Biofuel-backing senators will introduce three pieces of legislation aimed at bolstering the sector, including efforts to expand higher biofuel blends, provide tax incentives for flex fuel vehicles and establish a tax credit higher blends of ethanol.
The first effort would appropriate $100 million annually in Fiscal Years (FYs) 2021 through 2030 for efforts to update fueling dispensers and storage tanks for higher biofuel blends, with 75% cost share for new pumps to dispense higher ethanol blends, 50% for higher biodiesel blends, and 40% of the cost to update tanks.
Another measure would establish a $200-per-vehicle tax credit for flex-fuel vehicles.
The low-carbon fuel tax credit would provide 5 cents per gallon for E15 and 10 cents per gallon for blends over 15% ethanol.
There already has been a push by some lawmakers to include biofuel efforts in any infrastructure package, and it would seem these pieces of legislation are being offered potentially with that goal in mind. Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, are co-authors of the first two pieces of legislation with Klobuchar and John Thune, R-S.D., teaming up on the low-carbon fuel tax credit bill.