Trump administration announces sharp increase in biodiesel fuel requirements, giving corn and soybean farmers a lift

The Trump administration announced biodiesel quota increases last week, which will give a much-needed financial lift to some corn and soybean farmers. "The new rule increases biomass-based diesel — which is partly derived from soybeans — blending by more than 60%," reports Patrick Thomas of The Wall Street Journal. "It raises the biofuel requirement for all fuels by a lower percentage."

Federal biofuel requirements from 2025-2027. (Graph via Farm Progress)

The quota announcement, which tells refineries "how much biofuel made from crops must be blended into the gasoline and diesel supply" ... "is closely watched by corn and soybean farmers," Thomas explains. The percentage also impacts companies such as Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge and Cargill, which "buy crops from farmers and process grains and oilseeds into fuel, food ingredients and other products."

Trump announced the quota requirements at a White House event "surrounded by farmers, ranchers and a gold-colored tractor," Thomas explains. Trump outlined how the increased renewable fuel requirements "would help bolster the U.S. fuel supply, while generating $10 billion for rural economies."

Trump also told the crowd that "he was seeking congressional action to allow gas containing 15% of ethanol year-round and new loan guarantees for farmers," Thomas reports. Farmers have been pushing for year-round sales of E-15 gasoline, commonly known as "Unleaded 88" for its higher octane rating. Ninety-seven percent of U.S. ethanol is made from corn, so continuous E-15 sales would primarily benefit American corn farmers.

The farmer loan guarantees Trump referenced are aimed at lowering grocery prices. Trump said the loans, which will flow through the Small Business Administration, will "open up 'massive new loan guarantees' for farmers and food producers," reports Joshua Baethge of Farm Progress. 

Farmers are bullish on biodiesel vs. ethanol, but biodiesel's five-year outlook is not as clear to them, Purdue reports

As demand for biodiesel increases, it may outpace ethanol as a renewable energy source. "Farmers are far more bullish about the chances of expansion of the renewable diesel industry than in ethanol, the dominant 'green' fuel in rural America, said a Purdue University poll on Tuesday," reports the Food & Environment Reporting Network. "The telephone survey for the monthly Ag Economy Barometer also found nine of 10 farmers expect higher soybean prices at the farm gate as more and more renewable diesel fuel reaches the market."

Farmers have differing views on what the biodiesel market will look like in five years. "Some 46% of farmers said they believed the renewable industry would be larger; a quarter said they believed the ethanol industry would be larger; 55% said they expected it would be 'about the same' size," FERN reports. "Larger production of renewable diesel would boost soybean prices, said the lion's share of producers polled by Purdue."

As an alternative fuel, "Renewable diesel is an infant industry with 2022 production of 2.6 billion gallons," FERN reports. "But the number of plants producing the fuel could double, to 32, by the end of 2025, which would raise production capacity to 6 billion gallons, said the farmdoc daily blog last week. 'The renewable diesel boom that began in earnest during 2021 looks to continue unabated over the next few years. Driven by policies in place to stimulate investment, another doubling of renewable diesel capacity by the end of 2025 appears to be feasible.'" The Ag Economy Barometer is available here.  

After 18th ethanol plant idles, state corn-grower associations ask Trump to uphold the Renewable Fuel Standard

As corn growers await a biofuels deal President Trump has promised, another ethanol plant has shut down: the 90-million-gallon-a year plant of Siouxland Energy Cooperative in Sioux City, Iowa. "To date, 18 ethanol plants are known to have idled production with many more cutting back," Todd Neeley reports for DTN/The Progressive Farmer. "The biodiesel industry has seen nine plants close and others cut production, as well."

Siouxland "cited lost ethanol demand from the most recent round of 31 small-refinery exemptions to the Renewable Fuel Standard as the reason, the final straw in what has been a tough margin environment in the past year," Neeley reports.

