RFA’s Dineen says 1-2 billon may be in stimulus package for renewables

In Washington, Renewable Fuels Association president Bob Dineen speculated that the economic stimulus package would include “something in the range of a billion, maybe two billion dollars, of appropriated dollars” for loan guarantee programs and program funding for the commercialization of advanced biofuels.

Curt Rich, of Van Ness Feldman added “on the tax side, the tax writers would like to extend the tax credits so that they can deal with them as a whole. Right now, corn expires, then biodiesel, then cellulosic, and it’s hard to see that as anything except destabilizing. I can’t imagine this Congress will do anything to further destabilize this sector and the economy at this time.”

Dineen added: “There are so many important public policy objectives that are addressed by increasing the production and use of renewable fuels, I think the broad-based, bipartisan support for the initiatives that President-elect Obama has talked about, will continue to be there.”

Rich cautions against an expectation of a strong focus on more R&D. “I think there is a desire by the new administration and the Congress, on the spending side, the increase funding for the USDA and DOE, for programs that quickly push dollars to developers, with less focus on R&D and more on deployment. The effort will be to expedite commercialization of the next generation of biofuels.”

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