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NATSO President and CEO Lisa Mullings urged Senate leaders to quickly
extend the biodiesel tax credit before it expires Dec. 31 to ensure an
affordable biodiesel supply for the nation’s 3.5 million truck
drivers and to secure the environmental investments of the
nation’s truckstops and travel plazas.
In a letter addressed to all members of the Senate, Mullings said
extending the tax credit will increase biodiesel production while
spurring retail investment in the infrastructure necessary to supply
biodiesel to commercial carriers and the motoring public.
Mullings’ request came just days after the U.S. House of
Representatives passed a one-year extension of the current $1 per gallon
tax blender credit for biodiesel.
“Our members want to support green initiatives. But they are
concerned that if they make the investment in biodiesel fueling
infrastructure and the tax credit isn’t renewed they won’t
be able to sell the biodiesel because of the price disparity between
biodiesel and other fuels,” Mullings said. “We would like to
see the tax credit extended so that fuel retailers will be able to
make these investments.”
Promoting biodiesel as part of a comprehensive national energy
strategy, which includes strict quality standards, is vital to ensuring
an adequate, uninterrupted supply of fuel. A biodiesel tax credit lapse
would grind biodiesel production to a halt, further distressing an
industry that has encountered significant hardship over the last
year.
Congress imposed biodiesel production mandates in recent years to
stimulate renewable fuel development. Without an extension of the tax
credit, however, the production mandate would become meaningless as
consumer demand for the product erodes.
The biodiesel tax credit, which is part of the
“extenders” package known as H.R. 4213, includes $5 billion
in individual tax relief, $17 billion in business tax relief, $1.2
billion to encourage charitable giving, $2.6 billion for disaster tax
relief provisions and more than $1 billion to extend expiring energy tax
provisions.
For more information, email halfano@natso.com.
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