Corn farmers and corn-based ethanol producers have been angered by the exemptions, which they see as the Trump administration's effort to appease oil interests, Neeley reports. On top of that, the administration announced in July that it would not increase the amount of corn-based ethanol required to be mixed into the nation's fuel but would increase the amount of cellulosic ethanol produced from grasses and woody plants.

"In recent weeks, it was reported Trump had reached a tentative agreement with lawmakers from ethanol-producing states that included reallocating biofuel gallons waived, among other things," Neeley reports. "The announcement of that agreement was expected soon, only to be put on hold following last week's White House meeting with senators from oil-producing states."

On Friday, leaders of corn-grower organizations in 23 states sent Trump an open letter saying the exemptions have cost 2,700 rural jobs and hurt demand for more than 300 million bushels of corn when the agriculture sector is already struggling.

The letter more or less suggests that the Environmental Protection Agency increase the amount of ethanol in the fuel mix to account for projected small-refinery exemptions in 2020. Doing that would allow the administration to keep granting waivers without hurting the program or corn interests, the letter says. Though the letter thanks the administration for allowing year-round sales of E15 fuel (15 percent ethanol), it contains what could be construed as a warning for Trump's 2020 re-election bid: "Frustration in the countryside is growing."

University of Illinois agricultural economist Todd Hubbs writes, "The prospect of substantial growth in corn use for ethanol this marketing year seems limited. Barring a significant change in policy surrounding the RFS, a trade deal, or an unexpected jump in gasoline consumption, the prospects for corn use in ethanol appear set to match current USDA projections of 5.45 billion bushels, at best."

Writer says Grassley could throw a big wrench into Trump's plans if biofuels demands are not met

We reported yesterday that Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa threatened to hold up President Trump's nominees for the Environmental Protection Agency if biofuel mandates are reduced in the Renewable Fuels Standard. But that's not the only card in Grassley's hand, and he could become a thorn in Trump's side if push comes to shove. As Philip Wegmann's opinion column in The Washington Examiner says, "When properly motivated, Chuck Grassley can crush skulls. Right now, the Iowan octogenarian is just playing around."

That's because, as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Grassley has far-reaching power over Trump's judicial nominees: he controls when nominees get hearings and which nominees get voted on in the Senate floor. Trump has been frustrated by the Republican-controlled Senate's failure to pass significant legislation that he can claim as an administration win, so he's focused heavily on judicial appointments as a means for asserting his legacy. "Any slowdown in confirmations would deal a major blow to the administration," Wegmann writes. "Without judges, Trump looks even more impotent." There are about 60 judicial nominees awaiting confirmation right now.

The administration has been walking the fence thus far on the biofuels issue, promising lawmakers from corn-producing states that ethanol is important, but without firm assurances to support increased biodiesel requirements in the fuel mix under the RFS. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds spoke on the phone separately to both President Trump and EPA chief Scott Pruitt yesterday. "Both of them personally committed to me their continued commitment to the renewable fuel standard,” Reynolds told Reuters, and said the call with Trump was "positive."

Sen. Grassley says he and other Corn Belt senators could hold up Trump nominees over biofuels issue

We reported last week that Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa was outraged over President Trump's proposed rollback of the Renewable Fuel Standard. Now it appears as though he and other Corn Belt senators may be prepared to play hardball over it. At issue is the reduced requirements for ethanol in the fuel mix; Grassley and other legislators from corn-producing states say Trump is breaking a campaign promise to support ethanol.

Before an Oct. 17 meeting with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, Grassley told reporters that he thinks "plenty" of Midwestern senators would consider holding up Trump's EPA nominees over the issue. Grassley said in a statement afterward that he "impressed upon Pruitt that supporting biofuels is 'good policy'" during the meeting, and that the message was "well-received," Ed Tibbetts reports for the Quad-City Times in Davenport, Iowa.

But after the meeting, "Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, postponed the confirmation votes of four EPA nominees scheduled for today. That suggests that senators may have not gotten the commitment they were seeking from Pruitt, and that one or both of the Midwestern Republicans on the committee, Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), were willing to buck the Trump administration on the nominees," Dino Grandoni reports for The Washington Post.

