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‘Make or break time’ for biodiesel?
The next few months could be “make or break time” for the soy biodiesel industry in the U.S.
Biodiesel faces several challenges right now, including the high cost of the feedstock and the loss of the one dollar biodiesel blenders’ tax credit, which Congress allowed to expire on December 31st. Indications are that most biodiesel plants have ceased production as they await Congressional action on the tax credit, which may not happen until March.
In Iowa, the state’s Renewable Fuels Association has launched a campaign to highlight the importance of biodiesel—and renewable fuels, in general—to Iowa’s economy. Monte Shaw is the executive director of IRFA. “We’ve got a lot of exciting thing coming down the road for this industry—things that are going to really redefine renewable fuels for the future,” says Shaw. “Whether it’s exciting feedstock projects like the algae project at Shenandoah, or maybe it’s the biorefinery project that’s scheduled to go into Newton.”
Good reasons, Shaw says, to keep Iowa’s biodiesel industry viable.
“If we let the current biodiesel industry wither away and lose the jobs we have today, it also means we’re not going to be the place—we’re not going to be the state—where those next generation investments and next generation jobs come either,” he says. “So we’re really at a turning point, not just for the investors and jobs of today, but for making Iowa the place to be for the future of this industry as well.”
In addition to the federal tax credit extension, Shaw says IRFA will also be lobbying for a five percent biodiesel mandate in the Iowa legislature.
“We really do need a B5 fuel quality standard to create a low level of demand,” says Shaw. “It’s constant, it’s year-around, it’s predictable—and that’s what can help these plants cash flow during the good times and the bad times.”
A bill creating a B5 fuel quality standard passed the Iowa Senate in 2009, but time ran out before the Iowa House could consider the legislation.
AUDIO: Monte Shaw (6 min MP3)
shaw-monte-biodiesel campaign 100107
Tags: Biodiesel, Iowa, Renewable Fuels
90% of biodiesel plants have shut down or went BK because they could not make any money even with the $1 tax credit. There is no market for biodiesel in the US or Europe. Biodiesel was a flawed plan by the farmers. We need to stop subsidizing the biodiesel industry. It is a waste of taxpayer money.