Minnesota’s biodiesel mandate, looking like it could take a hit, has risen up like a Monty Python character and shouted back, “I’m NOT dead yet!” Recently, we told you how the mandate was facing an uncertain future, as the date to finally move to B10, a 10 percent blend of the green fuel, is coming this year. But that put it dangerously close to another milestone of moving to B20 next year. But this article from Biodiesel Magazine says a compromise piece of legislation looks like it could preserve the mandate… just at a slower pace.
State Representative Clark Johnson is an ardent supporter of the biodiesel industry. Last month he introduced a bill for the agriculture department and the biodiesel industry seeking to modify future requirements regarding exceptions, what months higher blends should be required, and the date on which the state will jump from B10 to B20. His bill, House File 3203, missed a deadline to move forward, but Charlie Poster, assistant commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, says the agency has made concessions to opponents of the increased biodiesel mandate by incorporating HF 3203’s language into an agency “unsession” bill (SF 2618) that is moving forward.
“The bill that’s signed into law probably won’t be HF 3203, but it will be that language,” Poster tells Biodiesel Magazine. “There was a movement by the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Minnesota Automobile Dealers Association (MADA),” Poster says. “They had some concerns about biodiesel, and they wanted to see the biodiesel mandate gutted—and I don’t think that’s too strong of a word. They were proposing some language that, in all but name, would remove our biodiesel standard. And the Department of Agriculture’s position is that biodiesel has worked really well in our state. It’s lowered the price of diesel fuel. It’s added to farmers’ incomes. It’s doing exactly what we want it to do. It’s been a great success.”
The article goes on to say that in order to appease opponents of biodiesel, the agency made four concessions: 1. Move the B20 date to 2018; 2. Shorten by one month the “summer” months part of the mandate, making it April-September; 3. Make permanent some exceptions for nuclear power plants, railroads, mining, logging and the Coast Guard; and 4. Extend the biodiesel blending waiver for No. 1 fuel to May 1, 2020.