Sixth attempt to pass biodiesel tax credit extension falls short

In Washington, the sixth attempt to attach the biodiesel tax credit to legislation has failed, for the same reason as the other five: the reluctance of the White House and the House leadership to allow tax package to be tacked onto other legislation. Previous attempts have included tacking the provision onto the Energy Independence & Security Act of 2007 and the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2007. “[Because] the administration didn’t want a tax package in the energy bill, we’re looking for other vehicles where the tax package will be welcome,” NBB’s Amber Pearson told Biodiesel magazine.

In a criticism of the biodiesel tax credit, the European Commission’s chief US representative recently said that US taxpayers are “effectively subsidizing European motorists to the tune of around $300 million“, referring to “splash and dash” exports to Europe by US biodiesel producers picking up a $1 blending credit in the US. “You have to look for every market you can find,” the chairman of Western Iowa Energy told the Shreveport Times, while Bruce Babcock, an economist at Iowa State University, called splash-and-dash “kind of bizarre” and said it put upward pressure on soybean oil prices and hurt US taxpayers.

Free Subscription to the Daily Biofuels Digest e-newsletter

Related Stories

US Senate passes Wall Street bailout bill after biodiesel, wind, solar tax credits added

[caption id="attachment_3745" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="capitol"][/caption] In Washington, the US Senate included extensions of the renewable energy tax credits in the Wall Street bail...

US Senate Republicans block Energy Bill with filibuster threat

In Washington, passage of the Energy Bill was blocked when the Senate voted 53-42 - 7 short of the 60 required - to overcome a filibuster by Senate Republicans opposed to the bill. Senate Republic...

Fuel gouging legislation fails to pass US House; switch to E10 without price breaks for consumers to continue

Fuel price gouging legislation failed to pass the US House of Representatives this week by a vote of 276 to 146 that fell six votes short of the two-thirds necessary for passage under a suspension of ...

Calvert, KBC fund managers say White House focus on cleantech could benefit investors as soon as 2010

In Maryland, the principals of Calvert Investment and KBC Asset Management said that the possibility of federal carbon regulation and a resulting carbon price, a White House focus on major investments...

Today in Biofuels: $1.2 billion cut in ethanol incentives added to stalled US Farm Bill; $308 billion investment moves US off gasoline, onto algae fuel; German PM says “rising global food prices have nothing to do biofuels”

Top Story:In Washington, negotiations over the stalled Farm Bill have put existing ethanol incentives in peril, according to House Agriculture Committee chairman Collin Peterson. The chairman said tha...

Grassley, Cantwell introduce bill to extend biodiesel tax credit five years, switch credit to producer from blender

In Washington, Senators Maria Cantwell of Washington and Charles Grassley of Iowa introduced a bill to extend the biodiesel tax incentive by five years. The Biodiesel Tax Incentive Reform and Extensio...