Latest news with #USEnvironmentalProtectionAgency
Business Recorder
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Recorder
Chicago soyoil futures hit 18-month high
BEIJING: Chicago soyoil futures surged to their highest level in nearly 18 months, buoyed by higher-than-expected biofuel blending proposals and a rally in crude oil prices amid escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. The most-active soyoil contract on the Chicago Board of Trade jumped 4.58% at 52.93 cents per pound, as of 0134 GMT, its highest since December 20, 2023. Soyoil, a key feedstock for biodiesel fuel, gained support after the US Environmental Protection Agency proposed last Friday to increase the amount of biofuels that oil refiners must blend into the nation's fuel mix over the next two years. The proposal exceeded trade expectations. Rising crude oil prices also lifted soyoil, as higher energy costs typically make biodiesel more competitive. Oil extended Friday's rally, as renewed strikes by Israel and Iran over the weekend increased concerns that the battle could widen across the region and significantly disrupt oil exports from the Middle East. Soybean fell 0.26% to $10.67 per bushel, retreating from a three-week high hit last Friday. Weak demand, abundant global supplies and continued tariff uncertainty remain a drag on prices. Wheat dipped 0.74% to $5.39-6/8 a bushel amid seasonal pressure as the Northern Hemisphere's winter wheat harvest gets underway. Corn dropped 0.45% to $4.42-4/8 a bushel, weighed down by favourable weather forecasts for crop development in the US corn belt. Traders are awaiting updated weekly crop ratings due later on Monday from the US Department of Agriculture. Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT soyoil, soybean, wheat and corn futures contracts on Friday and net sellers of soymeal futures, traders said.
Business Recorder
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Recorder
Chicago soyoil futures hit 18-month high on biofuel mandate, Mideast tensions
BEIJING: Chicago soyoil futures surged to their highest level in nearly 18 months, buoyed by higher-than-expected biofuel blending proposals and a rally in crude oil prices amid escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. The most-active soyoil contract on the Chicago Board of Trade jumped 4.58% at 52.93 cents per pound, as of 0134 GMT, its highest since December 20, 2023. Soyoil, a key feedstock for biodiesel fuel, gained support after the US Environmental Protection Agency proposed last Friday to increase the amount of biofuels that oil refiners must blend into the nation's fuel mix over the next two years. The proposal exceeded trade expectations. Rising crude oil prices also lifted soyoil, as higher energy costs typically make biodiesel more competitive. Oil extended Friday's rally, as renewed strikes by Israel and Iran over the weekend increased concerns that the battle could widen across the region and significantly disrupt oil exports from the Middle East. Soybean fell 0.26% to $10.67 per bushel, retreating from a three-week high hit last Friday. Weak demand, abundant global supplies and continued tariff uncertainty remain a drag on prices. Wheat dipped 0.74% to $5.39-6/8 a bushel amid seasonal pressure as the Northern Hemisphere's winter wheat harvest gets underway. Soybeans climb, soyoil soars daily limit on US biofuel proposal Corn dropped 0.45% to $4.42-4/8 a bushel, weighed down by favourable weather forecasts for crop development in the US corn belt. Traders are awaiting updated weekly crop ratings due later on Monday from the US Department of Agriculture. Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT soyoil, soybean, wheat and corn futures contracts on Friday and net sellers of soymeal futures, traders said.
Express Tribune
6 days ago
- Business
- Express Tribune
EPA proposes higher biofuel blending
Listen to article President Donald Trump's administration on Friday proposed to increase the amount of biofuels that oil refiners must blend into the nation's fuel mix over the next two years, driven by a surge in biomass-based diesel mandates. After months of lobbying on the issue, the biofuels industry welcomed the move, which also included measures to discourage biofuel imports. The US Environmental Protection Agency proposed total biofuel blending volumes at 24.02 billion gallons in 2026 and 24.46 billion gallons in 2027, up from 22.33 billion gallons in 2025. Under the Renewable Fuel Standard, refiners are required to blend large volumes of biofuels into the US fuel supply or purchase credits, called RINs, from those that do. Small refiners can apply for an exemption to the requirements if they can prove the obligations would cause undue harm. The proposal is driven in part by an increase in biomass-based diesel requirements. EPA set a quota of 7.12 billion biomass-based diesel RINs for 2026 — a measurement of the number of tradable credits generated by blending the fuel. It said it projected that mandate would lead to the blending of 5.61 billion gallons. The EPA expressed the biomass-based diesel requirement in billion RINs in accordance with the agency's proposal to reduce the number of RINs that could be generated from imported biofuels. After accounting for the reduction for imported biofuels, the EPA said it projected the number of RINs generated for biomass-based diesel would be 1.27 per gallon in 2026 and 1.28 RINs per gallon in 2027. Previously, the EPA projected the average gallon of biomass-based diesel generated 1.6 RINs.
