NBB CEO Joe Jobe highlights advanced biofuel success to Congress

National Biodiesel Board CEO Joe Jobe told Congress Tuesday that the renewable fuel standard (RFS) is helping consumers by stimulating the production of advanced biofuels such as biodiesel.

Jobe emphasized that the law, first passed in 2005 with overwhelming bipartisan support, is working as Congress intended to diversify the transportation fuels market while boosting local economies and cutting harmful emissions. He pointed to persistent increases in gasoline prices amid the current North American oil boom as evidence of the continued need for alternatives at the pump.

“As we are seeing with this latest price spike, no matter how much oil we find here at home, consumers will continue to see rising gas prices until we diversify the market,” Jobe said in testimony to the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s subpanel on Energy and Power. “That is what the RFS is all about, and it is a success.”

Jobe said the RFS has helped biodiesel become the first EPA-designated advanced biofuel to reach 1 billion gallons of annual production.

“Our industry has cracked the 1 billion gallon mark for two consecutive years, exceeding the volume requirements under the RFS every year,” Jobe said. “And we are on pace to do so again this year. This is a tremendous success story that is creating jobs across the country, improving our energy security, helping consumers and reducing pollution.”

Made from an increasingly diverse mix of resources such as recycled cooking oil, soybean oil and animal fats, biodiesel is a renewable, clean-burning diesel replacement that can be used in existing diesel engines. It is the first and only commercial-scale fuel produced across the U.S. to meet the EPA's definition as an advanced biofuel under the RFS—meaning the EPA has determined that it reduces greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50 percent when compared with petroleum diesel. It is produced in nearly every state in the country and last year supported some 50,000 jobs nationwide. NBB is the U.S. biodiesel trade association.