The Environmental Protection Agency increased the total amount of ethanol and biodiesel that must used next year to 19.88 billion gallons under the proposed Renewable Fuel Standard for 2019, a 3 percent increase over this year's levels.  But state and national ethanol and biodiesel advocates also wanted a commitment from EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt that the agency would stop providing dozens of hardship waivers to oil refineries. The waivers are designed to help provide relief to small refiners but they've been doled out large oil corporations, too. [node:read-more:link]

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reconsidering its plan to require that pure maple syrup and honey be labeled as containing added sugars. Maple syrup producers had rallied against the plan, saying the nutrition labels updates were misleading, illogical and confusing and could hurt their industries. No sugar is added to pure maple syrup or honey. However, the FDA's update would have defined maple syrup as an added sugar, both when used as a sweetener in the processing of other foods and as a stand-alone product. Stay tuned to see what the new proposal brings. [node:read-more:link]

The Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency has consistently ignored recommendations from the Department of Energy to reject or limit waivers to oil refiners seeking exemptions from nation’s biofuels law, according to five sources familiar with the matter. The U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard requires the firms to cover costs of blending corn-based ethanol into gasoline. [node:read-more:link]

An eastern Michigan town is halting consideration of wind turbine projects amid resident complaints over an energy company's proposal to build a wind farm in the area. Monitor Township officials unanimously approved a moratorium Monday on the construction of wind turbines until the township's planning commission can review its wind ordinance. More than 400 residents attended the township's Board of Trustees meeting this week to voice opposition to DTE Energy's wind farm proposal. [node:read-more:link]

A federal agency's justifications for killing coyotes and mountain lions and other predators in Idaho to protect livestock and other wildlife such as elk violate environmental laws because they lack a scientific review, a federal court has ruled. U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill said the U.S. Department of Agriculture's reasons for not doing the scientific review "were not convincing or objective." The Agriculture Department's Wildlife Services kills and removes predators that kill livestock in many states, especially in the U.S. West. [node:read-more:link]

US-based agricultor processor Archer Daniels Midland Co and DuPont Industrial Biosciences, a division of DowDuPont Inc, are partnering to provide cellulase enzymes for grain-based ethanol plants. The companies said on Wednesday they will develop, produce and market the enzymes that help make ethanol from corn kernel fibre, allowing grain-based fuel ethanol producers to make better use of existing feedstocks. Ethanol produce from corn kernel fibre could qualify for D3 RINS under the US' Renewable Fuel Standard programme, the companies noted. [node:read-more:link]

Moderate Republicans have given a lot of ground to conservatives in immigration negotiations, but it’s the one matter where they’ve refused to negotiate that is likely to sink a compromise bill the House is scheduled to vote. The bill — negotiated in recent weeks by members representing the various GOP factions — provides a path to citizenship for so-called Dreamers, young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. But it doesn’t change current law to prevent Dreamers from sponsoring visas for their parents once they become citizens. [node:read-more:link]

Utilising waste plastics as feedstocks for the production of chemicals should be part of strategies to better deal with waste management, according to the American Chemistry Council’s vice president of plastics. Finding new uses for plastic waste as feedstocks for bio-based materials would help to create a truly circular economy, where petrochemicals firms produce polymer products and then utilise them once they have been used as a means of creating more, according to ACC vice president Steve Russell. [node:read-more:link]

Five projects to purify manure at Washington dairies have received public funding, including one that involves engineer Peter Janicki, who told state lawmakers last year that removing all contaminants from livestock waste was possible and could even be profitable. [node:read-more:link]

A record fine levied against a northwest Washington blueberry farm for missed rest breaks and late meals has been cut in half by a judge. Whatcom County District Judge Pro Tem David Cottingham reduced Tuesday the amount Sarbanand Farms will pay in state and county fines to $74,825. The state Department of Labor and Industries originally imposed a penalty that totaled $149,650. [node:read-more:link]