WASHINGTON — Six trucking and fuel associations have sent a letter to the leaders of the Senate Finance Committee, urging them to phase out the current biodiesel and renewable diesel blenders' credit rather than changing it immediately into a production tax credit.
"The undersigned organizations urge you to create a transitionary provision — similar to that adopted for wind and solar — and support a five-year phaseout of the existing blenders' credit," the American Trucking Associations and five other groups wrote in an Oct. 31 letter to Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Ranking Minority Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
A policy shift to a production tax credit would harm those who have already invested in biodiesel products while raising prices to consumers to deal with a trade issue that has already been addressed, the associations said.
"The blenders' credit has worked successfully to build a robust biodiesel and renewable diesel industry," the associations said. "In the last two years, the United States has enjoyed over 2 billion gallons of diesel replacement fuel that reduce greenhouse gas emissions by greater than 50 percent.
"Shifting to a producer credit, on the other hand, would limit supply and raise the price of both diesel fuel and heating oil," they said.
Besides the ATA, the signatories of the letter included the Advanced Biofuels Association, the Petroleum Marketers Association of America, the National Association of Truck Stop Operators, the Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing and SIGMA (formerly the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America).