1. Home
  2. Articles posted by: Rona Fried (Page 1271)

Secondary Credit Market Crucial to Ethanol Industry

As the ethanol industry continues to grow, so does the need for additional financing. However, there is a lack of underwriting expertise with community banks and a perceived long-term risk associated with ethanol loans. If the number of renewable energy companies is to continue to grow, federal action must be taken to educate the lending community and provide banks with the tools needed to service the debt financing needs of the new companies. Renewable energy financing has its roots in production agriculture and farmer cooperatives served by the Farm Credit System, which is a government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) created by Congress in 1916 to provide American agriculture with a dependable source of credit. However, more non-farmers are now involved in the development of renewable energy, and these entrepreneurs do not have access to the Farm Credit System member institutions. Instead, they rely on community bankers for financing. For the most part, “Main Street” lenders have yet to develop an understanding of the underwriting necessary for financing ethanol and biodiesel plants, anaerobic digester projects, wood pellets plants and other sources of renewable biomass energy. Little education has occurred to teach community bankers how to best determine the financial viability of a renewable […]

Read More

Shell Refinery in Argentina Closed for Environmental Violations

In the midst of a crackdown on contaminating industries, Shell was ordered to “totally close” its principle refinery yesterday due to a long list of violations of environmental safety codes, permits, as well as infraganti petrol contamination observed during routine inspections over a 13 day period, by the Argentine Environment and Sustainable Development Secretariat, the SAYDS. Large oil tankers arriving this morning from the Atlantic Ocean and up the River Plate, to fill up at the Shell refinery on the Riachuelo river in Buenos Aires, were ordered away, until further notice, or at least until the closure is lifted. This morning, in an extremely tense environment, confused Shell workers entered refinery facilities, while environmental authorities, reappeared to ensure the company begins close-down and that workers only entered to work on activities to correct the violations. According to company sources, it could take as long as 13 days to fully shut down production. The SAYDS Environmental Compliance Task Force found serious leaks of petrol into the ground, dozens of expired permits of high pressure caldrons, unacceptable management and storage of toxic waste, and the illegal intake and overheated disposal of 18,400,000 liters of water taken hourly from the Riachuelo River (more […]

Read More