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Biodiesel mandate passes Iowa Senate

The bill mandating five percent biodiesel use in Iowa has passed the Iowa Senate. The vote Wednesday night was 31 to 19. The legislation now moves to the Iowa House forconsideration.

Randy Olson, executive director of the Iowa Biodiesel Board, says Senate approval is a big victory for the state’s biodiesel industry and soybean producers.

“We’re really excited that Iowans, and those who come through Iowa,will have an opportunity to use a product that’s grown here and refined here,” Olson says, “as opposed to products that are pulled out of the ground in the Middle East.”

Olson says the bill would allow for exceptions in the B5 rule, such as ashortage of biodiesel or major pricing disparities between biodiesel and traditional diesel fuel.

“The two main opponents to the bill on the Senate side were the Iowa Motor Truck Association and the Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Stores of Iowa. They hadconcerns about—just broad-based philosophical issues—regarding mandates,” Olson says.

If enacted, Olson says Iowa would be the eighth state in the U.S. with a biodiesel mandate.