Grassley may have other leverage in the fight: he's the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is investigating Russian interference in last year's election.

EPA plan to scale back renewable fuels puts Trump at odds with Grassley, rest of Iowa delegation

The Environmental Protection Agency's plan to scale back the amount of renewable fuels that have to be blended with gasoline and diesel fuel could cause problems for President Trump, Dino Grandoni writes in today's "The Energy 202" for The Washington Post.

Sen. Chuck Grassley

In his campaign and in June rally in Iowa, Trump promised to support biofuels, and that helped him with Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, who "began embracing Trump long before the rest of the GOP establishment did," Grandoni notes. But EPA's plans for the Renewable Fuel Standard have brought the two into conflict, and put the administration and the Iowa congressional delegation "on a collision course over an issue central to the economic viability of biofuels — and to the farmers in Iowa growing the corn and other agricultural products that go into them," Grandoni writes.

Trump's promises to support ethanol helped him place second in the Iowa caucus and go on to win that and other Midwestern states in the general election, said Grant Kimberley, a corn and soybean farmer in Iowa and executive director of the Iowa Biodiesel Board. "Rural America elected President Trump, and that was one of the key factors in the Midwest," he told Grandoni. Then, as EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and Energy Secretary Rick Perry were confirmed, they "promised, unprompted, to support ethanol," Grandoni reports. "Yet in none of Grassley's conversations — with Pruitt, with Perry or with Trump — did the administration make specific assurances about RFS levels going forward, the senator said." Grassley is to meet with Pruitt next week.

Other issues of more interest to the president may be in play. Grassley is chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is investigating Russian interference in last year's election, and this "is in a better position than most other Republicans in Congress to tighten the screws on the Trump administration."

Weed could boost agriculture in Midwest while producing environmentally friendly biofuel

Pennycress field (Arvegenix photo by Jerry Steiner)

A weed once thought to be a nuisance could be the new crop to boost agriculture in the Midwest, Becky Wildt reports for the Great Lakes Echo, a project of the Center for Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University. Pennycress, which "naturally grows in disturbed areas with little competition, such as harvested corn fields lying bare and unproductive," has seeds that "produce oil that can be used as a raw material for biodiesel." Planted in August or September, near the end of corn season, pennycress grows until late May.

Winthrop Phippen, a professor of plant breeding and genetics at Western Illinois University, told Wildt there are environmental benefits to growing pennycress: “I am using ground that farmers leave totally empty over the winter months. And I am squeezing in another crop. And I’m not having to clear wetlands, I’m not having to disturb watersheds or anything. I’m actually improving the watershed because now I’ve got green cover during the winter months. And that helps absorb any leftover nitrogen that may be in the field.” He said that "keeps excess nitrogen from running off into streams and waterways."

Jerry Steiner, chief executive officer of pennycress development company Arvegenix, said the biggest advantage of the crop is that it doesn't take away any land needed to grow food, Wildt writes. He told her, "The biodiesel industry and the renewable-jet-fuel industry are looking for a new feedstocks, the raw material needed to produce biodiesel. But they want feedstocks that don’t compete with food.” (Read more)

Hawaii biodiesel refinery is first U.S. biofuels plant to be certified as sustainable by industry group

A Hawaii plant that turns 13,000 gallons a day of waste cooking oils, animal fats, fruit and seeds into diesel fuel has been certified the nation's first sustainable biodiesel plant by the Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance, a non-profit industry group, Diane Cardwell reports for The New York Times. "The certification is intended to help clean fuel producers distinguish themselves to customers seeking green products—a kind of Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for the environmentally conscious." (NYT photo by Kent Nishimura: Refinery in Kea’au)

"For biofuels, the environmental benefits of which have fallen under increasing scrutiny in recent years, that differentiation is ever more important, executives and advocates say," Cardwell writes. Jeff Plowman, chairman of the alliance’s certification committee, told her, “There are lots of different ways of making biodiesel—lots of different feedstocks—and some have been more sustainable than others. Much like the organic labeling or non-G.M.O. labeling, it gives consumers some information to make a choice."