Business Recorder
6 days ago
- Business
- Business Recorder
Soybeans climb, soyoil soars daily limit on US biofuel proposal
CHICAGO: US soyoil futures surged their daily limit on Friday and soybeans hit a three-week high after the Trump administration proposed biofuel blending requirements that were above trade expectations, analysts said. Chicago Board of Trade corn futures followed soybeans higher and CBOT wheat rose about 2% on bargain-buying after falling to a four-week low in early moves. As of 10:54 a.m. CDT (1554 GMT), CBOT July soyoil was up 3 cents, its maximum daily limit, at 50.61 cents per pound, while July soybeans were up 25-3/4 cents at $10.68 per bushel. CBOT July corn was up 3-3/4 cents at $4.42-1/4 a bushel and July wheat was up 15-1/2 cents at $5.42 a bushel. Soyoil, a key feedstock for biodiesel fuel, rocketed higher after the US Environmental Protection Agency proposed to increase the amount of biofuels that oil refiners must blend into the nation's fuel mix over the next two years. 'Just coming in with these volumes ... is extremely positive for our domestic (soybean) crush demand for 2026 and '27. It's a big deal,' said Terry Linn, analyst with Chicago-based Linn & Associates. The EPA's move, which also included measures to discourage biofuel imports, was welcomed by the biofuels industry, which had been lobbying on the issue for months. A jump in crude oil prices after Israel conducted strikes on Iran lent early support to commodities. 'Obviously the attack on Iran was the number-one news item, but the EPA release is the big item now. It has kind of taken over,' Linn said. Wheat rose to recover from an earlier four-week low, bucking pressure from the start of the Northern Hemisphere winter wheat harvest. Commodity funds hold a sizable net short position in CBOT wheat futures, leaving the market vulnerable to short-covering bounces.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Trump's EPA announces major rollbacks to power plant pollution limits
US power plants will be allowed to pollute nearby communities and the wider world with more unhealthy air toxins and an unlimited amount of planet-heating gases under new regulatory rollbacks proposed by Donald Trump's administration, experts warned. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled a plan on Wednesday that would repeal a landmark climate rule that aims to mostly eliminate greenhouse gases from power plants by the 2030s and would, separately, weaken another regulation that restricts power plants' release of hazardous air pollutants such as mercury. 'We choose to both protect the environment and grow the economy,' said Lee Zeldin, administrator of the EPA, at an event to announce the plans. He said the rollbacks will save households money while also defying what he called 'the climate change cult'. The climate rule has 'saddled our critical power sector with expensive, unreasonable and burdensome regulations', Zeldin said. 'American energy suffered and Americans who rely on reliable, affordable energy suffered. The good news is those days are over.' The EPA's proposals will go out for public comment and are likely to face legal challenges. They target a rule crafted last year by the Biden administration to phase out emissions from electricity-producing fossil fuel plants, which are responsible for around a quarter of US greenhouse gases, and a regulation called the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, which Biden toughened in 2023 to slash harmful pollution suffered by communities. These rollbacks come despite overwhelming scientific evidence of the dire consequences of the worsening climate crisis and the harm caused by pollutants such as mercury, which can seep into water, soils and the air and has been linked to neurological damage in young children as well as heart, lung and immune system ailments in adults. Coal-fired power plants cause nearly half of all mercury emissions in the US, according to the EPA. More than 200 health experts wrote to the EPA on Wednesday warning the moves 'would lead to the biggest pollution increases in decades and is a blatant give-away to polluters'. The experts added the reversals are 'a direct contradiction to the Environmental Protection Agency's mission of protecting public health and the environment'. Trump, however, has vowed to boost fossil fuel production at all costs, having reaped record donations from the oil and gas industry during his election campaign. At Wednesday's EPA event, Zeldin was joined by eight lawmakers, all Republicans – Kevin Cramer, Troy Balderson, Brett Guthrie, Carol Miller, Dan Meuser, Rob Bresnahan, Michael Rulli and Riley Moore – who have collectively received more than $3m from fossil fuel donors in their own election campaigns, a Guardian analysis of the OpenSecrets database shows. Bresnahan, a Pennsylvania representative, holds personal financial interests in more than 20 fossil fuel companies. In justifying the deletion of the Biden climate plan, which the EPA previously estimated would deliver $370bn in net benefits, Zeldin has claimed that US power plants only produce a small and declining fraction of the world's emissions. This is despite the fact that if these power plants were a country, it would be the sixth-largest emitter on the planet. Gina McCarthy, who was EPA administrator under Barack Obama, said that Zeldin's 'dismantling of our nation's protections from power plant pollution is absolutely illogical and indefensible. It's a purely political play that goes against decades of science and policy review.' 'By giving a green light to more pollution, his legacy will forever be someone who does the bidding of the fossil fuel industry at the expense of our health,' she added. 'Everyone will be affected by his actions, but the most vulnerable among us, our kids and grandkids, will suffer the most.' The EPA has embarked upon a wide-ranging blitz upon environmental regulations since Trump became president, setting about removing or loosening clean air and water rules that, collectively, were on track to save 200,000 American lives in the decades ahead. Trump, who has adopted the mantra of 'drill, baby, drill', has claimed unhindered fossil fuel production will bring down energy costs, although he has sought to hobble clean energy such as solar and wind, which are typically the cheapest sources of new electricity generation. The rollbacks follow the second-hottest May on record globally, and a record-hot 2024 that unleashed a stunning number of climate-driven disasters and six weeks of extra-dangerously hot days. Experts have warned that sea level rise is on track to cause 'catastrophic inland migration', including to millions of Americans, with climate shocks set to wipe 50% from global GDP by the end of this century. 'It's completely reprehensible that Donald Trump would seek to roll back these lifesaving standards and do more harm to the American people and our planet just to earn some brownie points with the fossil fuel industry,' said Patrick Drupp, climate policy director at the Sierra Club. 'This administration is transparently trading American lives for campaign dollars and the support of fossil fuel companies, and Americans ought to be disgusted and outraged that their government has launched an assault on our health and our future.'
