Both constituencies are important to Trump’s 2020 re-election bid and both say they have been damaged by his administration’s policies, but Midwest farmers in particular have been giving Trump political headaches and — separately from the biofuels fight — have sustained economic damage from the year-long trade war with China.
Sound confusing? Well, it is, partly because the President did not offer any details beyond dangling the terms “Ethanol” and “small refineries” in a Tweet.
Trump posted a message on Twitter Thursday that said he is about to deliver a big prize, which he describes as a “giant package” to “the Farmers.” His choice of words suggested that he intends to address the RFS fight — no simple task.
He wrote:
The Farmers are going to be so happy when they see what we are doing for Ethanol, not even including the E-15, year around, which is already done. It will be a giant package, get ready! At the same time I was able to save the small refineries from certain closing. Great for all!
Might sound good to some, perhaps, but it leaves questions.
Whatever the bargain turns out to be, Trump’s moves are limited and may rely on a part of the renewable energy policy that he never discusses and that is not mentioned in the Tweet: biomass-based diesel and renewable diesel.
That is because one of the implements in EPA’s toolbox, should Trump direct the agency to improve the Midwest farm belt’s lot, would be to boost the amount of mandated biofuel blending for 2020 and 2021. “Biofuel” means more than just ethanol; it includes several forms of biodiesel, and allowing growth in that sector could very well be a necessary part of any settlement to the RFS fight. And the biodiesel industry argues it has plenty of capacity for market growth that is not being tapped.
Because ethanol often gets the lion’s share of attention in hearings and in the news media, the corn derivative seems to have become the shorthand for biofuel, much like “Coke” stands in for the entire range of carbonated beverages for people of many cultures, a kind of universal term for “soft drink.” It is unclear whether biodiesel was part of any White House discussions underlying Trump’s informal announcement about an “Ethanol” deal.
“We feel many times we are one of the forgotten pieces of the RFS,” National Biodiesel Board (NBB) CEO Donnell Rehagen said Thursday.
| “Your EPA recently proposed a rule for the 2020 RFS standards that sends a chilling signal that the market for biodiesel and renewable diesel will be capped.” –Soybean producers in letter to Trump |
Rehagen said in during a call with reporters Thursday that flat growth in the biodiesel volumes under the RFS and the recent small refinery exemptions (31 given in August by EPA to refiners, adding an estimated $1.43 billion in compliance credits — RINs — back into open trading) “represents a rollback for our market” at a time when the biodiesel industry believes government should be allowing for growth. The Iowa Soybean Association said Aug. 21 that market prices for soybeans, a biodiesel feedstock, are at multi-year lows.
The biodiesel industry has argued repeatedly, and has even sued in federal court over the issue, that it can handle growth and EPA is not giving it the market share under the RFS that the industry has proved it can absorb. On Thursday’s press call, responding to a reporter’s question about growth capacity, NBB’s Vice President of Federal Affairs Kurt Kovarik said, “Biodiesel is uniquely situated in that we’ve always produced above the volume that EPA has set; we do not have infrastructure constraints and we have no feedstock botttlenecks, so capacity to produce well beyond what the government sets” have been consistently demonstrated over the past several years.
In an Aug. 23 letter to Trump, a group of soybean producer associations from 10 Midwestern states wrote, “Your EPA recently proposed a rule for the 2020 RFS standards that sends a chilling signal that the market for biodiesel and renewable diesel will be capped. And then the agency topped that off by further rolling back those volumes through additional small refinery exemptions. More than that, EPA has proposed to ignore a Court order to restore gallons to the RFS program that it unlawfully reduced in 2016.”
Underlying all of the controversy over volumes, however, is a surfeit of small refinery exemptions under the RFS, and no discussion of the mandated volumes is complete without taking into account these waivers because, farmers and biofuel producers argue, they cancel out much, if not all, of the increased blending volumes that Congress intended to help develop biofuel markets.
