As our editorial team prepared to send this issue of Biodiesel Magazine to press, we felt as though we were taking a clear journalistic risk by running an important story written before, dare I say, all the facts were in. That is, the nation was expecting President George W. Bush to sign the American JOBS Creation Act of 2004, effectively creating a biodiesel excise tax credit of 1 cent per percentage point of first-use biodiesel, beginning in 2005. However, it didn't look like Bush was ready to sign the bill before press time.

For the sake of our lead story-and the 20 pennies pictured on our cover-I'm sure glad the President signed the bill Oct. 22, a day before our deadline. After all, we didn't want to jump the gun on a story about the most significant piece of biodiesel legislation in U.S. history. As you will discover by reading our lead story, "Making Cents," on page 16, the biodiesel tax incentive could become a catalyst for extraordinary industry growth. But until the incentive is extended beyond 2007, the verdict is still out on the extent of its impact. As one distributor told us, don't expect there to be a "wild demand" for biodiesel right away. He pragmatically reminded us, "The development of biodiesel is a marathon, not a sprint."

That's why Massachusetts-based World Energy is taking what its CEO Gene Gebolys calls a "long view" approach. Gebolys founded World Energy six years ago on the belief that society would, as he put it, "invest in figuring out reasonable, thoughtful alternatives to its continued dependence on foreign oil." Focusing on the big picture, and the long view, has helped World Energy become the largest biodiesel distributor in North America.

World Energy is a company that doesn't seem to place ordinary limitations on itself. We could all learn from the company's bold, opportunistic outlook on business and energy. As you may discover in reading our feature profile on the company, "Mass. Distributor," on page 22, the limits we place on domestic and international biodiesel markets are, as the saying goes, only perceived.

Tom Bryan
Editorial Director
tbryan@bbibiofuels.com