The $1-a-gallon tax credit that keeps the industry afloat is due to expire Dec. 31, and lobbyists for biodiesel producers and soybean growers are scrambling to get Congress to enact an extension before lawmakers leave town for the holidays.

The House included an extension of the subsidy in a package of extensions for other business tax credits. However, the Senate has so far failed to act on the issue.

A House Democratic aide said Wednesday that there have been a “number of conversations” with Senate leaders about the issue, but that the Senate only has time to deal with health care and a defense bill. Press representatives for Senate leaders had no immediate comment on the issue.
Were the tax credit to lapse, “it would be a devastating blow to the industry,” said Michael Frohlich, a spokesman for the National Biodiesel Board.

Biodiesel plants could shut down or reduce production if the tax credit lapses, said Daniel Oh, president and chief operating officer of the Ames-based Renewable Energy Group Inc., which operates biodiesel plants in Iowa and other states.

If biodiesel production is limited, it could have a detrimental effect on the price of soybeans and other feedstocks utilized to produce biodiesel,” he said.
Biodiesel producers have been struggling to stay in business for some time because of the relatively high prices of their main feedstock, soybean oil, and the global recession, which has dampened fuel demand. They were dealt another blow early this year when the European Union imposed tariffs on imports of the U.S. product to offset the value of the tax subsidy.

U.S. biodiesel production is down 30 percent this year from 2008, and the industry is operating at about 15 percent of its production capacity.
A recent study by industry consultant John Urbanchuk warned that the “biodiesel industry could be expected to collapse” if the tax credit is removed.

With the tax credit, producers earned about 26 cents a gallon over their production costs in November.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Ia., said the uncertainty about the tax credit raised questions about the commitment of Democratic leaders to alternative fuels.

“This lack of action so far is especially inexcusable, considering the House and Senate have been in session nearly continuously for months,” he said.
John Hoffman of Waterloo, a former president of the American Soybean Association, said the tax credit is “essential to the continuation of the biodiesel industry.”