Pennsylvania lawmakers have passed a bill that would significantly increase that state’s incentive to biodiesel makers and another that would mandate that every gallon of diesel be blended with biodiesel.
This story in the York (PA) Daily Record says the bill from Sen. Robert Tomlinson (R-Bucks) would up the incentive to 75 cents for each gallon and is expected to help the green energy industry while helping local farmers:
The incentive program would be capped at $5.25 million per year. No company could receive more than $2 million per year. Mark O’Neill, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, said an existing 5-cent incentive in Pennsylvania pales in comparison to incentives that top $1 per gallon in other states.
He said increasing the subsidy will create greater demand for soybeans, indirectly benefiting local farmers as the state’s six biodiesel companies increase production.
Pennsylvania producers say robust incentives in states such as Iowa and Indiana have allowed out-of-state companies to undercut their prices. Twenty-four states offer a production incentive of some kind, said Ben Wootton, president of Keystone BioFuels in Cumberland County.
“It’s killing all the producers in Pennsylvania,” Wootton said.
Rep. Eugene DePasquale, D-West Manchester Township, who backs the plan, said he believes spurring domestic biodiesel production is a “national security issue.”
“I strongly believe that we have to reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” he said.Read More
Officials from 
The letter reads in part, “Were it not for the increasing production of world biofuels producers, oil consumption would expand by 1 million barrels per day. As the leaders of the world’s most industrialized nations, you can imagine what would happen to oil prices in the absence of biofuel production.”
The biofuel industry leaders also cautioned against the unfounded assumptions being made regarding biofuels’ role in rising food prices, noting that stronger commodity prices provide the necessary incentives to spur increased grain production worldwide. 
Appropriately on Independence Day weekend, it was an all-American win for the Rahal Letterman team, which is sponsored by the ethanol industry – including ICM, POET and Fagen – with driver Ryan Hunter-Reay at the wheel. 
Florida Governor Charlie Crist has signed a comprehensive alternative energy bill that is being touted as putting his state on the right foot for beginning true energy independence, while being realistic.
“What I see is it’s a rotational crop to improve wheat production,” said Kent McVay, cropping systems specialist at the Montana State University’s Southern Agricultural Recearch Center (SARC) in Huntley, Mont.
Recently, a complete “green” fuel station opened in Lawrence, Kansas. Harold Kraus, a National Biodiesel Board Director and Kansas soybean farmer Harold Kraus was there.
“By utilizing corn-based ethanol in gas pumps throughout the state, Missouri consumers have earned bragging rights for having the cheapest gas in the nation,” states MCGA CEO Gary Marshall. “By design, the use of ethanol as required by the Missouri Renewable Fuel Standard works only to lower the cost to consumers. The law is written with a price trigger that if ethanol is ever priced higher than gasoline, marketers are not required to use the high performance fuel.” 
The world’s investment in clean energies – solar, wind and biofuels – jumped an amazing 60 percent from 2006 to 2007… thanks to rising oil prices and changing climate rules.
The president of a New York City biodiesel company is encouraging his industry to “push back” against the myths put out about the green fuel.
Baker became so frustrated about having to constantly defend biodiesel to people who were being misled by incorrect information that he decided to do something about it on a larger level. A few months ago, he began writing statements to potential clients and other interested parties setting the facts straight about biodiesel. Now, he’s heading a national “grassroots” movement for others to do the same. “I like to call it a ‘push back’,” Baker said.