The American Soybean Association (ASA) joins its colleagues in the biodiesel industry in voicing its support for a call from President Barack Obama to renew tax incentives for companies producing renewable energy, including biodiesel. The president yesterday urged Congress to renew the tax credits while in Iowa, the nation’s largest producer of soybeans. While the bulk of the renewable fuel tax incentives mentioned by the president will lapse at the end of the year if not renewed, the biodiesel tax incentive expired on Dec. 31, 2011.

"President Obama has repeatedly expressed his support of increased production of clean, renewable, domestic energy sources like biodiesel as part of his ‘all-of-the-above’ energy strategy, and we join him in urging Congress to pass the tax credits for these producers. The biodiesel tax credit is a huge factor in encouraging more production of this energy source," said ASA President Steve Wellman, a soybean farmer from Syracuse, Neb.

Approximately half of U.S. biodiesel is produced from soybean oil. Biodiesel is the only advanced biofuel that is currently commercially available in the U.S. and it provides significant economic, energy security, environmental and health benefits. With the aid of the tax incentive last year, the biodiesel industry produced a record volume of nearly 1.1 billion gallons, supporting nearly 40,000 jobs nationwide.

In addition to cheering the president’s call for extension of the tax credit, ASA urges the Obama Administration to approve the EPA’s proposal to raise the 2013 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) volume requirement for biodiesel to 1.28 billion gallons. The RFS is currently set at 1 billion gallons for 2012.