Fuel retailers applaud House legislation to extend biodiesel tax credit

NATSO, representing America’s travel centers and truck stops, SIGMA: America's Leading Fuel Marketers, and the National Association of Convenience Stores commended a bipartisan group of lawmakers for introducing the Biodiesel Tax Credit Extension Act of 2024, which would extend the biodiesel blenders tax credit.

The legislation is sponsored by Reps. Mike Carey, R-Ohio; Claudia Tenney, R-New York; Ann Kuster, D-New Hampshire; and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa.

HR 9060 would extend the biodiesel tax credit for one year at the blender level.

Extending the biodiesel blenders tax credit would immediately incentivize fuel retailers nationwide to buy and blend more gallons of biodiesel, which is far better for the environment than petroleum diesel. 

Since 2004, the biodiesel tax credit has effectively spurred fuel retailers to invest in the necessary infrastructure to sell low-carbon alternative fuels while encouraging consumers to buy renewable fuel blends due to their lower cost.

The biodiesel tax credit helps create jobs, reduce the transportation sector’s greenhouse-gas emissions and enables fuel retailers to offer more competitively priced diesel fuel.

“Renewable diesel and biodiesel represent a vital component of any sound strategy for lowering transportation-sector emissions,” said David Fialkov, the executive vice president of government affairs for NATSO and SIGMA. “Trucks are harder and more expensive to electrify than cars, and while we pursue aspirational goals, we still must capitalize on economically viable solutions that help us lower emissions today. We commend Reps. Carey, Kuster, Tenney and Miller-Meeks for recognizing the critical role that renewable diesel and biodiesel play in lower fuel costs for consumers by supporting an extension of the biodiesel blender tax credit. We urge Congress to extend this successful policy as soon as possible.”

Paige Anderson, the director of government relations at NACS, added, “This legislation is key to supporting our industry’s continued investment in advanced renewable fuels. We applaud Congressman Carey for demonstrating leadership on this issue and encourage all members of Congress to support this bill, which will extend fuel supply and incentivize fuel retailers to invest in low-carbon alternative fuels at a cost that is attractive to consumers.”

NATSO noted that a diverse group of stakeholders support this policy because it lowers the price consumers pay to fuel their vehicles and heat their homes.

“Biodiesel historically has been the most widely consumed biofuel for use in commercial trucking and represents the best opportunity to reduce carbon emissions from the nation’s commercial trucking fleet for the foreseeable future,” NATSO stated.

The biodiesel tax credit lowers the price that truck drivers pay for diesel fuel, which in turn lowers the cost of shipping and therefore the price consumers pay for products that are moved by truck.

Extending the biodiesel tax credit will safeguard the ability of motor carriers to reduce carbon emissions in the nation’s existing commercial fleets while lowering fuel prices and the cost of goods for consumers, NATSO noted.

The biodiesel blenders tax credit has worked successfully to build a robust renewable diesel industry in the United States while decreasing carbon emissions associated with transportation fuel.

The U.S. biodiesel and renewable diesel market has grown to approximately 4 billion gallons in 2023 from roughly 100 million gallons in 2005.

Biodiesel and renewable diesel eliminated 15 million metric tons of CO2 in California alone in 2020, the equivalent of taking more than 3 million passenger cars off the roads.

Compared with petroleum-based diesel, renewable diesel and biodiesel reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by up to 80 percent. 

The California Air Resources Board recently underscored their important role in reducing carbon emissions, announcing that renewable diesel and biodiesel constitute more than half of the diesel supply in California.