A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Business Aviation Services Editor

Curt Epstein

A new report from energy market intelligence provider Industrial Info Resources argues that Louisiana, which has long been a leader in fossil fuel production, could soon outpace California as the leader in renewable fuel production in the U.S.
According to the company’s data, Louisiana currently trails the Golden State in terms of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), which both share similar production processes. While Louisiana has a capacity of 1.3 billion gallons a year, compared to California’s 1.75 billion, the Bayou State’s planned production projects would outstrip the latter’s, bumping it up to more than 3.2 billion gallons annually, while the projected additional capacity in California would bring it to just less than 2 billion gallons.
One factor in the shift could be Louisiana’s increase in permitting for carbon capture, usage, and storage (CCSU) wells. In 2023, the state’s Department of Energy and Natural Resources was given permission to process and issue permits for CCUS wells, which allow deep sequestration of carbon dioxide, instead of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“The state has many types of secure geologic formations for storage, so that's a great start,” said Hillary Stevenson, Industrial Info's v-p of energy intelligence. “It has&nbsp;oil and gas&nbsp;fields which could benefit from enhanced oil recovery (EOR) carbon sequestration and other industries that could utilize captured carbon dioxide.”
Another factor is the status of clean fuel production credits under Section 45Z of the U.S. Tax Code, which spurred industry growth in California and other states, in conjunction with local tax incentives. The credits for 45Z will expire in 2029; however, different tax incentives exist under Section 45Q, specifying the use of CCUS in production. Those will remain in place for 12 years, as long as construction on the production project begins by 2033.

News about environmental issues relating to aircraft operations, including noise issues, emissisions, and regulations. See Fuel for biofuel.

Louisiana Could Overtake California as Sustainable Aviation Fuel Leader

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News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

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