The National Biodiesel Board Friday said the U.S. biodiesel industry is ready to meet America's renewable fuels goals for 2009.


The existing Renewable Fuels Standard program establishes minimum targets for the use of renewable fuels in the marketplace. For 2009, 10.5 billion gallons of renewable fuel must be entered into commerce. There has been some skepticism that there might be a shortage of renewable fuel available to meet the 2009 requirement, but the NBB says it is confident that the U.S. biodiesel industry is fully capable of meeting any RFS shortfalls that are not filled by the domestic ethanol industry.

"The U.S. biodiesel industry's contribution to the nation's fuel supply will help ensure that the RFS targets for 2009 will be met," said Manning Feraci, vice president of federal affairs for the biodiesel board. "In 2008 alone, the U.S. biodiesel industry produced nearly 700 million gallons of biodiesel, which equates to 1.05 billion ethanol equivalent gallons for purposes of the RFS."

Currently, there are 176 plants in operation with the capacity to produce more than 2.61 billion gallons of biodiesel.