Biofuels Industry
Issue Alerts
Weekly Climate Change Policy Update - August 18, 2008
Kyle Danish, Shelley Fidler, Andrea Campbell, Kevin GallagherAugust 18, 2008
Taking advantage of a slow August, House Energy and Commerce Committee staff is reportedly drafting climate legislation. A new report concluded that a third of China's GHG emissions are associated with exports, which could provide support to those who advocate for a provision in federal legislation that would require the submission of allowances for energy-intensive goods imported from countries without emission caps.
Weekly Climate Change Policy Update - August 11, 2008
Kyle Danish, Shelley Fidler, Andrea Campbell, Kevin GallagherAugust 11, 2008
Energy policy has moved to the front burner in the contest for the White House as both Senator McCain and Senator Obama released greater details of their energy platforms. Massachusetts appears prepared to pass legislation that would create the nation's most ambitious emissions cap seen yet among the states, while Florida considered joining one of several regional cap-and-trade programs.
Weekly Climate Change Policy Update - August 4, 2008
Kyle Danish, Shelley Fidler, Andrea Campbell, Kevin GallagherAugust 4, 2008
This week's most significant developments include: a marine advocacy group study naming global shipping as the 6th largest source of global GHG emissions; Japan's plan of a $30 billion investment over 5 years to develop carbon capture and sequestration technologies; Senator Rockefeller adding a new proposal to provide tax benefits to offset high capture and sequestration costs; and states as diverse as Nevada, Massachusetts and Wisconsin providing details about their future climate strategies.
Weekly Climate Change Policy Update - July 28, 2008
Kyle Danish, Shelley Fidler, Andrea Campbell, Kevin GallagherJuly 28, 2008
The Western Climate Initiative released a draft outline of a regional cap-and-trade system, although many of the details remain unresolved. In the Northeast U.S., Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative members are preparing for the first auction of emission allowances, to be held in September. Attention to the issue of deforestation and reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation is growing, and the World Bank launched an initiative to fund programs in 14 nations. Senator Carper announced a hearing on the D.C. Circuit decision vacating the Clean Air Interstate Rule, which could renew calls for four-pollutant legislation.
Weekly Climate Change Policy Update - July 21, 2008
Kyle Danish, Shelley Fidler, Andrea Campbell, Kevin GallagherJuly 21, 2008
Turmoil in air quality regulations at the state and federal levels has arisen due to the invalidation of both the Clean Air Interstate Rule and the Clean Air Mercury Rule. This raises the question as to whether Congress will re-visit legislation that would regulate power plant emissions. Also in the news was Al Gore's speech encouraging the U.S. electricity system to be carbon free by 2018 and the cap-and-trade plan released by the Australian Climate Change Ministry.
Articles
Railroad Transportation of Nuclear Waste and Other Hazardous Materials
Michael McBrideThe Electricity Journal
April 2008
Railroads continue to have duties to shippers and the public, and they may not take the law into their own hands. Except for emergencies – and then only for the duration of the emergency – they must carry all commodities without regard to whether they are dangerous, unless the proper agency of the federal government has relieved them of that obligation.
U.S. Climate Change Policy Will Drive Significant Investment Opportunities in Traditional and Alternative Energy
Ben McMakin and Janet AndersonManaged Funds Association Reporter
April 2008
A new President and the likelihood of more Democrats in the House and Senate may tip the balance of power in energy debates from traditional oil and gas interests to proponents of new energy sources and cleantech goods and services. While we watch the election unfold, and as the rhetorical battles over energy policy continue in Washington, D.C., climate change legislation looms largest of all the energy debates.
Energy's Next Step
Curt RichLos Angeles Daily Journal
December 7, 2007
Once heralded as the lynchpin to America’s energy independence, ethanol is increasingly under attack as a flawed energy resource. The livestock and food industries criticize ethanol for the impact it has on the price of corn. Environmentalists point out that corn ethanol takes almost as much energy to make as it produces. Communities in more arid regions of the country worry about corn ethanol’s high demand for water.
Seminars & Events
2008 National Forest Landowners Conference
Inter-Continental Hotel, Chicago, ILApril 8, 2008
Curt Rich will be a speaker during the General Session on April 11.
First Annual New Mexico Biodiesel Policy Summit
Embassy Suites Hotel, Albuquerque, NMMarch 27, 2008
Van Ness Feldman's Curt Rich will be a speaker at 10:30 AM on March 27th during the Federal Policy session.
Air Quality Regulation in the Pacific Northwest
Washington State Convention and Trade Center, Seattle, WAOctober 15, 2007
Climate change dominates the headlines. In response, policy makers across the country are adopting measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. While climate policies are being developed outside of the conventional framework regulating air quality, they connect and impact each other.
Carbon Markets U.S. Forum
Point CarbonWashington, DC
January 2007
Van Ness Feldman's Bob Nordhaus spoke on legal and legislative developments and the firm exhibited at this conference, the first such event in the U.S. for leading global greenhouse gas media outlet and market advisory service Point Carbon.