ASA and NBB Urge Senate to Take Final Action Before Adjournment This Week

The American Soybean Association (ASA) and the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) applauded Members of the U.S. House for approving a biodiesel tax incentive as part of legislation concerning the Foreign Sales Corporation/Extraterritorial Income Tax (FSC/ETI) regime, commonly referred to as “JOBS” legislation, and called on the Senate to immediately do likewise. The House passed the bill by a vote 280 to 141.

“I represent 25,000 soybean growers and I can tell you with certainty that we view approval of FSC/ETI legislation to be the most important Senate vote of the year,” said ASA President Neal Bredehoeft, a soybean farmer from Alma, Mo. “Every Senator who has expressed support for renewable fuels and biodiesel has a responsibility to vote for the FSC/ETI bill because its pro-biodiesel provisions support U.S. soybean growers.”

The biodiesel tax incentive, which amounts to a penny per percentage point of biodiesel blended with petroleum diesel, was included in the FSC/ETI legislation at the insistence of biodiesel champions like Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR). It is part of the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) originally introduced as S. 1548 that Senators Grassley and Lincoln sponsored, and H.R. 3119 sponsored by Representative Kenny Hulshof (R-MO). House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-CA) chaired the conference committee and included the biodiesel provision.

“This legislation will help America shift away from foreign oil and to greater use of biodiesel that is made in the United States,” said NBB chairman and ASA first vice president Bob Metz of South Dakota. “After years of consideration, now is the time for action. We ask that Senators not leave Washington, D.C. this week without passing the JOBS bill with the biodiesel tax incentive. This is our single best chance of getting this important legislation for biodiesel completed.”

Biodiesel is a cleaner burning alternative to petroleum-based diesel, and it is made from renewable resources like soybeans, grown here in the United States. It works in any diesel engine with few or no modifications. It can be used in its pure form (B100), or blended with petroleum diesel at any level—most commonly 20 percent (B20). Soybean farmers have invested millions of dollars through the soybean checkoff to build the biodiesel industry in the United States.

More than 400 major fleets use biodiesel commercially nationwide. About 300 retail filling stations make biodiesel available to the public, and more than 1,000 petroleum distributors carry it nationwide. Biodiesel is nontoxic, biodegradable and essentially free of sulfur and aromatics. Biodiesel offers similar fuel economy, horsepower and torque to petroleum diesel while providing superior lubricity. It significantly reduces emissions of carbon monoxide, particulate matter, unburned hydrocarbons and sulfates. On a lifecycle basis, biodiesel reduces carbon dioxide by 78 percent compared to petroleum diesel.