NATSO, the national association representing truckstops and travel plazas, along with industry partners, urged Congressional leaders to act quickly to reinstate the biodiesel tax credit

with a retroactively effective date of Jan. 1, 2010, to ensure a healthy biodiesel market for producers and consumers.

In a letter addressed to Senators Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Representatives Sander Levin (D-MI) and Dave Camp (R-MI), NATSO urged lawmakers to quickly convene a conference on the American Worker, State and Business Relief Act of 2010 and to reinstate the tax credit that expired Dec. 31. 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 National Association of Convenience Stores, the Petroleum Marketers Association of America and the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America joined NATSO in signing the letter.

"The truckstop and travel plaza industry is fully engaged in supporting U.S. environmental efforts. Fuel retailers want to continue making investments in biodiesel infrastructure and want to continue selling biodiesel to customers," said NATSO President and CEO Lisa Mullings. "But without this tax credit, they can't do that. Congress imposed biodiesel production mandates to stimulate renewable fuel development. Without an extension of the tax credit, the production mandate is meaningless and consumer demand for the product erodes."

Since the biodiesel tax credit expired, U.S. biodiesel production has plummeted by more than 80 percent.

NATSO emphasized that failure to reinstate the tax credit could force fuel blenders and producers to lay off employees or push them into failure. When the tax credit expired, many fuel blenders and producers continued to pass the $1/per gallon credit on to customers based on an assurance that the credit would not lapse and would cover all of 2010.