Biodiesel Draws Bipartisan Presidential Candidates’ Focus
Senators Clinton and McCain participate in Iowa biodiesel events

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Two events in Iowa today demonstrate the bipartisan support for biodiesel in America. Presidential candidates Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY) are scheduled to participate in separate biodiesel events hosted by Renewable Energy Group, Inc (REG). Senator McCain will attend the ribbon-cutting of the new REG headquarters in Ames. Senator Clinton will tour the 30-million gallon REG network biodiesel production facility in Newton.

“These two visits in the same day exemplify the bipartisan recognition of biodiesel’s many benefits, ranging from economic development to energy security to climate change,” said Darryl Brinkmann, who serves as Chairman of the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) and spoke at the event. “The NBB applauds efforts to increase public awareness of the many benefits associated with expanded biodiesel production and use.”

Senator McCain will participate in the opening of REG’s new 60,000-square foot headquarters and state-of-the-art laboratory in Ames this morning. Senator Clinton will tour the Central Iowa Energy, LLC biodiesel production facility in Newton, a community hard hit by the closing of Maytag operations. Currently, two-thirds of employees at the REG network biodiesel plant formerly worked at Maytag in Newton.

To cultivate these kinds of successes across the nation, the NBB is encouraging federal policymakers to support extension of the biodiesel tax incentive that helps biodiesel compete in the marketplace with conventional diesel fuel. NBB also urges Members of Congress to support the Biodiesel Promotion and Quality Assurance Act of 2007, which would dedicate a small portion of the nation’s 60 billion-gallon diesel pool to biodiesel and other biobased replacement diesel fuels. NBB is also championing continuation of a robust Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) Bioenergy Program.

The NBB is the national trade association of the biodiesel industry and is the coordinating body for biodiesel research and development in the U.S. NBB’s membership, which includes REG, is comprised of state, national, and international feedstock and feedstock processor organizations, biodiesel suppliers, fuel marketers and distributors, and technology providers.

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