American Soybean Association (ASA) President Ray Gaesser, a farmer from Corning, Iowa, praised Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), for speaking up in support for biodiesel. In a press conference on Wednesday, the senators highlighted the need for reinstatement of the biodiesel tax credit and for EPA to increase the proposed 2014 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) volumes for biodiesel. The senators, and others representing biodiesel and feedstock producers, outlined the negative impact that the lapse of the credit has had on the burgeoning industry and the additional uncertainty resulting from the EPA’s 2014 RFS proposal. Gaesser had this to say on the issue:

“The biodiesel industry is a significant and growing market for the soybeans my fellow farmers and I produce, and for many years, we’ve been working with the recognition and the investment of our federal partners in the form of the Biodiesel Tax Credit. Now in the absence of that incentive, many of our producers are scaling back their production and risk hampering the broad and sustained success of the biodiesel industry.

”We appreciate and echo the sentiments from these six Senators today, and call to attention the positive impacts that the RFS and the Biodiesel Tax Credit has on the production of biodiesel—a clean, domestic and commercially-available biofuel. This results in benefits to farmers and rural communities, the economy, consumers, and the environment.

“So many in Congress and in the Administration talk about exploring all options in our nation’s quest for energy independence, yet we are hampering those viable solutions created by farmers right here at home. Thank you to those Senators who have realized and stood up for the potential of biodiesel in this effort. Our industry will continue to pursue our goal of establishing biodiesel as the go-to source for clean, domestic renewable energy and we urge each of our members to contact their Senator to support the continuation of the Biodiesel Tax Credit and the adjustment of the RFS to higher levels in 2014 and beyond.”