Advanced BioFuels USA

(Taxpayers for Common Sense)  The federal government has subsidized the mature U.S. biodiesel industry for more than a decade.

In years when subsidies are larger and more predictable, the industry responds with higher production levels to take advantage of billions of dollars in federal tax credits and other incentives.

The largest subsidy – the now $3-billion-per-year biodiesel tax credit – was created as a temporary measure in the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 but has been subsequently extended seven times, most recently through the end of 2017.1 Congress is currently considering proposals to extend the credit yet again. The industry’s other main support is an annual biofuels mandate known as the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) that was established in 2005 and expanded in 2007.

These and other subsidies discussed below distort markets and prop up biodiesel production at the expense of consumers, the environment, various industries that use biodiesel feedstocks, and taxpayers.  READ MORE

Biodiesel Means Jobs (Energy.AgWired.com)

Biodiesel industry calling ‘mayday’ over federal tax incentive (The Hill)

Lawmakers Rally for Biodiesel Tax Incentive (Ag News Wire; includes AUDIO)

Biodiesel industry needs help–Important tax credit needs prompt renewal by Congress (The Messenger)

Urge Chris Pappas to Help Reinstate the Biodiesel Tax Credit (SeaCoastOnline)

Biodiesel tax credit needs to stay gone: Industry doesn’t need it, taxpayers can’t afford it (The Hill/Taxpayers for Common Sense)

Excerpt from The Hill:  Here’s the catch for producers: The market has always assumed the incentive would come back. Biodiesel producers have had little choice but to sell fuel at a price that includes the tax incentive already calculated in. The uncertainty of a tax credit is like having to go wager a company’s money at the roulette table, betting on black, but in the red. If Congress does not reinstate the incentive for 2018 and 2019, dozens of plants stand to lose millions of dollars.

This would deal an economic blow to the future of a vital manufacturing industry, putting good-paying jobs and production of a low-carbon, domestic fuel at risk. Since biodiesel is made from surplus fats or vegetable oils, usually a byproduct or coproduct of food production, this economic pressure also lurks over farmers, who are already hit hard by trade disputes and weather events.

Congress has the opportunity to help farmers, workers and biodiesel producers. If enacted swiftly, H.R. 2089 introduced by Rep. Abby Finkenauer (D-Iowa) would extend the tax credit for two years and provide these sectors some relief.

It’s important to know that with plants in nearly every state, the U.S. biodiesel and renewable diesel industry supports more than 60,000 jobs, paying more than $2.5 billion in annual wages and generating more than $11 billion in economic impact. The tax incentive has worked as intended, with the U.S. biodiesel market growing from about 100 million gallons in 2005, when it was first implemented, to more than 2.6 billion gallonsannually since 2016. The tax incentive helped producers across the country continue to invest in capacity for future growth.  READ MORE