WASHINGTON - The decision to delay Senate consideration of an extension of the biodiesel tax incentive is certain to have a negative impact on the domestic biodiesel industry.

"Since the biodiesel tax incentive expired last year, U.S. biodiesel producers have been forced to lay-off employees, cut payrolls and stop production.  Further delay addressing this issue is certain to make this situation worse and imperil the 23,000 green jobs the industry currently supports," stated Manning Feraci, Vice President for Federal Affairs at the National Biodiesel Board (NBB).

On February 11, 2010, Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) and Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) unveiled the Hiring Employees to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act, legislation that among other things provided for the extension of expired tax provisions including the biodiesel tax incentive.  Subsequent to this, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced his decision to move forward with a scaled-down jobs package that did not include an extension of the biodiesel tax incentive, indicating that this issue and other expiring provisions would be addressed at some undetermined point in the future.

"Extension of the biodiesel tax incentive is a simple, straight-forward step the Senate can take to save and create jobs in an industry dedicated to displacing foreign oil with clean domestic renewable fuels.  It defies common-sense not to address this situation immediately.  For the sake of the U.S. biodiesel industry and the good paying jobs it supports, the Senate should promptly extend this effective incentive in the first legislative vehicle to pass and be signed into law," Feraci concluded.

The National Biodiesel Board is the national trade association of the biodiesel industry and is the coordinating body for biodiesel research and development in the U.S.  NBB's membership is comprised of state, national, and international feedstock and feedstock processor organizations, biodiesel producers, fuel marketers and distributors, and technology providers.