BY The Port of Columbia County The Port of Columbia County Commissioners approved in early September a long-term ground lease with Next Renewable Fuels for a 90-acre industrial site at Port Westward, Oregon, for an advanced green diesel production facility. READ MORE

BY Gevo Inc. Renewable fuels and chemical manufacturer Gevo Inc. announced Sept. 4 that it has developed proprietary, breakthrough processes that convert either low-carbon isobutanol or low-value fusel oils, byproducts of fermentation, into renewable diesel. READ MORE

BY World Energy World Energy is closing three biodiesel plants in Georgia, Mississippi and Pennsylvania as a direct result of the Aug. 9 decision by Trump’s EPA to grant 31 new small refinery waivers from the nation’s Renewable Fuel Standard to oil companies. READ MORE

BY JBS Global food company JBS announced it is building a new biodiesel plant in Brazil. JBS is investing approximately $48 million through Seara Alimentos to build and operate a biodiesel factory in Mafra. The plant will be operated by JBS Biodiesel. READ MORE

BY Ron KotrbaRenewable Energy Group Inc. is closing its 15 MMgy biodiesel plant in New Boston, Texas, which the company acquired in 2012. REG is closing the multifeedstock facility due to challenging business conditions and continued federal policy uncertainty. READ MORE

BY Ocean Park Advisors LLC Atlantic Biodiesel Corp. recently closed on the sale of its Canadian biodiesel plant to Verbio Diesel Canada Corp. Ocean Park acted as exclusive financial advisor to Atlantic Biodiesel on the transaction. The deal was first announced in May. READ MORE

BY Ron KotrbaMaas Companies will auction Global Fuels’ 5 MMgy biodiesel plant located in Dexter, Missouri, July 23. The Global Fuels facility was built in 2007 and has since undergone a technology upgrade allowing use of feedstock with FFA content to 15 percent. READ MORE

BY Ron KotrbaThe Minnesota state legislature approved $5 million in funding for a Soy Innovation Campus in Crookston, Minnesota. Among other important attributes, the campus will feature Epitome Energy’s 30 MMgy biodiesel production facility and crush plant. READ MORE

BY Ron KotrbaFrench oil giant Total S.A. is just days away from startup at its La Mède biorefinery in the south of France. A representative of Total told Biodiesel Magazine that the HVO processing facility is on track to begin production in late May or June. READ MORE

BY Erin VoegeleVelocys announced April 29 the successful close-out of its Envia joint venture. The project was used to demonstrate the company’s Fischer-Tropsch gas-to-liquids technology. Operations at the plant were suspended in September 2018. READ MORE

BY Ron KotrbaAs the U.S. biodiesel sector pushes forward in an unsupportive federal environment, producers like Pacific Biodiesel find it necessary to operate outside their norm to continue operations. Pacific Biodiesel is considering shipping fuel to California. READ MORE

BY The Renewable Fuels Association A new study published in the academic journal Biomass and Bioenergy exposes the fatal methodological flaws and erroneous conclusions regarding biofuels and land use change (LUC) found in recent studies paid for by the National Wildlife Federation. READ MORE

BY Ron KotrbaApplications are being accepted in Minnesota for the AGRI Bioenergy/Biochemical Pilot Project Grant to provide funding for advancing a bioenergy or biochemical production technology beyond bench or proof-of-concept scale toward commercial scale. READ MORE

BY Ron KotrbaA first-of-its-kind South American renewable diesel project has moved one step closer to construction. Paraguay President Mario Abdo Benítez and ECB Group President Erasmo Carlos Battistella met at Palacio de los López where an MOU was signed Feb 25. READ MORE

BY Aemetis Inc. The upgrades at the Kakinada plant included installation of a pretreatment unit to process waste oils; expansion of boiler and other utility capacities; and implementation of environmental systems to enable full production of 50 MMgy of biodiesel. READ MORE