For the 2018 compliance year, EPA handed out an estimated 1.43 billion gallons worth of blending waivers, and in so doing, returned $1.43 billion in RINs to refiners and other obligated parties who bought the RINs during 2018 to comply with the minimums pending the outcome of their petitions for exemptions, through 31 small refinery exemptions.
If EPA continues to hand out small refinery exemptions at the same rate as the past two years, it will reduce biodiesel demand by 2.54 billion gallons and cause a $7.7 billion loss for the industry, according to University of Illinois economist Scott Irwin.
| A Potential White House Deal The history of the RFS controversy suggests possible components of a White House deal would need to include: A boost in the annual volumes for 2020 for biofuels that must be blended into conventional transportation fuel under the RFS; Reversing a 500 million-gallon reduction in those volumes — known as the Renewable Volume Obligations, or RVOs — that a federal court determined EPA, under President Barack Obama, must restore because it unlawfully waived the volume from the blending mandates; Accounting for a surfeit of SREs that Trump’s EPA gave over the past two years that add up to around two and a half billion gallons of biofuels removed from the blending mandate, an important market for farmers of biofuel feedstocks like corn and soy. |
Soybean farmers are not the only group pointing out that the federal government is ignoring potential growth in the use of biodiesel. A bipartisan group of 39 U.S. senators, many of them (but not all) from the Midwest, wrote that they thought EPA did not raise the mandated 2020 volume for biomass-based diesel enough after the agency released a proposal for modest increases last summer.
“While these proposed increases are encouraging, these volumes continue to underestimate the existing potential of the biodiesel and renewable diesel industries in our states,” the senators wrote. “We believe the biodiesel industry can do more and that EPA should demonstrate more confidence in the RFS program’s ability to drive growth. Increasing biomass-based diesel and advanced biofuel volumes would encourage investment in capacity and new fuel development.” EPA did not heed their advice.
Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst of Iowa, were among the signers.
All-important Iowa — electorally speaking — sits at the heart of the debate. Not only is it a big biofuel producer and agricultural jugarnaut, it has in Grassley and Ernst two renewable energy champions in the Senate. The renewable fuels industry there accounts for nearly $5 billion of Iowa’s gross domestic product, generates more than $2.4 billion of income for Iowa households and supports almost 47,000 jobs throughout the entire Iowa economy, Gov. Kim Reynolds told EPA last year in a hearing.
Iowa’s interests encompass both the ethanol and biodiesel components of the RFS.
NBB’s Rehagen concluded, “My original point — it seems that there’s always an emphasis or connection to ethanol in the RFS. Biodiesel and renewable diesel are never thought of as much, even though we have a huge impact. We hope the President understands that biodiesel must be considered in that list, and moreover, restoring the demand under the RFS is the only thing that can help the biodiesel industry.”
As of publication of this article, there was is no word on when or how the White House may roll out the announcement of an RFS deal.
— Dan Macy
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The Dalai Lama was recently hospitalized due to a chest infection. The world renown Buddhist leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient has since recovered but this incident has brought focus to a core doctrine in Buddhism: impermanence. All things are transient, Buddhist scripture states, and that includes the Dalai Lama.
When the Dalai Lama has passed on before, senior monks would go on journey to find his reincarnation, a practice that allowed the legacy to live on through the generations. For fourteen reincarnations, this quest was accomplished without hindrance.
But times have changed.
China invaded Tibet, the home of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan Buddhism, in 1950. In the course of annexing the nation, they murdered hundreds of thousands of Tibetans. As a result of their control of the region and tight dominance, this long-standing tradition may, itself, suffer its own impermanence.
Chinese leadership has now weighed in on reincarnation, clearly indicating their intention to interfere with the succession.
According to CNN, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said there are “clear rules” regarding the reincarnation of “the living Buddha.”
“Reincarnation of living Buddhas, including the Dalai Lama, must comply with Chinese laws and regulations and follow religious rituals and historical conventions,” Lu said.
It’s not the first time the Chinese Communist Party has involved itself in a long-standing tradition. Three days after the Dalai Lama identified the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, the Chinese government kidnapped him. He has not been seen in over 20 years since.
