low-levels now may benefit U.S. commuters and the transportation sector. Oxford Catalysts Group Plc and Sundrop Fuels Inc., backed by Chesapeake Energy Corp., are planning to build factories in the U.S. to make more affordable diesel, gasoline and jet fuel from cheap gas. This gas-to-liquids technology has proven successful at locations like Royal Dutch Shell’s Pearl GTL plant in Qatar, where gas feedstock prices are also relatively low. According to Bloomberg, with access to gas at $3.89 per mmBtu, Oxford Catalysts would be able to produce premium… [more]
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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Transport Safety Administration (NHTSA) have released new rules for a corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standard that will increase fuel economy to the equivalent of 54.5 miles per gallon and reduce vehicle greenhouse gas emissions to 163 grams of carbon dioxide per mile by 2025. The EPA is establishing national GHG emissions standards under the Clean Air Act, and the NHTSA is establishing Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. Both programs will give flexibility to manufacturers to achieve compliance, including the use of a credit… [more]
View InsightHouse leadership is planning a vote this week on a bill to expand leasing for offshore drilling, the “Congressional Replacement of President Obama’s Energy-Restricting and Job-Limiting Offshore Drilling Plan” (H.R. 6082). As E&E News reports, the bill would “expand future offshore leasing to almost all of the Atlantic Ocean, the southern Pacific and Alaska’s Bristol Bay, all areas that were excluded from Interior’s final five-year leasing plan.” The bill would also double the number of sales in the Department of Interior’s plan and accelerate by three years sales Interior plans in Alaska’s Chukchi and Beaufort seas. Some have criticized the… [more]
View InsightThe Transportation Bill, called Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP 21), has been signed by President Obama. The bill allocates around $105 billion through 2014 to upgrade and maintain surface transportation infrastructure. Among its measures: Reauthorizes the Federal-aid highway program equal to current funding levels plus inflation for two fiscal years Expands the financing program Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) funding from $122 million to $1 billion per year Preserves dedicated funding for transit Streamlines the NEPA (environmental review) process Requires USDOT to develop a national rail plan and regional rail plans Restructures the… [more]
View InsightRecent increases in U.S. natural gas and oil production – increases dramatic enough to drive speculation about and calls for U.S. exports of these resources – have brought the prospect of an energy self-sufficient U.S. into sight, while geopolitical and market volatility around the globe continue to make energy independence an attractive policy goal. However, the question remains: Would U.S. energy independence necessarily mean U.S. energy security? According to a report from Securing America’s Future Energy, The New American Oil Boom: Implications for Energy Security, “energy security,” defined as our economy’s ability to withstand shocks to energy supply, is too… [more]
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