The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) reported this week, Capitol Hill, Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, on Wednesday introduced a bill to extend the expired biodiesel tax incentive for three years.

According to the NBB, the bill, S. 2021, would extend the tax incentive through 2017, while also changing it from a blenders’ incentive to one taken by biodiesel producers. Enactment would be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2014.

As has occurred in the past, it is likely that any extension of the biodiesel incentive would be passed as part of a larger package of tax incentives affecting a variety of industries, not as stand-alone legislation. However, S. 2021 provides a marker for such a package, and adds to the momentum created recently as lawmakers, including the new chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., have called for passing tax extenders legislation quickly.

NBB said that while the legislation is a step in the right direction, it remains unclear whether any tax legislation can pass both chambers of Congress. We continue to advocate aggressively for lawmakers to move quickly to provide long-term tax stability to the biodiesel industry.

The biodiesel tax incentive, which also covers renewable diesel and renewable aviation fuels, expired on Dec. 31, marking the third time in five years that Congress has allowed it to lapse. The $1-per-gallon incentive, first implemented in 2005, also was allowed to lapse in 2012 and 2010.