Degree Type

Honors Capstone Project

Date of Submission

Spring 5-1-2019

Capstone Advisor

Thomas Barkley

Honors Reader

Peter Wilcoxen

Capstone Major

Finance

Capstone College

Management

Audio/Visual Component

no

Capstone Prize Winner

yes

Won Capstone Funding

no

Honors Categories

Professional

Subject Categories

Business | Finance and Financial Management

Abstract

Persistent uncertainty about the future of the Renewable Fuel Standard led to an analysis of the policy’s language and the varying degrees of political support for the program in the Senate. Applying probabilities to the various conceived scenarios resulted in a 40% change that the program continues in its current form in perpetuity. The report finds that a Democratic Congress would implement legislation that focuses on the policy’s missed environmental goals. Conversely, a Republican Congress would lead to the most uncertainty in the market due to competing views of the RFS within the program. With a narrow Republican majority, legislation that limits ethanol and advances the environmental goals could be achieved as a compromise between the two parties. As a hedge against federal regulatory uncertainty, state and local incentives for biodiesel are considered. Las Vegas, Nevada emerges as a top destination for a biodiesel producer.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.