Policy & Enforcement Briefing: EU Carbon Surplus, Solyndra, Biofuel Mandate

A European Commission draft document urges the Climate Change Committee make a decision before the end of the year on a temporary fix to the short-term surplus of carbon credits in the EU ETS. The draft report also mentions the need for more lasting changes to the trading scheme, despite an expected reduction to the surplus by 2014, Reuters said.

A Delaware judge has approved the Solyndra bankruptcy exit plan, overruling arguments by the Internal Revenue Service that the plan could not be approved because its principal purpose is tax avoidance. Under the plan, the DOE stands to recover little if any of its $528 million loan, the Washington Post said.

The American Farm Bureau Federation, a long-time supporter of the renewable fuel standard and the nation’s largest farm lobby, may alter its position on the federal biofuel mandate. The change would come out of deference to ranchers who say the biofuel mandate needs to be waived this year because of the drought. Several governors also have asked the EPA to waive the rule to ease record-high corn prices, The Hill said.

Japan’s deputy director general at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Toshihiko Fuji, said that the spike in Japanese demand for liquefied natural gas has likely peaked, but that the Japanese government is in talks with the US on importing shale gas and LNG. The official said two nuclear reactors are back online and the summer high-demand season has passed, Reuters reports.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who may be the next chairman of the Senate’s Energy Committee, has asked Energy Secretary Steven Chu to describe how the agency will make decisions about natural-gas export proposals. In a letter the senator asked for a detailed list of factors the department will consider. Wyden has expressed skepticism about the export proposals, The Hill said.

For the first time since 1984, climate change policy was not discussed in presidential debates this year. The earlier face-offs devoted more time to energy policy than Monday’s installment, but climate change as a topic was shut out of all three 2012 debates, The Hill reports.

The US Navy has settled allegations of hazardous waste violations at its Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland, and agreed to pay a $38,500 penalty. This settlement resolves EPA citations related to the treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the EPA said.