"Climate change specialists say there may simply not be enough agricultural waste to produce significant quantities of biofuel without causing other environmental problems, and it is important to account for what would have happened to the waste material had it not been funneled into fuel," Cardwell writes. John M. DeCicco, a research professor at the University of Michigan Energy Institute, told her, “You can’t just automatically make assumptions that, say, waste-based fuel is O.K. If you have a waste that was otherwise not going to decay, then that carbon is already being kept out of the air with respect to the atmosphere, and at that point you’re as ahead of the game as you’re ever going to be.” (Read more)

Officials at odds over Renewable Fuel Standard rules but agree that EPA is dragging its feet

Industry officials on both sides of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) argument are at odds over Environmental Protection Agency's proposed rules and upset with continued delays that have created uncertainty in the marketplace, Spencer Chase reports for Agri-Pulse.

Oil and ethanol leaders said EPA's most recent proposal ignores "the desires of the American consumer," Chase writes. American Petroleum Institute president and CEO Jack Gerard said. “I believe consumers are becoming more and more aware of what the ethanol blend is doing, and that's why there are even more dispensaries, more gas pumps if you will, that dispense E85, [but] you're not seeing a significant uptick in the consumption of E85 . . . consumer interests should come ahead of ethanol interests.”

Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen disagreed, "saying proper implementation of the RFS would prove the 'blend wall'—a term signifying the maximum amount of ethanol American consumers will buy—is an artificial construct," Chase writes. Dinneen said, “There's nothing wrong with the RFS that can't be fixed by what is right with the RFS. EPA needs to read the statute and implement a program that Congress put in place because it was working. If EPA allows the program to work, the market will break the blend wall.”

Gerard said data from the Energy Information Administration shows an "increased demand for E0, gasoline sold without any added ethanol," Chase writes. But Dinneen says Gerard is misinterpreting the data. Dinneen said, “If, in fact, you look at how much blending has occurred over the last year, ethanol blending has continued to increase. The only ones that are calling for E0 are those folks representing the interests of the status quo that don't want to see renewable fuels increase in this country and want to scare consumers into thinking that ethanol is bad for their engines.”

Dinneen did say that "the 'story of the RFS' isn't about the success of the industry but rather 'EPA's mismanagement of a really good program that Congress had laid out for them,' making the program a constant target for legislative action," Chase writes.

"Even so, Gerard said he and many others hope that 2015 could be the year for potential legislative action causing significant RFS reform," Chase writes. Gerard said,  “Clearly the momentum [for RFS reform] is building,” Gerard said. “Quite candidly, the best approach is for all the parties to come together and resolve it, but as you can see, there's some who have no interest in resolving this who just continue to push for more and more and more, and now I think we've clearly put the American consumer at risk, and I think you're going to see more and more folks come back and say, ‘Enough is enough; we've got to fix it.'” (Read more)

Biodiesel industry wants EPA to raise production levels to 1.7 billion gallons per year

While the biodiesel $1-per-gallon tax credit—which has expired three times in the last three years, including on Dec. 31, 2013—will likely be extended through 2014, "a longer-term extension remains in doubt as the lame duck Congress is wrangling with the White House over a package which includes the biodiesel incentive along with dozens of other tax breaks," reports Agri-Pulse, a Washington newsletter.

The biodiesel tax credit and the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) are policies that President George W. Bush promoted and signed into law, and some of the biggest vocal supporters are Republicans, Agri-Pulse writes.

"Yet the RFS remains a huge question mark," Agri-Pulse writes. Last year the Environmental Protection Agency "worried about ethanol hitting the so-called 'blend wall'—10 percent of U.S. transportation fuel usage. So in November 2013, EPA proposed to reduce the RFS volume requirement well below the level set by law. That way, Big Oil wouldn’t have to surrender any more than 10 percent of its market to ethanol."

