Biodiesel board thanks USDA on Earth Day for $7.1M in biodiesel infrastructure grants

The National Biodiesel Board thanked Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and the USDA for providing 12 grants totaling $7.1 million to expand consumer access to low-carbon biodiesel. The grants, announced April 22—Earth Day—are the first in fiscal year 2021 to support biodiesel infrastructure investments under the Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program and will support nearly 140 million gallons per year through projects from Hawaii to New Hampshire.

“Earth Day is the perfect time for Secretary Vilsack and USDA to announce infrastructure investments that will increase consumer access to clean, low-carbon biodiesel and Bioheat® fuel,” said Kurt Kovarik, NBB’s vice president of federal affairs. “Biodiesel reduces carbon on average by 74 percent, and it cuts particulate matter and other criteria pollutants in transportation and home heating. On behalf of NBB’s members, I want to thank USDA and Secretary Vilsack for including biodiesel in this program. We also thank Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Joni Ernst and Reps. Cindy Axne, Rodney Davis, and Dusty Johnson for introducing bipartisan legislation that would enable USDA to continue making these investments to decarbonize America’s fuel infrastructure while rebuilding economic opportunity and creating jobs.”

NBB congratulates the following biodiesel companies and communities that received grants announced April 22:

The U.S. biodiesel and renewable diesel industry supports 65,000 U.S. jobs and more than $17 billion in economic activity each year. Every 100 million gallons of production supports 3,200 jobs and $780 million in economic opportunity. Biodiesel production supports approximately 13 percent of the value of each U.S. bushel of soybeans.

Made from an increasingly diverse mix of resources such as recycled cooking oil, soybean oil and animal fats, biodiesel and renewable diesel are better, cleaner fuels that are available now for use in existing diesel engines without modification. NBB is the U.S. trade association representing the entire biodiesel and renewable diesel value chain, including producers, feedstock suppliers and fuel distributors.