New Mexico officials are debating the fate of that state’s biodiesel mandate … a mandate that has never actually been enforced. Albuquerque Business First reports the state agriculture department is calling together to taskforce to consider the issue.
Joe Gomez, a division director at the New Mexico Department of Agriculture, said the taskforce will meet on Aug. 8 to discuss what to do with the mandate that expires in October but has not been enforced. The state said originally that it wanted all diesel fuels sold here to be a 5 percent blend of biodiesel.
But critics have charged that the state doesn’t have the infrastructure to support it, that it costs to much, and that it’s unavailable in much of the state.
The new task force, Gomez said, brings together suppliers, producers, a variety of players in the petroleum industry, government and even school bus drivers to discuss the mandate.
The taskforce will be looking at availability of the green fuel and pricing triggers.