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Video of Jasic workers protest: as workers continue to voice their demands to unionise, the local ACFTU held a meeting with company representatives and announce the efforts to establish enterprise union enter a new stage “after 2 months of working together.” #unionAccountability pic.twitter.com/5CeTQbnE7W
— CLB (@chinalabour) July 24, 2018
After generations of teaching Lenin and Marx in schools, many students have taken the lessons to heart, willing to come to the aid of the proletariat. They had their opportunity after a strike broke out in a Shenzhen factory, a strike which led to an arrest of workers in late August, the largest such arrest since 2015.
Factory workers at Jasic Technology, which exports welding machine parts to U.S. companies, had been demanding the right to form a union but the company rejected their efforts. Learning the news, students from leading universities around the country decide to join the fight and organized rallies, which only really made sense given their education.
5天了，我们的兄弟姐妹——岳昕、梦雨等左翼青年，尚杨雪、唐向伟等被取保候审的工友，小胡、吴大哥等声援团中的工友，冯歌、展振振等进步学生依旧下落不明！腐朽的反动势力进行暴力清场是要一条道走到黑的。我们不再心存幻想，张圣业已发布清场事件亲历书，吹响了重新战斗的号角！黑暗不散，斗争不息！ pic.twitter.com/AJYpfpQ7MT
— 岳昕 (@yuexinmutian) August 29, 2018
(In this tweet posted by members of the student movement, they reiterate their “solidarity with the workers,” refer to their arrested “brothers and sisters,” and call the authorities “reactionary forces.”)
In fact, the very symbols of their resistance were ripped from old communist icons: they carried portraits of Mao, sung socialist anthems, and repeated old party slogans such as one in a petition that reads, “Our ancestors’ baton is firmly in our hands. Long live the working class!” Like early party activists, they spoke out against poverty, worker rights and gender equality. They also point to the nation’s constitution which dictates that the country is to be led by the working class.
However, despite this, authorities have been reacting more like it was 1989 and quickly moved to crush their efforts, detaining several dozen of the student activists and working to erase their presence online. However, the students appear to be undaunted, arguing that they are only doing what they were taught was right.
#jasic #北科大黑社会事件 #北京科技大学 #高校打压进步社团 #Beijing #marxism #PKU
【紧急快讯】这是北科现场发来的打人视频这些北科的黑社会推搡，抢夺，谩骂，打人，真是无所不用其极！这难道就是一个211高等院校的风采？ pic.twitter.com/CBHFo4gHyE— 佳士声援团 (@jasicworkers) September 27, 2018
“What we are doing is entirely legal and reasonable,” said Chen Kexin, a senior at Renmin University in Beijing who took part in the protests. “We are Marxists. We praise socialism. We stand with workers. The authorities can’t target us.”
Ironically, it was President Xi Jinping who, most recently, implemented a policy to teach more Mao and Marx in schools. It would appear, as is characteristic of students in China, they took their lessons seriously.
]]>施英：一周新闻聚焦：深圳佳士工运维权遭当局镇压，数十名工友和学生被抓https://t.co/htj5tDBCCd
持续数月的深圳佳士科技公司工人维权运动，因毛派势力介入，受到海内外人士关注，也令广东当局高度紧张，在互联网及微信群，相关文字及图片均遭屏蔽。 pic.twitter.com/4GTr7A831v— Cai Chu (@caichu88) August 27, 2018
While this is shocking and unexpected it is not common for people to disappear in China. The nation has a standing reputation for kidnapping its own citizens for many reasons including alleged corruption or any kind of human rights collaboration against the government.
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You read that right. Social media is lighting up with photos of inflatable penguins among exhibits of geese, roosters and a tortoise in a tank sprinkled by money. And while the fake Happy Feet raised some smiles and a couple of laughs, some paying customers were not too happy.