"One major problem with EPA’s reasoning was that the blend wall exists because the oil industry resists installing the blender pumps needed to let drivers choose E15 (15 percent ethanol/gasoline blend) rather than the standard E10–or to let flex fuel vehicles fill up with E85," Agri-Pulse writes.

Another problem is "that biodiesel has become collateral damage in the oil industry’s battle to limit competition from ethanol," Agri-Pulse writes. EPA proposed levels of 1.28 billion gallons, well below the 1.7 billion gallons suggested by the National Biodiesel Board. Biodiesel production was 1.8 billion gallons in 2013 and is on pace to produce 1.6 billion gallons in 2014.

With no way to forecast what volume levels the EPA will set or when, National Biodiesel Board CEO Joe Jobe sees more trouble ahead, Agri-Pulse writes. Jobe warns that “If the EPA doesn’t significantly increase the volumes from the proposed rule, as they indicated many times they intended to do, the additional volumes will be carried forward into 2015, effectively creating an even further cut.” Agri-Pulse is subscription only, but a free trial is available by clicking here.

EPA finalizes Renewable Fuel Standard percentages in four categories; backs off some goals

The Environmental Protection Agency's "final 2013 overall volumes and standards require 16.55 billion gallons of renewable fuels to be blended into the U.S. fuel supply (a 9.74 percent blend)," Derrick Cain reports for Agri-Pulse, a Washington newsletter. "The rule reduces the targets of cellulosic biofuels and advanced biofuel based on current production, gives refineries and importers four more months to comply with the 2013 targets, and signals that the EPA will reduce targets in 2014 to address 'blend wall' concerns."

"The EPA standard specifically requires: biomass-based diesel (1.28 billion gallons; 1.13 percent), advanced biofuels (2.75 billion gallons; 1.62 percent), and cellulosic biofuels (6 million gallons; 0.004 percent)," Cain reports. "The 6 million mark for cellulosic biofuels was reduced from a proposed 14 million level among concerns there would not be enough of the fuel to meet that level."

The announcement has drawn mostly rave reviews. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety, told Cain, “I have long supported the goals of Renewable Fuel Standard, incentivizing environmentally-friendly options that move our country away from foreign fossil fuels, while safeguarding our energy security. I also strongly believe that as we make investments in renewable fuels to lower our dependency on foreign oil, we must ensure that we don’t have an adverse impact on the environment or our economy.”

Tom Buis, chief executive officer of ethanol producer Growth Energy, told Cain, “We look forward to closely reviewing the final rule and we strongly support increasing levels of renewable fuel into our nation’s fuel supply. The RFS continues to be a resounding success, helping create jobs in America that cannot be outsourced, revitalizing rural economies across the country in addition to reducing our dependence on foreign oil and improving our environment, all while providing consumers with a choice and savings at the pump.”

Danny Murphy, president of the American Soybean Association, said the updated volumes for 2013 will allow “promising growth” of the biodiesel industry, Cain writes. Anne Steckel, vice president of federal affairs for the National Biodiesel Board, said the EPA’s decision will help consumers, create jobs, and reduce emissions. She told Cain, "With nearly 1.1 billion gallons of production last year, the biodiesel industry produced enough fuel to fill 87 percent of the total advanced requirement in 2012."

There is some opposition from groups, such as the Feed Food Fairness Coalition. The group said, “This is just another example of the inflexibility of the RFS mandate, which is imposing numerous unintended consequences, not the least of which is higher food prices for small businesses in the food chain. “The Feed Food Fairness coalition will continue to advocate for a complete repeal of the RFS to put an end to this failed experiment which has helped no one except a small group of special interests, while needlessly harming livestock farmers, food chain businesses and consumers.” (Read more) To read the full report click here.

