NBB disappointed biodiesel tax credit not in $1.3 trillion federal package

The US National Biodiesel Board has expressed its disappointment at the news Congress hasn’t renewed the biodiesel tax credit.

On 22 March, Congress passed a $1.3 trillion spending package to fund the federal government until September and prevent another shutdown. NBB campaigned for a renewed biodiesel tax credit to be included in the package, but it hasn’t happened. The spending bill is currently being debated in the Senate.

In February 2018, a retroactive extension of the biodiesel blender’s tax incentive was passed, but for 2017 only. This meant that biodiesel producers have continued to operate in 2018 without a tax credit, ‘which is forcing biodiesel producers nationwide to carry the risk of the uncertainty caused by the lack of the tax credit’, says a statement from NBB.

“For some small biodiesel producers, that can be the difference between keeping the lights on or shuttering down,” the statement continues.

Earlier in March, Cal Meyer, CEO of Ag Processing, a member company of NBB, testified before a Congress sub-committee on the need for the biodiesel tax credit to be extended. Meyer made the case that doing so would ‘drive new investment and establish market certainty for US farmers, ranchers, petroleum marketers, blenders and fuel retailers.’

In addition, NBB’s ‘aggressive legislative outreach’ also saw the biodiesel trade association meet elected officials on Capitol Hill and send multiple letters to Congressional leaders urging for the credit to be extended.

“The National Biodiesel Board is again disappointed that Congress has failed to provide pro-growth tax certainty for a domestic energy industry that has broad, bipartisan support. The lack of urgency by Congress to extend this expired tax credit continues to frustrate the producers, blenders and marketers of biodiesel,” said Kurt Kovarik, vice president of federal affairs for the National Biodiesel Board (NBB), in response to the news the extension to the tax credit hadn’t been included in the spending package.

“We will work to educate members of the economic and environmental benefits of increased use of biodiesel, so that Congress is poised to drive investments in this American energy industry.”