The stunt got a mixed reaction on the popular social media site Sina Weibo. One user posted, “I can’t stop laughing. This is obviously deceiving the consumer. Don’t tell me the management were sleeping. This is making fun of our intelligence.” Another user posted it’s an “insult to our IQ.”
But the subject of animals is not always a laughing matter in China, as the country is known for having a dismal animal-rights record. And despite its title of having among the most censored media in the country, animal abuse is very well documented. Back In June 2017, video clips of zoo investors feeding a live donkey to tigers at a location in Changzhou city went viral on Chinese social media.
Footage of a bloodied endangered whale being dragged along the road by a pickup truck through the streets of China’s Xiapu County also went viral.
But on the bright side, China’s social media is also filled with stories like a cop’s retirement home for dogs. A video of that has been viewed millions of times.
As for the inflatable penguins, the odd attraction can be found in Yulin, Guangxi province.
]]>Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang on Wednesday said, “We consistently oppose any country adopting unilateral sanctions based on its own domestic laws and regulations and the wrong method of exercising long-arm jurisdiction.”
Sanctions on 13 companies were triggered after U.S. President Donald Trump designated North Korea a state-sponsor of terrorism. Among the targeted companies was Dongyuan Industrial, which the U.S. Treasury Department said was working with front companies “for weapons of mass destruction-related North Korean organisations.”
Dongyuan was also sanctioned for exporting more than $28 million in goods including items linked to nuclear reactors to North Korea. The Treasury added that three companies alone had engaged in more than $750 million worth of business with the Hermit Kingdom, which involved computers, iron and coal.
Generally speaking, these new sanctions ban companies from using U.S.-linked bank accounts and they prevent foreign firms from doing business with such organizations.
The latest round of sanctions places a strain on what appeared to be a cooling of Sino-American relations. During President Trump’s recent visit to Asia, he urged his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and other leaders to take stronger efforts at curtailing North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. Trump even said Xi was working hard on that front. But China remains North Korea’s biggest trading partner, and some analysts believe Washington’s latest move on Chinese companies — even those with suspected ties to terror– may cause Beijing to step back.
“Trump will continue to use trade and investment issues to pressure China on North Korea,” says Shou Huisheng, a researcher with Tsinghua University’s National Strategy Institute, in an interview with the South China Morning Post. “It is a very easy-to-use tactic for Trump, which may help him address the North Korean issue, but at the cost of failing to solve the root causes of the US-China trade imbalance.”
Still, Trump’s latest efforts may ultimately set the stage for a massive internal blow to the North Korean regime, whether China is behind it or not.
]]>The arrest opens the latest chapter in what activists are calling China’s “War on Law.” The BBC reports that more than 300 lawyers, legal assistants and activists have been questioned for their roles in anti-government activity and more than two dozen have been the subjects of formal investigations.
Amnesty International called Jiang’s trial a “Sham.” Speaking to Reuters from the United States, his wife Jin Bianling said she will not accept the verdict. She adds that she has not seen her husband since November 2016, when he disappeared while visiting the family of fellow rights lawyer Xi Yang.
In August, Jiang was put before state media during his trial when he read a confession which stated he had traveled overseas to receive training on dismantling China’s political system.
Before he was arrested, Jiang had a long clientele list of fellow rights lawyers, activists, Falun Gong supporters and Tibetan protesters. He was a vocal critic of the government’s suppression of descent, as well as its imprisonment of those seen by the ruling Communist Party as a threat to maintaining power and support.
]]>China’s state-run media announced that Song Tao, head of Beijing’s International Liaison Department, will visit Pyongyang on Friday. According to the New China News Agency, Song will “inform” North Korean officials about the recent 19th party Congress, a major political conclave that saw Chinese President Xi Jinping assume another five years in power.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang during a regular briefing on Wednesday declined to comment on weather Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions will be on the agenda. However, he said Tao will “exchange views on major issues of common concern.”
China is the North’s biggest trading partner, covering 90% of the Hermit Kingdom’s trade volume. But in recent months, China has taken a tougher stance on the nuclear-weapons armed country. Recently, China announced it will coal exports from North Korea and cut ties with banks operating there.
