The American Soybean Association (ASA) is filing a World Trade Organization challenge to Argentina’s export tax system… a system the ASA says turns out to be an unfair subsidy for Argentine biodiesel exports.
This story posted on Agriculture Online has details:
The Argentine export tax system favors biodiesel with lower export taxes for the fuel than for exports of raw soybeans, ASA’s president, John Hoffman of Waterloo, Iowa, told Agriculture Online.
“Right now there’s a huge advantage for crushers down there to export biodiesel,” Hoffman said. It amounts to $1.11 per gallon of biodiesel. Hoffman said it’s so profitable, that soybean crushers in Argentina are importing soybeans from Brazil and Paraguay.
So far, the biodiesel exports aren’t coming into the U.S., where biodiesel plants are already limiting production due to the high cost of vegetable oils. Hoffman said the Argentine biodiesel is mainly going to the European Union.
On the way, tankers of biodiesel stop by U.S. Gulf Coast ports, where as little as one percent petroleum diesel is blended in. That qualifies a load of biodiesel for the $1 dollar a gallon biodiesel tax credit intended for U.S. producers, said ASA spokesman Bob Callanan. That so-called “splash and dash” adds another $1 in subsidies, paid by U.S. taxpayers, for South American biofuel bound for Europe.
ASA officials are optimistic that they’ll be able to close the “splash and dash” loophole by stopping Congress from renewing it before it expires at the end of this year.
A new report says Ohio could be home to 174,000 advanced, renewable energy jobs by 2030. 
During a press conference following his appearance at the general session, Schafer fielded questions from farm media about biofuels and ethanol in particular. Asked if there was any chance that there might be a delay in implementing the new Renewable Fuels Standard because of recent reports claiming that biofuels are bad for the environment, Schafer said no.
While some car makers might be betting the future for fuels will be a mix of several different sources, one major European carmaker seems to be happy to put all of its eggs in one basket.
The South Dakota State House and Senate has voted unanimously to approve a bill that would cut state taxes on diesel mixed with biodiesel.
Officials with the National Biodiesel Board are telling those who depend on their trucks… and the fuel they put in those trucks… for their living that the quality of biodiesel is getting better.
You can’t turn a corner at the 2008 Commodity Classic trade show without seeing something about ethanol. A record crowd is attending the Classic this year – more than 4450 people and over 140 media are in Nashville and the corn-fed enthusiasm is driven in a large part by the ethanol buzz.
Everybody who is anybody in the ethanol industry is here – the 
But its only just begun. Friday will feature Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer during the general session followed up by a John Deere Learning Center Session on Starch and Cellulose as Ethanol Feedstocks. And Saturday night everybody will be “Corn Fed” with a concert featuring the lovely and talented Shannon Brown.
The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council is now in the publishing business after announcing the introduction of “Ethanol Retailer” magazine this week. Robert White, Publisher, is pictured (center) during a panel he participated in on E85 during the National Ethanol Conference. I interviewed Robert about the new venture and the panel he was on.
The sudden skyrocketing of wind energy production, especially in areas of the Midwest and rural parts of Texas and California, is outdistancing the the capacity for the nation’s high-voltage lines to get that clean electricity into the nation’s cities.
The U.S House today approved $18 billion in new taxes on the oil companies that will fund incentives for renewable energy.