Biofuel groups make White House pitch

The industry officials at the meeting discussed a letter they sent to President Obama last week asking for tax credits, loan guarantees and other federal help.

“There was a real candid interest in exploring what are the policy mechanisms” for helping the industry, so “why isn’t it happening now,” ABFA President Michael McAdams asked.

The advanced biofuels groups are laying their stake in the ground in a broader discussion the administration is also having with corn-based ethanol advocates and others on how to expand production and availability of alternative fuels.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack last week laid out a number of proposals the administration is pursuing, including a plan to provide federal matching funds for 10,000 pumps and storage systems that can handle higher amounts of biofuels blended in gasoline over the next five years.
 
He also pressed Congress to approve a “fiscally responsible short-term extension” of a key ethanol tax credit before it expires at the end of the year. Vilsack and biofuel industry officials want Congress to extend a biodiesel tax credit that expired last year.
 
A separate tax credit for advanced biofuels is set to expire at the end of 2012.
 
“An extension of that credit now would provide a good deal of certainty for the industry to make investments,” BIO spokesman Paul Winters said.
 
On Capitol Hill, House Ways and Means Chairman Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) has a draft proposal to extend a cellulosic ethanol production tax credit to include algae biofuels and optional investment tax credits in lieu of production tax incentives for cellulosic biofuels. Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) also have a proposal to extend the Defense Department’s ability to adopt long-term contracts for biofuels.
 
But with Republicans poised to make hefty gains in Congress on Election Day Tuesday — including an expected takeover of the House — the focus by lawmakers over the next two years on reducing federal spending may hamper efforts to expand federal help for biofuels.
 
Winters notes that the Levin draft has bipartisan backing and that additional help for biofuels meets the concerns of both parties of assuring that “any money that is spent is well spent.”
 
Any hope for extending any tax credits in a post-election lame-duck session may rest in whether a larger so-called tax extenders package is taken up.