Photo from: http://www.greencar.com/articles/10-facts-biodiesel.php
The fate of the lapsed tax subsidy for biodiesel may well lie with what happens to a jobs bill that Democrats want to get through Congress soon. Beth Pellett Levine, a spokeswoman for Sen. Charles Grassley, the senior Republican for the Senate Finance Committee, says he “has insisted that the biodiesel tax credit be a part of any discussions” on a jobs bill with the panel’s chairman, Montana Democrat Max Baucus. The $1-a-gallon tax credit for biodiesel “remains a top priority for Senator Grassley to extend the credit at the first available opportunity,” she added. Soybean growers are looking to Grassley to ensure that the biodiesel credit is part of any jobs bill to come out of the senate, according to John Gordley, a lobbyist for the American Soybean Association.
Biodiesel helps make jobs for local workers, which is why countries like Indonesia can employ 3 million people producing palm oil for biodiesel. We need the jobs here in the US and we always will.
While some aspects of the final rules for the federal Renewable Fuels Standard are being praised, there's a problem with the indirect land-use provision. That's how people involved in agriculture and the biofuels industry view EPA's decision this past week when the agency issued the RFS2 rules.
The biodiesel industry got a jolt back to life on February 3 as the Obama administration reversed itself and found that the fuel meets federal carbon emissions rules. That decision by the federal Environmental Protection Agency clears the way for biodiesel made from soybean oil to qualify toward meeting a new national usage mandate.
The requirement guarantees a market for the fuel and will require the industry to ramp up production this year. EPA's decision on the carbon standard was a "make or break" decision for biodiesel producers, says Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association.
Old political views about the environmental friendliness of soy-based biodiesel are finally being re-vamped by the EPA. Now, with a renewal of the tax credit, biodiesel is looking very promising.
Photo from: http://domesticfuel.com/2010/02/08/economist-addresses-biodiesel-conference/
Prominent economist and futures forecaster Don Reynolds says 2010 will be a year of recovery and renewed momentum for the biodiesel industry. During his keynote speech to the 2010 Biodiesel Conference & Expo in Grapevine, Texas, Reynolds said, "The biodiesel industry was sold on the premise that it's good for a green economy." But it's actually much more than that. He said, "I'm bullish on biodiesel because it's important to our national security. Biodiesel is critical to cutting into our trade deficit by lowering our dependence on foreign oil." As for the general economy, Reynolds expects, - despite the recovery, the next decade will produce less than average growth, due to structural problems and the bad choices made with personal and government debt. He believes 2010 will be characterized by rising long-term interest rates as inflationary forces grow, due to the global economic recovery and a weak U.S. dollar driving commodity prices higher.
Keynote speaker at the Biodiesel Conference and Expo, this is a person whose opinion I respect when it comes to the future of biodiesel, so for those in doubt, here is a positive viewpoint.
Plain Dealer file: Center Alternative Energy, a division of the St. Louis-based Center Oil Co., shut down production at its plant in the Flats on Dec. 31.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Green jobs in the biodiesel industry are disappearing because Congress has failed to extend a 5-year-old tax credit, industry leaders say.
That includes a biodiesel refinery and blending terminal in Cleveland that turns waste animal fat into clean fuel. Center Alternative Energy, a division of the St. Louis-based Center Oil Co., shut down production Dec. 31.
That was the last day of the $1-per-gallon tax credit for companies that blend organic diesel into diesel made from petroleum.
The credit on monthly business excise taxes is the major support for the industry's growth.
The House of Representatives approved an extension Dec. 8 in a bipartisan vote, but the Senate never took up the issue, apparently because it was mired in its health care reform debate.
"Without the credit, the fledgling industry cannot mature and survive," said John Samsel, biodiesel trader for Center Oil and president of the alternative energy division.