Corn Belt expands northwest into marginal grassland, pinching perennial-crop biofuel hopes

High corn and soybean prices are driving conversion of grassland, some of it marginal, to cropland in the western Corn Belt, posing the threat of soil erosion and limiting the possibility for perennial bioenergy crops such as switchgrass, according to research recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (Map shows relative change from grassland in 2006 to corn or soybeans in 2011)

The researchers at South Dakota State University used land-cover data from the National Agricultural Statistics Service to analyze changes in the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska from 2006 to 2011. They found that 1.3 million acres had been converted from grass to crops. The Corn Belt is expanding northwest, and the last such shift came in "the 1920s and '30s, during rapid mechanization of U.S. agriculture," Bob Steever of Brownfield reports.

The conversion "was concentrated mostly in North Dakota and South Dakota, east of the Missouri River," Steever reports. Not only is much of the former grassland subject to erosion, it has "vulnerability to drought," the researchers write. The expansion is also "posing a threat to water- fowl breeding in the Prairie Pothole Region" (mainly in the eastern Dalotas, southwest Minnesota and north-central Iowa) and other wetlands. "Longer-term land cover trends from North Dakota and Iowa indicate that recent grassland conversion represents a persistent shift in land use rather than short-term variability in crop rotation patterns." (Read more) It appears likely to continue; today, the Department of Agriculture forecast record corn and soybean crops in 2013.

One way to follow up on this story would be to check with your local Farm Service Agency office about signups for the Conservation Reserve Program, which pays farmers not to till marginal land.

Wal-Mart joins sustainable agriculture alliance

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, has joined an alliance of other Fortune 500 companies who say they want to make agriculture more sustainable. The Field to Market alliance was started three years ago by the non-profit Keystone Center to improve agricultural productivity and reduce the use of natural resources. It includes farm groups, grain handlers and food makers, but Wal-Mart is the first retailer in the group and now its largest member, writes Michael Hirtzer of Reuters. "We have pretty ambitious goals to sell products that are sustainable and this is directly within that framework," Rob Kaplan, Wal-Mart's senior manager of sustainability, said of the new partnership.

"Field to Market studies major crops and works with farmers to make agriculture more environmentally friendly," Hirtzler reports. "A report the group released earlier this summer highlighted how six crops -- corn, cotton, potatoes, rice, soybeans and wheat -- that are now being produced more efficiently than they were in the last three decades. On one project sponsored by Field to Market, General Mills Inc. worked with 25 wheat growers in Idaho to learn how to maximize the use of fertilizer and other products used in farming, such as seed, insecticides and herbicides."

Wal-Mart reports it is seeking to eliminate 20 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions from its global supply chain by the end of 2015. Last year, the company told Reuters it turned 1.2 million pounds of cooking oil recovered from its stores into biodiesel, soap and a supplement for cattle feed. Other members of the alliance include Kellogg, Cargill, Coca-Cola and the National Corn Growers Association.

Ethanol subsidy and tariff to be extended

Congressional lawmakers have reached an agreement to extend the 45 cents per gallon subsidy for ethanol for one year and continue a tariff on the imports of the biofuel. The tariff will remain at 54 cents per gallon through 2011, said Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley. The provisions would be included in tax legislation worked out with the White House, Philip Brasher of the Des Moines Register reports. "The bill also would resurrect and extend for another year the $1-a-gallon subsidy for biodiesel that expired at the end of 2009," Brasher writes.

Grassley on Thursday announced the provisions would be included in the tax bill but the level of each provision was still uncertain. "The ethanol subsidy and tariff were due to expire at the end of this month," Brasher writes. Extending these provisions "will boost jobs and investment in the alternative energy sector, exactly when the economy needs a real shot in the arm," Grassley said. Critics of the growing federal deficit had targeted the subsidy and tariff as a move to cut deficit spending. (Read more)

Republican congressman from Iowa says farmers should expect spending cuts in 2012 Farm Bill

Farmers may see cuts in some agriculture programs as Congress looks to trim back federal spending in the 2012 Farm Bill, warns one Iowa legislator. Democratic Rep. Leonard Boswell, left, told the editorial board of The Gazette of Cedar Rapids the next farm bill will have a "safety net," but "programs may have to be capped or 'adjusted,'" James Q. Lynch of The Gazette reports. "There’s going to be a major effort to get our arms around reducing the debt and starting to draw back on it," said Boswell. "We can’t keep accumulating this debt. Everyone has got to share, so how can you share and still do what you do and have a safety net?"

