Iowa Ag Connection - Biodiesel Leaders Take Jobs, Energy Security Message to D.C.

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Biodiesel Leaders Take Jobs, Energy Security Message to D.C.
Iowa Ag Connection - 12/02/2016

Nearly three dozen biodiesel leaders from Kansas to Rhode Island took to the halls of Congress this week to champion America's Advanced Biofuel.

"We have a great message to share with our elected officials. Biodiesel is working today to support jobs, diversify our fuel options and support American energy security," said National Biodiesel Board CEO Donnell Rehagen. "We want our messages and our success story to be top of mind now and when any tax extenders or reform is considered."

Biodiesel is a true American success and innovation story. The U.S. market has grown by nearly 2 billion gallons in the last ten years, bringing with it support for nearly 48,000 jobs and $1.9 billion in wages across the country.

"We want to do all we can to ensure our elected leaders know the decisions they make in D.C. make a difference in our back yards and our communities across the nation. Effective federal policy has helped level the playing field for our relatively new product. This is about so much more than a standard or tax code. It's about real people, making a real difference to bring jobs and economic growth all while supporting clean air and renewable fuel options," Rehagen explained.

The group was specifically championing a call to extend the biodiesel tax incentive and move it from a blender's tax credit to a producer's tax credit. The current blender's credit is slated to expire December 31, 2016. Proposed legislation in the House and Senate (HR 5240, S 3188) has strong bi-partisan support and would adjust the credit to support domestic production over imports.

U.S. biodiesel producers have more than 1.5 billion gallons of unused production capacity that stands ready to be utilized under the right policy framework. Mobilizing that capacity would create thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity.

Under the current "blender's" structure of the incentive, foreign biodiesel imported to the U.S. and blended with petroleum diesel in the U.S. is eligible for the tax incentive. Increasingly, foreign biodiesel producers are taking advantage of the U.S. incentive by shipping their product here. In 2015 alone, some 670 million gallons of biodiesel and renewable diesel were imported to the U.S., making up nearly a third of the U.S. market.

Made from an increasingly diverse mix of resources such as soybean oil, recycled cooking oil, and animal fats, biodiesel is a renewable, clean-burning diesel replacement that can be used in existing diesel engines. It is the first and only commercial-scale fuel produced across the U.S. to meet the EPA's definition as an Advanced Biofuel - meaning the EPA has determined that biodiesel reduces greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50 percent when compared with petroleum diesel. Americans used nearly 2.1 billion gallons of biodiesel last year.

NBB is the U.S. trade association representing the biodiesel and renewable diesel industries, including producers, feedstock suppliers, and fuel distributors.

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