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Vacation doesn’t stop the news

Posted: July 19, 2010 at 12:06 PM CST

Nothing like a week’s vacation to give a person a refreshing break from the work routine, even if the “vacation” included a lot of work on the homefront. There was no break in the news, though.

While I was weeding the garden, my colleagues were busy following several news developments. BP bought out the entire cellulosic development project that Verenium has worked on for years. Verenium will continue in business, returning to its core enzyme work. Speculation is that for BP it’s partly a public relations move, to bolster its image in the face of the Gulf disaster, although BP has been an investor in Verenium for some time.

In other cellulosic news, EPA announced the 2011 RFS volumes, giving a pretty wide range of 5 to 17 million gallons for cellulosic ethanol. The EPA’s list of companies and expected volumes differed from what we’ve seen reported by companies, plus at least one wasn’t on the list. Kris Bevill is tracking that down for a follow up. Also of interest to cellulosic developers will be GAO’s report on flaws in the DOE loan guarantee program.

Then the policy front is heating up. A new bill has been introduced in the Senate including a long term extension for ethanol and biodiesel tax credits, infrastructure incentives and other features to bolster the renewable energy sector. Growth Energy also introduced some new ideas on the policy front, suggesting part of the tax credit incentive be redirected to infrastructure, all new vehicles be required to be flex fuel and even the eventual winding down of the tax credit. One does wonder whether the elimination of government support for ethanol makes sense when the oil industry continues to be subsidized after well over 100 years in business. Holly Jessen will be digging into these policy developments in an upcoming feature on ethanol incentives.

For those who follow such things, just before my vacation there were a few changes in the teams at BBI International. Kris Bevill rejoined the team for Ethanol Producer Magazine and Luke Geiver moved over to a new assignment at Biodiesel Magazine. We will miss Luke even as we enjoy working with Kris more closely. Changing things up on the editorial teams, like a vacation, gives a new perspective to the daily routine.

-Susanne Retka Schill