The National Biodiesel Board has written a letter urging Congress to retroactively reinstate the biodiesel tax incentive, which expired on Dec. 31, 2009.

The bill, H.R. 4213, was passed by the House and by the Senate in slightly different versions; both provide for a one-year, retroactive extension of the biodiesel tax incentive.

"The lapse of the biodiesel tax incentive has harmed the domestic biodiesel industry and placed 23,000 jobs in immediate jeopardy," said Manning Feraci, NBB's vice president of federal affairs. "If extension of this effective incentive continues to languish, we risk losing the significant job creation, energy security and environmental benefits associated with the domestic production and use of biodiesel."

The tax incentive is structured in a manner that makes biodiesel's price competitive with conventional diesel fuel in the marketplace. The National Biodiesel Board pointed out that the lapse of the tax incentive has caused a severe retraction in the domestic production and use of biodiesel.

The letter was also signed by the Petroleum Marketers Association of America; NATSO; Society of Independent Gas Marketers of America; New England Fuel Institute; American Soybean Association; National Farmers Union; and American Farm Bureau Federation.