Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) joined 14 other senators to introduce bipartisan legislation that would reform the biodiesel tax credit and extend the new policy for three years.

The American Renewable Fuel and Job Creation Act of 2017 reforms the incentive by transferring the credit from the blenders to the producers of biofuels in order to incentivize domestic production over imported fuel.

“U.S. tax policy should support U.S. products and U.S. jobs,” Grassley said. “This bipartisan bill would end a system that gives many foreign producers a leg up over U.S. producers and give certainty to the biodiesel industry, which is responsible for employing thousands of Americans. U.S. producers shouldn’t be put at a disadvantage by foreign producers that in many cases are double dipping by benefiting from U.S. tax incentives on top of their own significant government subsidies. These reforms supporting domestic producers would also save U.S. taxpayers money. Policies ought to encourage the production of domestic renewable fuels to meet consumer demand and support the creation of American jobs.”

“The biodiesel tax credit already has a track record of reducing emissions, creating 50,000 jobs, and greening our economy, removing the equivalent of 16 million cars from the road,” Cantwell said. “This legislation will remove millions more cars while promoting energy independence, saving taxpayer dollars, and accelerating by up to 45 percent the creation of new clean energy jobs in the domestic biodiesel production industry.”
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