GATINEAU, QUE. – Reports of the U.S. biodiesel industry’s death were not greatly exaggerated.
“Our industry came within a whisper of almost completely shutting down,” Joe Jobe, chief executive officer of the National Biodiesel Board, told delegates attending the fifth annual Canadian Renewable Fuels Summit.
A life-sustaining blender’s tax credit of $1 U.S. per gallon was set to expire on Dec. 31, 2008.
“An extension almost didn’t happen,” said Jobe.
That would have been the end of an industry that will produce an estimated 2.6 billion litres of biodiesel in 2008, up from 1.9 billion litres in 2007.
Read Also
China’s grain imports have slumped big-time
China purchased just over 20 million tonnes of wheat, corn, barley and sorghum last year, that is well below the 60 million tonnes purchased in 2021-22.
Jobe said contrary to popular belief, it proved difficult getting the ear of politicians during a presidential and congressional election year.
“It’s kind of political silly season. Nobody wants anybody else to get any credit for anything,” he said during an interview following his presentation.
In the end, the industry managed to tag a one-year extension to the tax credit onto the omnibus financial rescue package passed to spark the U.S. economy. It was “pencil dust” in terms of the overall package but critical to the continuation of a U.S. biodiesel sector.
“We live to fight another day,” said Jobe.
Biodiesel manufacturers want to get away from the one or two-year extensions they’ve been dealing with since the credit went into effect on Jan. 1, 2005. The 176 plants in operation in the U.S. are seeking a more permanent tax incentive.
