The land of 10,000 lakes becomes the first for another 10… a 10 percent biodiesel mandate. The move from a B5 to B10 blending requirement for summer months starting this July 1st was welcomed by the growers of the most popular feedstock, soybeans.
“I’m very pleased that common sense is still alive and well and that our legislators voted for what was good for Minnesota,” says George Goblish, president of the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association (MSGA) and a farmer from Vesta, Minn. “The decision to continue moving forward is good for air quality in Minnesota, energy diversity and its good for the economy.”
The escalation to B10 was part of a bill passed in 2008 which called for the move to happen in 2013. Because of inadequate blending infrastructure in on area of the state and a regulatory concern, the move was pushed back to 2014. Legislation brought forward during the Minnesota legislative session that ended May 16, attempted to derail the bill but was unsuccessful. B10 will be available at the pump from April through September. Supplies will revert to a B5 blend the rest of the year.
“This sends a very important message that Minnesota remains a leader, because the state’s B2 mandate back in 2002 really jumpstarted the biodiesel industry nationwide,” says Ed Hegland, an Appleton, Minn. farmer and member of the National Biodiesel Board’s governing board. “Proving that a state can now go to B10 is a significant step in the right direction for renewable fuels.”
The move is expected to create an additional 20 million gallons of biodiesel demand each year, in addition to the current 40 million gallons used annually. It will help make the blue skies even cleaner, as the current B5 requirement is credited with reducing particulate and greenhouse gas emissions the equivalent of taking 35,000 vehicles off the road and removing an estimated 644 million pounds of carbon dioxide from the air annually.