Biodiesel producers have seen the last chance at renewing the federal biodiesel tax incentives before they expire at the end of the year slip away. But two key lawmakers have vowed the $1-a-gallon tax credit will be renewed, retroactively.
Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), Ranking Member of the same committee, say they intend to get the biodiesel tax incentives renewed early next year. The Des Moines (IA) Register has details:
“These provisions are important to our economy — not only because they help create jobs, but also because they are used to address pressing national concerns,” the senators wrote.
Grassley said taxpayers “need notice that these tax provisions” will be extended next year.
The House recently approved legislation extending the biodiesel subsidy and other expiring tax credits but the Senate took no action on the measures. Republicans objected to including the extensions in a defense bill because it also would have included an estate tax measure to which GOP senators objected, said Grassley.
Some biodiesel producers have said the lapse of the credit could force them to shut down, or at least, make them reduce production.