Fortune Smiles on Industry, Better Late Than Never

by Michael McAdams (Advanced Biofuels Association/Biomass Magazine) ... Second, we have both retroactive and forward-facing tax credits. For the first time in years, Congress injected some certainty into the market by extending expired tax provision for 2015 and 2016. The Advanced Biofuels Association was proud to help secure this tax extenders package, which included the extension of the current blenders credit. This provision will continue to protect all of the small producers, users of biodiesel and renewable diesel and their distributors. Working with a large coalition of stakeholders, we protected the extension of the blenders credit to help small producers grow and deliver cleaner fuels to American consumers. This tax victory, as EPA is well aware, also enables the advanced biofuels sector to continue to achieve the 2016 RVO targets and seek higher levels in the future.

Finally, EPA announced its final regulatory agenda for 2016. In it, for the first time, is a new proposed regulation to help resolve some of the regulatory barriers to entry for the industry. This regulation, the Renewables Enhancement and Growth Support Rule, is slated to be introduced in April and proposes various changes to the renewable fuel standard program (RFS). Although we’ll need to wait to see what this rule ultimately will be, we’re hopeful it can provide a much-needed intermediate feedstock fix and remove other barriers to the production and use of renewable fuels.

... (T)he lifting of the oil embargo last year may move RFS reform toward the front of the agenda.

Finally, with a looming fight between corn and oil and potential legislative challenges ahead, our industry must remain vigilant to avoid becoming collateral damage due to others’ agendas, and to capitalize on the certainty provided by having secured tax credits and RVO targets for the year ahead. READ MORE