Domestic Fuel

[...] Lake Erie Biofuels changes name to HERO BX, announces their pathway for biofuels [...]

European Biodiesel Board says US producers shipping lower blends to evade punitive tariff
In Belgium, the European Biodiesel Board is claiming, in a Bloomberg report, that US biodiesel exporters may have commenced shipments of biodiesel blends at B20 or lower blending ratios, to escape punitive tariffs of up to $351 per ton on higher blends. According to the report, EU imports of US biodiesel fell from 160,000 tons per month in 2008 to nearly zero in 2009, after US market share rose from 0.1 percent in 2004 to 17.2 percent in 2008.

The EBB is now pushing for the punitive tariffs to be applied to US biodiesel in any concentration, after discovering that 24,000 tons per month of biodiesel have entered the EU from the US since April, in the form of lower blends.

Let’s face it. Biodiesel can use all the help it can get.

The production of biodiesel is being assisted by a $1 per gallon tax credit for companies that blend biodiesel with petroleum diesel. Passed in 2004, the subsidy helps to make biodiesel competitive with petroleum diesel and there was a boom in the construction of biodiesel plants soon after the legislation was passed.

In 2007, legislation was passed in the U.S. Congress that is supposed to require the blending of 500 million gallons of biodiesel by 2009. And that was supposed to double to 1 billion in 2012.

The Environmental Protection Agency is tasked to execute the requirements of the law. And, while things have been going along fairly smoothly concerning ethanol, the agency has not approved any rules pertaining to biodiesel. To make matters worse for the industry, there are new European trade barriers that block the export of U.S. made biodiesel to Europe. Many producers were depending on the European market until the U.S. market could grow.

The result of all this is a reduction in the number of biodiesel plants in the U.S. For example Texas, which had 31 plants with the total production capacity of 726 million gallons a year, has seen half of them close. The problem is that diesel is not very popular in the U.S. Currently, biodiesel plants in the U.S. have the ability to produce about 2.5 billion gallons a year. However, more than half of that capacity is not being used.

Now the $1 per gallon tax credit is supposed to expire on December 31. There is legislation pending in both houses of Congress to extend the credit. But it is said that the bill in the House of Representatives will have to be attached to another bill to give it any chance of passage. Moreover, the Congress is now emerged in other seemingly more important issues like healthcare and global warming. The biodiesel industry is fearful that the legislation will not pass before the end of the year.

And even if the bill is passed in early 2010 and the credit is granted retroactively, the biodiesel industry will still suffer. That’s because producers just don’t have the capital to keep going with hopes that a bill will be passed. Companies that buy the biodiesel and then blend it to get the credit won’t buy the biodiesel if there is no tax credit. Analysts are actually saying that if the bill is not passed, then that could mean the death of the biodiesel industry in the U.S.

Needless to say, the industry is worried. And the clock keeps ticking.

Mass. Suspends Mandate for Biodiesel-Blended Heating Oil and Diesel
0 CommentsPosted by Josh Garrett on July 6, 2010 at 12:15 pm

The Massachusetts law requiring biodiesel be blended into heating oil and road diesel has been suspended for at least a year. (image: ecaptain.com)

On July 28 of last year, a law requiring sellers of home heating oil and road diesel to blend biodiesel into their products went on the books in Massachusetts, with a plan for the mandate to take effect on July 1, 2010. When that day arrived on Thursday, however, the Commonwealth’s Department of Energy Resources announced an indefinite suspension of the requirement, Boston.com reported on Friday. The department cited complications encountered while writing regulations for blending biofuels into petroleum products as the reason behind the suspension. Fearing that these complications could lead to high costs for businesses and higher prices for consumers, the Department of Energy Resources opted to suspend the requirement until blending parameters and programs are streamlined.

According to Philip Giudice, commissioner of the Department of Energy Resources, the suspension “was the best way to go, unfortunately.”

While heating oil dealers and consumers likely appreciate Massachusetts’s cautious approach aimed at keeping heating oil and diesel prices down, the suspension of the biofuel mandate is terrible news for the state’s biofuel producers. The decision dealt a heavy blow to an industry already weakened by a federal $1-per-gallon tax credit that was allowed to expire at the end of 2009. The tax credit has been added to and cut out of several bills this year, but has not been passed by both houses of Congress. The credit is currently under consideration in the Senate as part of the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act (H.R. 4213). A June 30 motion to adjourn debate on the bill and put it to a vote did not pass, so it is hard to determine when, if ever, the bill will pass out of Congress and onto the president’s desk.

Until then, biofuel producers in Massachusetts who have counted on both the federal tax credit and the state blending mandate to support their businesses will be in dire economic straits. Heating oil dealer Jeff Bursaw of Bursaw Gas & Oil in Acton told Boston.com that he had to cut back on the amount of biodiesel he is adding to his product, as its rising price could push up retail prices beyond his comfort zone. “I have to back off,’’ Bursaw said. “Otherwise I’m going to blend the cost of my heating oil up another five, 10 cents a gallon.’’ Biofuel producer Curt Felix of Plankton Power, which makes biofuel from algae, is considering moving his business out of the state. “I really don’t know what to do next,’’ he said.

Despite these major setbacks, there is some optimism in the biofuel and heating oil industries that both the federal tax credit and state mandate will be reinstated soon. Said Michael Ferrante of the heating oil industry group the Massachusetts Oilheat Council, “We think the state is committed to it. July 2011 is a more realistic start date for it.’’

[...] high amount of Omega-3s and its dried distillers grains have already been approved as cattle feed. Researchers at Penn State have been working with farmers along with HERO BX to test the viability of camelina for several years and early tests are showing great [...]

i am instrested in investing in stocks in your company ,would you send me information on investment opputunities ,in your company at 11825 sw 223 st miami florida 33170, or call me at 786 374 7327

I’m very interested in your company and would like information on investing. Just view the documentary FUEL keep up the GOOD work.