Boswell said at hearings with farmers, producers, processors and others in the agriculture industry that lawmakers have been trying to determine what stakeholders really need. "You’re not going to get everything," he said. "I think they understood." Boswell, who like all House members is up for re-election this fall, "offered few specifics on adjustments to crop insurance, which he called farmers' safety net," Lynch writes. He advocated for the protection of and perhaps increasing assistance for biodiesel and other renewable energy sources. (Read more)

Genetically modified canola plants breed in wild

A new study suggest genetically modified farm crops are spreading into the wild. "A survey of North Dakota has turned up hundreds of genetically modified canola plants growing along roads across the state," Geoffrey Brumfiel of National Public Radio reports. "The results, presented Friday at the annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America in Pittsburgh, show that the vast majority of feral canola plants in the state contain artificial genes that make them resistant to herbicides." Cindy Sagers, an ecologist at the University of Arkansas who led the study, said researchers found two plants that contained traits from multiple modified varieties, suggesting genetically modified plants are breeding in the wild.

"What we've demonstrated in this study is a large-scale escape of a genetically modified crop in the United States," Sager told Brumfiel. While few scientists believe that the canola plants, right, pose an environmental risk, they say "the study highlights the ease with which some genetically modified plants can spread beyond their fields," Brumfiel writes. Canola plants are used in cooking oil, animal feed and some forms of biodiesel, and virtually all of U.S. canola is grown in North Dakota. (N.D. Tourism photo by Heather LeMoine)

"I wouldn't lose any sleep over it," Mike Wilkinson, a researcher at Aberystwyth University in the United Kingdom, told Brumfiel. Wilkinson, who has studied the spread of conventional canola in the U.K., said while it's common for the seedlings to spread, they don't fare well in the wild. The modified plants don't necessarily have any advantage over native plants, Wilkinson said because "in this particular case, herbicide resistance will provide little edge to plants growing in areas that, almost by definition, don't receive many herbicides," Brumfiel writes. (Read more)

Eastern Kentuckian returns home to show what locals can do to help revitalize Appalachia

Much has been made of the "brain drain" taking rural America's best students to cities, but one Eastern Kentucky man is hoping to reverse that trend by returning home with a proposal to help reclaim strip-mined land. When Nathan Hall of Allen, Ky., population 150, turned 18, he moved to Wisconsin but after several years away he "felt a growing need to re-connect with his home region," Elizabeth Lynch writes for the Daily Yonder. This summer he's using money from his Watson Fellowship to travel around the world to communities that, like his home Floyd County, "have relied on a single industry as well as communities that are working on land-recovery efforts," Lynch writes.

Hall was awakened to strip-mine issues while working with the Mountain Justice Summer camp, an anti-mountaintop-removal group comprised mostly of non-Appalachians. His experience "crystallized my intentions and my approach to the work I would do," he told Lynch. "Through my time in Louisville and with Mountain Justice Summer I had a 180˚ on my perspective on this region. This part of the country and the world needs positive work more than just about anywhere." Hall planned to work in a coal mine for several years to gain better insight into the industry, but left after a few months, following safety concerns from his family, in favor of attending Berea College.

