The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) and the World Agricultural Economic and Environmental Services (WAEES) organization collaborated on an analysis of putting price caps on Renewable Identification Numbers, or RINs.
A move which oil refiners are in favor of would significantly harm the production of biodiesel and related industries. NBB vice president of federal affairs Kurt Kovarik says capping the price of conventional ethanol RINs would devastate the biodiesel industry, swiftly and significantly.
?It would reduce the number of volumes produced and the number people employed in the industry,? Kovarik says. ?Satisfying the whims of fewer than five refiners aren?t worth the resulting harm to millions of U.S. workers in American agriculture and livestock production, as well as American consumers.?
The analysis found a cap on the price of conventional RINs would lead to a reduction of up to 300 million gallons in biomass-based diesel volumes each year, in part because these volumes would no longer be utilized for compliance with the conventional biofuels requirements. It would also lead directly to $185 million more in the cost of feed for livestock producers. The price caps would also lower the price of soybeans American farmers would get for producing their crop by 16 cents a bushel.
