IN POLICY

On Thursday, January 3, the 116th United States Congress was sworn in with Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-12) elected as the new Speaker of the House. In the Senate, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will remain Senate Majority Leader.

Among biofuels champions, Colin Peterson (D-MN-7) will now serve as the Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, and, in the Senate, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) stepped down as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee in order to resume his role as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. In this position, he will likely be taking a more leading role on trade-related issues, among his other responsibilities. The Iowa senator is also now president pro pempore of the Senate, meaning he is third in line to the presidency.

As the new Congress is sworn in, the top priority will be addressing the ongoing government shutdown. The shutdown has impacted funding for several government agencies, including the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

For more information on and how it could affect regulatory reviews, check out the 'In Regulations' section below.

For more details, contact Vice President of Government Affairs, John Fuher.

IN REGULATIONS

For more details, contact Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, Chris Bliley.

AT THE PUMP

Unleaded 88 is now available at more than 1,700 locations and that number is expected to grow.

For more details, contact Vice President of Market Development, Mike O'Brien.

AROUND THE GLOBE

Canada Regulatory Design Paper for Clean Fuel Standard Released at End of 2018

On December 20, 2018, Environment and Climate Change Canada released the Regulatory Design Paper for the Clean Fuel Standard which outlines the key elements of Canada's Clean Fuel Standard (CFS) regulation. Set to begin the rulemaking process in the summer of 2019, the expected publishing date is current slated for sometime in 2020. The regulation is designed to reduce Canada's greenhouse gas emissions through measures like the increasing the use of lower carbon fuels and energy sources.

To accomplish this goal, the CFS sets separate requirements for liquid, gaseous, and solid fossil fuels. These new regulations would require that the carbon intensity of liquid fuels be reduced by 11 percent for CO2 emissions from liquid transportation fuels by 2030.

Currently, Canada operates under the national Renewable Fuel Standard, which mandates a 5 percent blend of ethanol blended into the fuel supply. Under the CFS, these two programs would be merged in 2022 at current blend rates and utilize a credit system through which obligated parties, or fossil fuel suppliers, can meet their emissions reductions obligations.

Ethanol currently offers a 43 percent reduction in emission over gasoline at a 10 percent blend, or E10. Canada's current E5 blend is, therefore, a strong first step towards even more beneficial fuel blends like E10, E15, and higher. In fact, some of Canada's provinces have already begun embracing higher ethanol blends to meet their emissions goals and keep fuel prices low for consumers.

In November of last year, Ontario, Canada's largest province by population, committed to meeting a province-wide E15 blend of fuel by 2025 in its 'A Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan'. The move is part of a stated goal of reducing emissions from transportation use and could indicate a wider shift to embrace higher blends across the country.

The CFS could therefore represent an opportunity for the rest of Canada to embrace ethanol and meet their emissions reductions goals. Growth Energy will continue to monitor the progress of Canada's CFS and keep you updated on our engagement with the rulemaking process.

For more details, contact Senior Vice President of Global Markets, Craig Willis.

IN OUR ASSOCIATION

Novozymes Volunteers Celebrate Holidays by Giving Back

Novozymes volunteers packed over 10,000 meals for Rise Against Hunger.

This past December, Novozymes commercial team members celebrated the holidays as a team differently this year, by using their traditional holiday gathering as an opportunity to give back to their community.

The Franklinton, North Carolina based-team packed over 10,000 meals at their annual holiday party for Rise Against Hunger, an organization which aims to end global hunger by mobilizing a network of volunteers and champions to package and produce millions of meals for distribution around the globe.

Kimberly Gay, Commercial Management Associate of Biofuel at Novozymes, described how this special volunteer event came to be:

“We wanted to do something more than just have a nice holiday dinner and a friend of mine mentioned that she did this as an activity and it was very rewarding,” Gay said. “We had 20 members of our Commercial team, located in Franklinton, participate. We divided into three teams and competed to see who could pack their 15 boxes of meals first.”

Thanks to our members, Novozymes, for their time and effort to help their community during this season of giving.

Learn more about Novozymes by visiting their website here.

For more details, contact Vice President of Membership, Kelly Manning.

The Weekly Rundown is the weekly newsletter for Growth Energy's members. It is published 51 times a year by the communications staff at Growth Energy. For more information, email team@growthenergy.org or visit our website GrowthEnergy.org. 

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