This week, we’ve heard a lot of talk about a change in Internal Revenue Service policy that will allow big oil companies to cash in on a $1-a-gallon tax credit originally intended to help the biodiesel industry off the ground (see my posts on April 16th & April 18th). The National Biodiesel Board has blasted the IRS for the change, and now some key Democrats in the U.S. Congress are vowing to change things back.

This article on Bloomberg.com tells more:

“There appears to be abuse that demands legislative correction,” said Texas Representative Lloyd Doggett, who is drafting a measure to overturn the IRS rule with Representative John Larson of Connecticut. Senator Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat, said yesterday during a Finance Committee hearing that the companies tried to “go around” Congress and that the tax credit needs to be “re-examined.”

Doggett, a senior member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said he may introduce his bill as early as today. Cantwell, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, is still drafting hers.

Opponents of extending the credit to the oil companies point out that this could force the other biodiesel ventures out of business.