Hall created his own major at Berea in sustainable industrial and agriculture management. After graduating in 2009 he developed "a biodiesel oil converter, a machine that turns cooking oil into fuel that can be used for tractors or other equipment that runs on diesel," Lynch writes. Hall's design, right, is mobile so he can bring it to small towns and schools across the state to illustrate the value of entrepreneurship. He has also developed an extensive agro-forestry plan for reclaimed strip mines that would "remove the exotic and invasive species that were planted as a cheap, short-cut cover up and break up compacted mine refuse," Lynch writes. (Photo by Lynch)

Hall points to motivation for change as the key to stopping the rural brain drain. "It’s tricky nowadays because I don’t see a lot of people around here who have that idea of needing to do something to help," he told Lynch. "To me that is the biggest barrier. You really have to try to encourage and motivate kids in depressed rural areas to come back and do something positive." (Read more)

Deficit concerns complicate incentives for biofuels

The biofuels industry is lobbying Congress to renew or start several subsidies it says are needed to protect the industry's future, but as lawmakers look for ways to trim the federal deficit those incentives may be in jeopardy. The $1-a-gallon biodiesel tax credit lapsed at the end of 2009, and Senate has been unable to agree on a bill that would revive the subsidy and extend it to the end of the year."The biodiesel subsidy itself isn't controversial, but Senate Republicans and some Democrats have objected to other spending in the bill that would add to the budget deficit," Phillip Brasher of the Des Moines Register reports. "The legislation includes money for state Medicaid programs and an extension of unemployment benefits."

"Congress must renew the 45-cent-per-gallon tax credit for ethanol or else the subsidy will expire at the end of the year," Brasher writes. "At the same time, the industry is seeking subsidies to install new pumps at service stations and fund the development of biorefineries that can make biofuels from crop residue and other new feedstocks." Salo Zelermyer, a former U.S. Department of Energy lawyer who now lobbies for some renewable energy firms, told Brasher any new biofuel measure that has a cost to taxpayers "is going to be difficult unless there's a clear mechanism to pay for it."

"Companies that want to make the next generation of biofuels claim they are close to making it economically but need more help from the government," Brasher writes. "None of the projects has yet to qualify for a federal loan guarantee." Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, who has long protected the industry from his seat on the Senate Finance Committee, told Brasher he was optimistic Congress wouldn't let the subsidy expire, but he wasn't sure anymore after the biodiesel credit. "If you were asking me this question a year ago about biodiesel, I would have said there's not a problem," Grassley said. "We would have gotten it passed by the end of the year." (Read more)

Biofuel of diesel and beef byproduct will power passenger train through cattle country

Amtrak and the Oklahoma and Texas transportation departments hyave announced a year-long test to see if the Heartland Flyer, a passenger train that runs between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth, can run on biodiesel and beef byproduct, Jay F. Marks of The Oklahoman reports. The test is funded by a $274,000 grant from the Federal Railroad Administration.

The train will use a blend of 20 percent byproduct and 80 percent biodiesel. Officials say it will requires little to no engine modification, Marks reports. "At the end of the test period, Amtrak will measure the fuel’s effect on the locomotive’s valves and gaskets," Marks writes. "The rail operator also will collect locomotive exhaust emissions for analysis with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency protocols." (Read more)

Biodiesel struggles to gain truckers' approval

The continued reluctance of truckers to use biodiesel continues to pose a significant threat to the renewable fuel, and one trucking company is lashing out against an Iowa biodiesiel group's misinterpretation of its report on a test of the fuel. In a letter read Thursday at the state Capitol, Decker Trucking of Fort Dodge reported its 2-million-mile study "proves that biodiesel is not a cost effective solution at this time," Dan Piller of the Des Moines Register reports. Iowa lawmakers are considering a bill that would mandate biodiesel use.

Decker launched the study in 2007 to examine "the impact of regular use of the fuel, particularly in winter where biodiesel has been prone to gel in colder temperatures," Piller writes. That remains a significant problem for the fuel, the study concluded. The company also criticized several industry groups for misrepresenting the study's findings. "Iowa Biodiesel Board, Iowa Soybean Association and REG [Renewable Energy Group] are promoting the Two Million Mile Haul as a success. But, if the report is read, the true results are buried in a mountain of data," Steve Lursen, a special projects manager who managed the study, told Piller. (Read more)