Congress has failed to renew the biodiesel tax incentive that will expire at the end of this year and the biodiesel industry is hoping they will turn it around and act quickly in 2012 to save thousands of jobs that have been created thanks to the initiative this year.
“We’re disappointed,” said Anne Steckel, vice president of federal affairs for the National Biodiesel Board. “Jobs and the economy are supposed to be the top priority in Washington, yet Congress has left thousands of workers in limbo heading into the holidays by failing to extend this tax incentive. It’s a missed opportunity, and we are urging Congress to pass an extension immediately next year to limit the economic damage.”
“We appreciate our bipartisan supporters in the House and Senate who worked hard to include the incentive in year-end legislatiohttp://energy.agwired.com/wp-admin/post-new.phpn recently, and we look forward to building on that support when Congress returns,” Steckel added.
The biodiesel industry has seen a remarkable turnaround this year after Congress reinstated its $1-per-gallon tax incentive following a one-year lapse in 2010. When the credit lapsed, dozens of plants shut down and thousands of jobs were lost as 2010 production plummeted to about 315 million gallons, the lowest level since 2006.
Through the end of October of this year, according to the latest EPA figures, the industry had set a new annual production record of more than 802 million gallons and could triple the 2010 production volume by the end of the year.