Trump’s Biomass Bug Is Coming Back To Bite Fossil Fuels

This is mostly national energy policy news, not something that touches your house directly, but it helps explain where energy dollars are flowing right now. Plant-based fuel made from crops and waste oils is expanding fast in the jet fuel market. A federally backed plant in Great Falls, Montana got a $1.67 billion loan guarantee to eventually produce 300 million gallons a year of sustainable aviation fuel, made from things like animal fat, used cooking oil, canola oil, and camelina (a winter oilseed crop). A separate Minnesota project aims for 1 billion gallons a year, helped by a $1.50-per-gallon state tax credit, and just finished a blending facility near the Minneapolis airport. Delta and Shell are also expanding aviation fuel partnerships to airports in Los Angeles, Portland, New York, and Boston.

None of this changes home energy programs or rebates. But it shows a pattern worth knowing: this kind of biomass fuel is finding real traction in aviation and vehicles, even under an administration that has otherwise cut clean energy funding. The same fuel does not work for producing electricity — the article notes that biomass power plants remain a tiny sliver of new grid projects and are expected to shrink further nationally.

For homeowners, the practical takeaway is limited. This is fuel for planes and cars, not something that affects your furnace, water heater, or electric bill directly. If you are tracking federal energy priorities to guess at future rebate funding, this signals that liquid biofuels have more political staying power right now than some other clean energy categories.