Opponents of the proposal to raise the blend level of ethanol in fuel from 10% to 15% -- including representatives of the automobile, beef, petrochemical and refining industries -- were out in full force on Monday as the Environmental Protections Agency’s comment period on the matter came to an end.

Rather than rewriting the House measure that calls for a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Senator Bryon Dorgan (D-N.D.) Monday suggested the Senate take up its own energy bill which has already cleared the Senate Energy Committee with bi-partisan support.

“It just makes sense” to extend the proposed Midwest to the East Coast ethanol pipe line into South Dakota, POET and Magellan Midstream Partners, who are studying the feasibility of such a pipeline, announced last week.

Capitol Hill watchers see “little hope” for the passage of legislation introduced in the U.S. House of Representative last week to phase out the ethanol blender’s credit.

ASTM is looking for volunteers for a biodiesel end-point study among labs.

Fuels that are based on algae or that are infrastructure-compatible will receive up to $85 million in U.S. Department of Energy funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Anthropogenic heat released during the industrial age is the main cause of global warming, not carbon dioxide, according to a study by Swedish scientists.

In Beijing to announce the formation of a U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center, U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu urged the Chinese government to join in the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The volatile oil market marked by ‘yo-yoing’ oil prices is largely the result of speculation, Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu charged yesterday during his trip to China.

SGI, ExxonMobil’s partner in developing fuel from algae, has a notable track record in the world of genomics because of its stated goal of creating new life forms.

Iowa Democratic Senator Tom Harkin is planning to amend the American Clean Energy and Security legislation to require automobile companies to build flex fuel vehicles capable of running on 85% ethanol.

D1 Oils is going to acquire BP’s 50% stake in a joint venture aimed at growing jatropha for a feedstock for biodiesel, as BP concentrates its efforts on ethanol and biobutanol.