Biodiesel Industry; Fuel Marketers and Retailers; and Agriculture Leaders Call on Congress to Retroactively Extend Biodiesel Tax Incentive

WASHINGTON, DC – – Today, the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) released a letter to Congressional Leadership urging Congress to take immediate action to retroactively reinstate the biodiesel tax incentive. The NBB spearheaded this letter and was joined by several organizations representing the U.S. biodiesel industry; fuel marketers and retailers; as well as agriculture stakeholders.

‘The lapse of the biodiesel tax incentive has harmed the domestic biodiesel industry and placed 23,000 jobs in immediate jeopardy.  If extension of this effective incentive continues to languish, we risk losing the significant job creation, energy security and environmental benefits associated with the domestic production and use of biodiesel,” stated Manning Feraci, NBB’s Vice President of Federal Affairs.
 
The biodiesel tax incentive expired on December 31, 2009.  The tax incentive is structured in a manner that makes biodiesel price competitive with conventional diesel fuel in the marketplace.  The lapse of the tax incentive has caused a severe retraction in the domestic production and use of biodiesel.  Since its enactment in 2004, the biodiesel tax incentive has played a critical role in expanding the nation’s ability to produce biodiesel ‘ the only domestically produced, commercial scale Advanced Biofuel available in the marketplace.  The 1.9 billion gallons of biodiesel produced in the U.S. since the tax incentive’s enactment has displaced an equivalent amount of diesel fuel with a clean-burning, efficient fuel that reduces greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 86 percent compared to petroleum diesel fuel.

The Petroleum Marketers Association of America; NATSO; Society of Independent Gas Marketers of America; New England Fuel Institute; American Soybean Association; National Farmers Union; and American Farm Bureau Federation joined NBB in asking Congress to retroactively extend the biodiesel tax incentive in a timely manner.

Please click HERE to view a copy of the letter.