Today's Wall Street Journal featured a prominent story detailing the closure and lay-offs at ethanol plants around the Midwest as fuel demand weakens, and federal production mandates have largely been met after 15 straight years of growth.

According to a recent article in the Houston Chronicle, the EPA believes that at least 140 million fraudulent credits have been circulated in biodiesel markets established by federal renewable energy mandates. The level of fraud (almost 9%) is concerning to many industry observers because the entire credit market only generated 1.6 billion credits last year. The agency brought allegations this month against two Texas-based companies, charging them with fabricating 60 million invalid credits that fuel producers like refineries buy when alternative fuels are not available. 

On March 8, the New Hampshire House of Representatives overwhelmingly disapproved of participation in a regional a low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) by a vote of 243-96. Opponents of creating a LCFS likened the proposal to a "liquid RGGI program," which refers to the cap and trade program created by northeastern and mid-Atlantic states under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.  

The U.S. government manages nearly 30 percent of the country's total territory. Despite the fact that the energy industry leased more than 45 million acres of onshore federal lands in 2009, a new report shows that the industry is not using 21.6 million acres of land under lease for oil production or exploration. The Obama administration is now considering whether millions of acres of federal land in the West should be protected as wild lands. But some state officials believe cuts in royalties from mineral development and delays in the permitting process for public lands that could result from the new protections could have a significant negative economic impact for their states.

Minnesota state agencies are on pace to purchase close to 1 million gallons of E85 in 2010, meaning nearly one-fifth of the retail fuel bought by the agencies is now a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.

Today, Sean Slone and I release our latest report, Green Transportation.  The report highlights several initiatives states are taking to green-up their transportation system, including developing alternative fuels and electric vehicle infrastructure, as well as adopting policies that seek to reduce the overall number of vehicles on the road.

Green transportation - transportation that produces less greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline—is needed to mitigate climate change and reduce dependence on foreign oil. State and local governments are updating vehicle fleets to greener forms of transportation.