Minnesota renews E20 ethanol, B10 biodiesel mandates

In Minnesota, Gov. Mark Dayton has signed into law the 2012 Omnibus Agriculture Policy bill, with broad bipartisan support.  The bill modernizes statutes covering food safety enforcement, grain trade and renewable fuels.  A section of the bill fine-tunes the course of biofuels in Minnesota by extending Minnesota’s E20 mandate for two years and directing agencies to develop recommendations for incorporating biofuels other than ethanol into the mandate.

The bill also extends exemptions on the state’s 10 percent biodiesel requirement for three more years, while directing MDA to develop proposals for evaluating the exemptions with an eye toward ending them.