Farm-State Lawmakers Keep Beating The Drum For Biodiesel Tax Credit

The biodiesel tax credit that lapsed at the end of 2017 needs to be extended -- both retroactively and for several years ahead, a group of farm-state lawmakers is urging House leadership. The effort was spearheaded by Reps. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, and Darrin LaHood, R-Ill., with 42 additional House members signing the February 11 letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La. The fate of the biodiesel credit is "an unresolved issue of importance to our constituents and our states' economies," the lawmakers said, arguing an extension is needed to end prolonged uncertainty about the policy given the "off-again, on-again" nature of the credit. "A multi-year extension of biodiesel and renewable diesel incentives will provide the industry the certainty it needs to continue to generate economic and environmental public benefits," the lawmakers wrote. The lawmakers also touted the more the 60,000 jobs connected to biodiesel production, the aid to rural communities, the fuel's benefits to U.S. energy security and reductions of waste and carbon emissions. Biodiesel blenders, producers, truck drivers, consumers and farmers are among those benefitting from the credit. "Biodiesel production can add roughly 63 cents of value to every bushel of soybeans," they observed, a boost to U.S. farm income. The support the credit provides is especially critical today "when farm income is at its lowest point in more than a decade, crop prices are below the cost of production and farmers are bearing the brunt of ongoing trade disputes," the lawmakers argued.