The Senate Agriculture Committee is scheduled to vote on April 8 on three nominees for commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, including Timothy Massad for chairman. The other nominees are Sharon Bowen and J Christopher Giancarlo. The nominees saw little opposition during a hearing earlier this year.
On the same morning, the Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing on advanced biofuels. The second-generation renewable fuels, made from grass, wood and other nonfood materials, are coming to the market much slower than expected when Congress set a target of using 36 bln gal of biofuels annually by 2022, with 21 bln gals of it from advanced fuels and 15 bln gals from corn ethanol.
The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a dramatic reduction in the goal for advanced biofuels. The committee says the hearing will examine the role the fuels “are playing in creating jobs and strengthening the rural economy.” For details and a list of witnesses, click here.