 |
BIODIESEL PRODUCTION TAX CREDIT BILL
Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) is expected to introduce
legislation in the coming weeks that would replace the one
dollar biodiesel blenders tax credit with a new biodiesel
production tax credit which would expire in five years.
Cantwell hopes the extended time will allow the biodiesel
industry to invest “with confidence” in new facilities. The
current one dollar biodiesel tax credit expires at the end
of this year.
Yesterday PMAA staff met with Senator Maria Cantwell’s
(D-WA) office on her proposal.
According to Cantwell’s staff, the legislation would:
-
Create a biodiesel production tax
credit (rather than blenders credit) for five years. The
producers would theoretically pass the one dollar
biodiesel credit downstream to marketers.
-
Give small producers an extra ten
cent biodiesel production tax credit for five years
($1.10 a gallon).
-
Production of B100 or B99 would
become a taxable fuel requiring the producer to collect
the 24.4 cents per gallon tax from a marketer when sold
outside of a registered terminal. Fuel not subject to
excise tax will be dyed by producers.
-
Still allow blenders to own the
RINS, but they would not be eligible to collect the one
dollar tax credit.
-
Completely close the splash and
dash loophole.
-
Effectively track biodiesel if
the producer transfers it to another registered
biodiesel terminal.
PMAA staff and NATSO staff have met
with Cantwell’s office and are in communication with the
National Biodiesel Board since they support Cantwell’s
legislative proposal. PMAA Alternative Fuels Task Force is
reviewing the proposal and will plan a course of action.
CFTC TO USE
EXISTING POWERS TO LIMIT SPECULATION
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will use all
of its regulatory authority to limit harmful and excessive
speculation says new chairman Gary Gensler. Gensler partly
blames last year’s oil price spike to $147 a barrel on
investment banks and hedge funds who engaged in overly
leveraged bets on oil futures – raising prices beyond the
fundamentals of supply and demand. The CFTC is responsible
for regulating five trillion dollars in daily trading of
futures contracts including crude oil, gasoline, distillates
and agriculture commodities.
On a similar note, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)
said last week that the Senate could take up legislation
targeting excessive speculation if gasoline prices spike
like they did last summer. Reid said clearly that market
speculation is behind the recent oil price run up even
though supplies remain at a 19-year high and demand is at a
ten year low.
PMAA continues to work with House and Senate leadership
toward passage of commodity futures market reform
legislation.
SENATE COMMITTEE BEGINS CLIMATE
LEGISLATION WORK
With the
House of Representatives having narrowly passed
legislation last Friday to curb CO2 emissions and
theoretically cool planet earth, Senator Barbara Boxer
is charging forward with similar objectives in the
Senate. Congress returns to Washington DC next week and
Senator Boxer (D-CA), chair of the Environment and
Public Works Committee, has scheduled an expedited
hearing on climate issues for Tuesday, July 7. Boxer has
indicated her intent to use much of the House
legislation as a foundation for a Senate bill to pass
this fall.
PMAA believes the House passed version H.R. 2998
unfairly burdens commuters who need affordable supplies
of gasoline and diesel to get to work every day. Because
the legislation is intentionally designed to
dramatically increase prices for gasoline and diesel, it
will also unfairly penalize oilheat homeowners as well.
PMAA is implementing lobbying efforts to ask the Senate
to seek a more balanced and practical approach.
SENATE DEMOCRATS RELEASE PLAN FOR NEW
EMPLOYER HEALTH INSURANCE TAX
At press time, Senate
Democrats released an updated version of their health care
overhaul plan which includes a public plan option and
penalties on individuals and employers who fail to provide
coverage for their employees.
The legislation would tax employers with more than 25
workers $750 annually for each full-time employee and $375
annually for each part-time employee who is not provided
health insurance at work. According to CBO and the Joint
Committee on Taxation, these “employer equity assessments”
are expected to raise $52 billion over ten years.
The legislation would create a “small business health
options program credit” giving certain employers $1,000 for
each employee who receives self-only insurance through the
employer; $2,000 for each employee who receives family
health insurance through the employer; and $1,500 for each
employee who receives coverage for two adults or one adult
and at least one child through the employer. According to
CBO and JCT, the provision would cost $56 billion over ten
years.
According to a score of the provisions provided by the
Congressional Budget Office, the net impact of the coverage
provisions is $645 billion over ten years, while the overall
impact on the deficit would be $597 billion over ten years.
The Senate HELP Committee will resume its markup of its
health care overhaul plan the week of July 6.
EPA EXTENDS COMMENT ON RFS2 FOR 60 DAYS
The EPA announced on Wednesday that it would continue to
take public comments on its proposed rule “Regulation of
Fuels and Fuel Additives: Changes to Renewable Fuel Standard
Program” until September 25, 2009, an additional 60 days.
The public comment period on the program commonly referred
to as RFS2 was set to expire on July 27, 2009. After several
requests to extend the comment period and some comments not
to grant an extension, the EPA determined a 60 day extension
would provide adequate time for the public to provide
meaningful comments.
The RFS2 proposed rule outlines the standards that would
apply to refiners, blenders and importers, lifecycle
greenhouse gas modeling and the renewable fuels that would
qualify for compliance. The proposed rule also amends the
current RFS program while retaining some elements of the
compliance and trading systems already in place.
EPA GRANTS CALIFORNIA CARBON EMISSIONS
WAIVER
The EPA approved California’s request to waive federal
emission standards under the Clean Air Act and impose its
own stricter carbon controls on vehicle emissions. EPA
Administrator Lisa Jackson said she made the decision based
on science, public comments, and a review of the Clean Air
Act provisions. The EPA found that the California program
met the requirements under the Clean Air Act. The Clean Air
Act gives the EPA the authority to allow California to adopt
its own emission standards due to the state’s air pollution
challenges.
California first requested the waiver in December 2005. The
EPA denied the waiver in March 2008.
JUNE PAC CONTRIBUTORS
We are grateful for the PMAA Small Business Committee (SBC)
PAC contributions from the following individuals during the
June 1-30 timeframe:
Alabama: Arleen Alexander, Jeff Brown, Sam Gibson,
Russell Hager, Tommy Howard, Mints McGowin, Gina Perez,
Debbie Shirley
Arizona: Alan Calvert
Arkansas: Ann Hines, Mallory Minocks
California: Steve Lopes, Julia McCann, Courtney
Roche, Becky Schnarr, Mary Wilson
Colorado: Jane Ashmore, Evelyn Gilstrap
Kansas: Deborah Baska, Kevin Brown, Terry Presta,
James Shepherd
Maryland: Gail Gagner, Eugene Smith, Stanley Tevis
Michigan: Nancy Beckwith
Mississippi: W. W. Gresham III, Jerry Wilkerson
IOMA: Robert White
Nebraska: Larry Blaesi, Brian Copsey, John Dilsaver,
Cindy Halligan, Jack Hill, Richard Jameson, Mark Lippincott,
Lezlie Maguire, Glen Muehlhausen, Todd Schiermeyer, Phil
Smith, Jennifer Weiss, Mark Whitehead
NEFI: John Driscoll, Sandra Fabiano, Rob Fawcett,
Chris Glidden, Curt Gower, Mike Hamlin, Richard Larkin,
Larry Richmond, Chet Scoville
New Jersey: Steven Congiusta, Raymond Tomasso
New York: Allison Heaney, Nicholas Panebianco, Tom
Peters, Dean Smith, Jan Van Etten
North Carolina: Robert Burns
Ohio: Kim Ullman
Oklahoma: Vance McSpadden
Pennsylvania: Robert Boltz
South Dakota: Duane Harms
|
