U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials announced Dec. 22 the finalization of ocean ship marine-diesel fuels and emissions rules.

Eleven governors in the U.S. Northeast/Mid-Atlantic region on Dec. 30 signed a memo of understanding obligating them to develop a low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) scheme by 2011, mostly following in the footsteps of LCFS pioneer California.

Oakland, Calif., Mayor Ron Dellums late last week cut a deal with angry truckers to extend a deadline for diesel particulate filter retrofits, thus heading-off a strike that had been planned to begin Jan. 1.

U.S. Senate Finance Committee leaders from both parties Dec. 22 announced they’ll act quickly to restore an expiring US$1 per gallon tax credit for biodiesel and renewable diesel once the Senate reconvenes in January.

The only producers of diesel cars for the U.S. market – all German manufacturers – continue to find quality problems with conventional fatty acid methyl ester biodiesel in the U.S. market.

California Air Resources Board officials Dec. 17 unveiled a long-awaited calculation of the greenhouse impact of land-use changes from soybean fatty acid methyl ester biodiesel production.

Representatives with a local “green” advocacy group, Hillsdale Environment Loss Protection (HELP), recently announced they will sue to block construction of an intermodal rail hub in Gardner, Kansas, claiming excessive diesel emissions.

According to a report from Next news service (Nigeria), Nigeria spends about N400 billion (US$2.7 billion) yearly to import diesel for generator-set power, because of a lack of sufficient central power generation in the nation.

Norway is planning to scrap a tax exemption for biodiesel, joining a growing number of countries taking the view that biofuels end-users should pay for them instead of taxpayers, according to a report last month from European Federation for Transport and Environment Bulletin.

Representatives with the California Air Resources Board announced Dec. 17 that they have verified the Caterpillar Diesel Particulate Filter as a passively regenerating diesel emission control system for use with off-road diesel engines, model years 1996 through 2008, certified with particulate matter emissions equal to or less than 0.2 grams per brake horsepower-hour and rated to 175 horsepower (hp) through 600 hp.

Navistar, which has sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for allowing urea-selective catalytic reduction (SCR) for diesel vehicle nitrogen oxides emissions control, is making its own move toward SCR, but with solid ammonia rather than urea reductant.

Helsinki-based UPM officials announced Dec. 21 that Southeast Finland Regional Environment Center favorably ruled upon UPM’s environmental impact assessment for a proposed biomass-to-liquids Fischer-Tropsch fuels project tapping wood feedstock.

A new study co-sponsored by “green” advocacy groups European Federation for Transport & Environment, the European Environmental Bureau and Sweden-based Air Pollution & Climate Secretariat finds that nitrogen oxides emissions from diesel-powered ships could be slashed dramatically – beyond what’s required in upcoming International Maritime Organization Marpol Annex-6 rules.

Container shipping giant APL will tap US$4.8 million in California grant funds to begin converting ships and its terminal in Oakland to “cold-ironing,” where ship diesel generators are shut down and “clean” port electricity is instead provided by plugging into shore-based power.

Connecticut-based Clean Diesel Technologies officials announced Dec. 16 they’ve won a US$960,971 grant from the New Technology Research and Development program run by the Houston Advanced Research Center for a diesel emissions control retrofit system.

Houston-based Accelergy officials announced Dec. 15 they’ve signed a licensing agreement for ExxonMobil Research and Engineering’s Microcatalytic Direct Coal Liquefaction coal-to-liquids technology and a separate deal with University of North Dakota’s Energy & Environmental Research Center on a novel bio-jet-fuel scheme.

German diesel engine maker MAN announced last month that Blue-NG, the United Kingdom-based renewable power company, has ordered two MAN B&W 7K60MC-S engines to power two “environmentally friendly” power plants in London.