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Biodiesel advocates planning rally for tax extension credit

Biodiesel advocates will participate in a rally on Capitol Hill next Wednesday in support of biodiesel tax credit extension legislation.

Paul Winters, director of public affairs and federal communications with the National Biodiesel Board, says a bipartisan bill was introduced at the beginning of the month to extend the tax incentive through 2019.

He says the bill would provide certainty while Congress debates the future of the policy.

“It’s very valuable to the producers and is kind of built in to the contracts that they have with the farmers and the marketers and because it’s been lapsed for 16 months they’re carrying the burden of having built that into their contracts,” he says.

The rally is being led by Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst of Iowa and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, and Representatives Abby Finkenauer of Iowa, Cheri Bustos and Darin LaHood of Illinois, and others.

Winters says the National Biodiesel Board wants to make sure tax credit extension legislation is a priority when Congress returns from its Easter recess.

He says biodiesel producers rely on the tax incentive.

“We know of at least one producer who has decided that he needs to shut down his operation and lay off employees because the tax credit has been lapsed for so long,” he says

He says biodiesel companies rely on the tax incentive and the uncertainty is threatening the future of the industry that supports more than 60,000 jobs across the U.S.