US House passes biofuels subsidy bill

26 September 2008 21:26  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--The US House passed a bill on Friday that would extend subsidies to biofuel producers, but the Senate was expected to fight the measure over funding concerns, sources said.

The House voted 257-166 to approve HR 7060, the Renewable Energy and Job Creation Act, said a spokesman for the House Ways and Means Committee. Some Republicans objected that mechanisms were not in place to fully pay for it.

The Senate passed a similar bill on Tuesday, but the two legislative bodies are far apart on how to pay for the subsidies, said a spokesman for the National Biodiesel Board. President George Bush has threatened to veto any bill containing “pay as you go” language currently found in the House version.    

The bill would extend for one year the $1/gal (€0.18/litre) blending credit that most biodiesel producers need to survive. It would cut by half a subsidy for renewable diesel producers who co-process it with petroleum, leaving oil giant ConocoPhillips to review its 175m gal/year joint venture with meat processor Tyson.     

The Senate was set to go on recess on Friday, but Majority Leader Harry Reid (Democrat-Nevada) has indicated it will stay in session to consider the legislation regarding the massive federal bailout of the finance industry.

Bookmark Simon Robinson’s Big Biofuels Blog for some independent thinking on biofuels
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By: Ben Lefebvre
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