Grassley: Jobs Bill Forgot 23,000 Biodiesel Jobs
The latest jobs bill seems to be forgetting the 23,000 workers in the biodiesel industry who are at risk since the provision renewing the federal $1-a-gallon tax incentive was removed. That’s the opinion of Sen. Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa who saw his version of the jobs bill with the biodiesel provisions get scrapped for a pared down version from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada).
Now, it looks like Reid’s bill will come to a vote on Wednesday after passing an important procedural vote earlier this week. But before the cloture vote, Grassley took to the Senate floor to express his dismay at Reid’s jobs bill without the biodiesel-jobs-saving provisions (this excerpt from IowaPolitics.com):
Either the Democratic leaders are playing partisan politics with tax extenders, or they don’t understand the worth of the provisions to the economy, including job retention and creation. The biodiesel industry alone says 23,000 jobs are at risk due to the biodiesel tax credit being allowed to expire. Those workers are not fat cats.
And in case anyone thinks biodiesel is something only Iowans worry about, these green jobs are in forty-four of the fifty states.
The biodiesel tax incentive was allowed to expire at the end of 2009 while the Senate wrestled over health care reform.
8 Comments »
Daily News—02/24/10 - Blog - Site Root - BioDieselNow - Renewable biodiesel fuel
[...] Grassley points out that 23,000 biodiesel jobs are left out of jobs bill [...]
Joe
If biodiesel is any kind of solution it can stand on it’s own. But we all know the truth, it is a government welfare program at the expense of the taxpayer. Grassley is just another “special interest” politician who will not be re-elected.
Jason
Joe,
Biodiesel is not another welfare program, and it can stand on its own and does in alot of states. But one of the major attractions to starting any new energy reliable solution is government funding. This has been key in the advancement of wind energy, solar energy and some biomass. The main issue is not that the tax credit will not be renewed, its is the Government forgetting that 23,000 jobs which President Obama said would be “saved or created.” We now really see that all of that was a slight exaggeration of care for the biodiesel industry, and was more then likely just political verbage thrown around to boost the American people into supporting his bill, which on a personal note i do not think any Americans i know of have seen the benefit. When my best friend has to wait in line with 100 other people for a 5 min Job interview for 1 lossy job at the wood mill then it makes sense to me that “Lies are told enough and soon they become truth.” we are not out of the recession, hold onto your hats for the re-depression.
Mike
I work for a biodiesel producer, and the credit helps make the end product affordable and competitive with petro-diesel. Though I don’t disagree that the industry needs to be self-sustaining, the credit allows many producers to make a small profit while streamlining the processes that will make biofuels more cost competitive. As newer technologies emerge in the industry we’ll see no need for the credit, but until then, just as any fledgling industry, like the automobile, or the oil industries in their day, tax credits and subsidies help pay the way.
John Magwood
You know what those crooks in Washington DC are going to do, don’t you? They’ll tack on the biodiesel incentive renewal to cap-&-trade to pick up a few more votes for that jobs-killing spending bill.
Biodiesel doesn’t get any more federal incentives than the petroleum industry still does. Why can’t they stand on their own after so many decades?
Matt
I agree with Jason and Mike. The Biodiesel industry needs nurturing in the near term – with much needed tax credits- so that it can stand strong, create jobs and take hold in this country. Currently, the US is operating its biodiesel plants at 15% capacity and we are, as a nation replacing less than 0.4% of our domestically burned diesel with biodiesel. We can do much better than this, espeically if you consider that World Biodiesel Market revenues are expected to reach $71 billion in 2020. ( http://www.infogrok.com/index.php/energy/world-biodiesel-market-to-reach-71-billion-by-2020.html )
Let’s not get left behind in this critical industry.
John Davis
Joe,
I think you make a good point about biodiesel needing to stand on its own. But, would you make the same argument against Big Oil getting government subsidies? Estimates are that petroleum companies get $3-4 billion a year in direct subsidies and possibly $10-35 billion a year when you consider the lower tax rate oil companies pay as compared to other industries.
When you consider that biodiesel was getting $1 a gallon, it seems to me that the green fuel was getting the short end of the subsidy stick.
John Davis
Russell Jones
in taylors,s.c. over thirty or more people lost jobs in feburary 2009 at a plant producing biodiesel fuel in my personal openion producing this fuel helps not depending on foreign oil and also keeps jobs for americans and helps our environment if the biodiesel bill woud have been in with the jobs bill and passed these workers would not be having to depend now on unemployment and as one of those that worked at this plant and hunting for work my self and others that worked at this plant would like to see this bill pass if this plant were to reopen it could people back to work
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