President Trump on Sunday Tweeted that Xi said he “is upping the sanctions” and working “very hard” to curtail North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. Since February, the North has tested 15 missiles. Meanwhile, it’s leader Kim Jong Un has repeatedly threatened the U.S., raising fears that the country is bent on mounting nuclear warheads on missiles capable of striking the continental U.S.
China has also agreed to support the United Nations Security Council’s latest round of sanctions which could slash $1 billion from North Korea’s export revenue.
]]>The new facility, expected to be in operation by 2020, is set to simulate flight speeds at 12 kilometers per second. A vessel traveling at such speed from China can reach the U.S. in 14 minutes.
The ground structure is meant to help scientists detect potential flaws and find solutions before actual test flights of new hypersonic vehicles commence.
“It will boost the engineering application of hyper-sonic technology, mostly in military sectors, by duplicating the environment of extreme hyper-sonic flights, so problems can be discovered and solved on the ground,” said Zhao Wei, a senior scientist working on the project, in an interview with the South China Morning Post.
Hyper-sonic speed is defined as traveling at least Mach 5 or five times the speed of sound. In March, China conducted seven successful test flights of its hyper-sonic glider WU-14, which travels at speeds between Mach 5 and Mach 10.
Currently, the title for most powerful wind tunnel stands with the United States. The LENX-X facility in Buffalo, New York, simulates speeds of up to 10 kilometers per second or Mach 30.
“China and the US have started a hyper-sonic race,” said Wu Dafang, professor at the school of aeronautic science and engineering at Beihang University in Beijing, in an interview with the South China Morning Post.
But they’re not the only ones with horses in the race. Russia, India and Australia have also tested early prototypes of the WU-14, which could be used to deliver nuclear-armed missiles.
Wu—who has helped develop hyper-sonic cruise missiles, a near space vehicle and other weapons under wraps for the People’s Liberation Army— says existing wind tunnels in mainland China have already helped solidify the success of its hypersonic weapons.
]]>Organised by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Cantonese Opera Day is a government initiative meant to expand the art form for fans and newcomers. In fact, it has been inscribed onto the Unesco List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since 2009.
The free event will see performances of excerpts from Cantonese opera classics including “Purple Bamboo Forest” from “Merciless Sword Under Merciful Heaven” and “Saving Pei” from “The Reincarnation of a Beauty.” It will also feature talks on the stylised movements and postures adopted in Cantonese operas as well as on the singing styles and musical instruments used. Performing artists will include Lee Lung, Nam Fung, Sun Kim-long.
Hilvinn Wong Hai-wing tells the South China Morning Post that opera has been a part of her life from a very young age. Now at age 32, she will take the stage at the Cultural Centre this November 17th for a performance of “Kneeling by the Pond” – an excerpt from the Ming dynasty drama “Henpecked Husband.”
“My mother took me to see Cantonese opera performances at bamboo theatres when I was a child,” Hilvinn says. “Every time when there was a show, I wanted to go. We would eat snacks and we got to stay out late. But I had no idea what was happening on stage. I just thought it was beautiful and alluring.”
However, some artists say that childhood connection is stalling in modern Hong Kong society.
“As young artists, we must run an extra mile to promote the arts of Cantonese opera among the young generation,” she says.
Dennis Wan Chi-hung, 22, who will be taking part in the performance of “Merciless Sword Under Merciful Heaven” tells the paper that he was also exposed to the art form at a very young age. His father Wan Yuk-yu is also a Cantonese opera artist.
“But when I was in school, from kindergarten all the way to secondary school and university, there was little to no exposure to the art form,” Dennis says. “Students should be taught about the art form. Whether they like it or not, it’s up to them. But at least we will have a chance to have [a bigger] audience. Without an audience, we will not be able to survive.
According to the the Arts Development Council’s latest annual arts survey the audience for Chinese opera, including Cantonese opera programmes have dropped by 1.3 percent between 2015 and 2016 despite an increase in performances in that same period.
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