I just copied this from the infopop biodiesel forum - - -NBB Praises Bill to Close Tax Loophole in U.S. Energy Policy
Rep. Doggett introduces bill to properly define “renewable diesel”
WASHINGTON, D.C.– The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) praised bipartisan legislation introduced today by Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) to prevent large integrated oil companies from exploiting a federal tax incentive designed to stimulate biodiesel and renewable diesel production.
The bill, entitled the Responsible Renewable Energy Tax Credit Act of 2007, would prevent oil companies from claiming a one dollar-per-gallon tax credit when using small amounts of biomass as an ingredient in making diesel fuel. Under the Doggett legislation, producers making renewable diesel solely from renewable sources, and as it was originally defined, would continue to be eligible for the credit.
“Unless the abuse of this tax credit is prohibited, it will have the exact opposite effect of what Congress intended - it will discourage the creation of real renewable diesel fuel - and all on the taxpayer's dime,” said Congressman Doggett, a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee. “Green energy initiatives must not be converted into public boondoggles.”
In April, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) approved a request to expand the definition of “renewable diesel” in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to include the act of adding biomass to conventional refinery processes.
“The recent IRS ruling could lead to unintended recipients taking advantage of the renewable diesel credit,” said Rep. Kenny Hulshof (R-MO), an original cosponsor of the bill and longtime champion of biodiesel. “This bill fixes that problem. We should take every available step to encourage the use of renewable, homegrown fuels like biodiesel. This bill is designed to protect and encourage that potential.”
Joe Jobe, NBB CEO, noted that the bill has 50 cosponsors, many on the Ways and Means Committee.
“This is a question about what makes sound energy policy: do you take limited taxpayer dollars and invest them in new energy companies and technologies built from the ground up, or do you take those same dollars and give them to already large, mature, highly profitable oil companies? It is very encouraging to see Rep. Doggett and so many others recognize the flawed policy that has resulted here, and try to correct it,” Jobe said.
“Sustainable biofuels are essential to breaking our dangerous oil addiction and solving global warming,” said Jim Presswood, an energy policy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Jobe noted that Congress recognized the need to reduce dependence on foreign oil when it enacted the biodiesel and renewable diesel tax incentives. As a result, the country now has a domestic biodiesel industry with 105 small biodiesel plants capable of producing 864 million gallons of fuel.
“This capacity and the future growth of the industry represents new capacity of environmentally friendly biodiesel and renewable diesel. Economic analysis shows that biodiesel production will create at least 40,000 new jobs and will add $24 billion to the U.S. economy,” Jobe said. “By contrast, subsidizing the existing operations of oil refineries accomplishes none of these goals, and in fact, could endanger free-standing biodiesel and renewable diesel producers by artificially inflating feedstock costs.”
The NBB 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 suppliers, fuel marketers and distributors, and technology providers.
Readers can learn more about biodiesel by visiting
www.biodiesel.org.
This is more like the solution I had in mind!
Vic