Lawmakers are considering legislation that would pump up the amount of biodiesel fuel sold in the state. One bill being considered by a special agri-business house subcommittee would require all diesel fuel sold in Missouri after April of 2009 to be a biodiesel-blended fuel that contains at least 5 percent biodiesel. Distributors would not be recquired to purchase or sell the blend if it costs more than conventional diesel fuel though.
Executive Director Ron Leone with the Missouri Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Stores Association says his organization supports the push for bio-diesel, just not so quickly. He says his organization suggests lawmakers should push back the effective date by at least a year, to April of 2010. He warns that the state needs to avoid the potential for bad fuel being produced in the industry due to a mandate that the industry isn’t prepared to comply with.
Leone also says the part of the bill that prohibits splash-blending needs to be reconsidered. He says distributors often splash-blend, or mix the fuels themselves outside the fuel terminals and if the mandate limits mixing of the fuels to the terminals it would cause a monopoly. He says that would simply cost consumers. Leone says splash-blending is a legal practice with ethanol fuel and needs to be a legal practice with biodiesel fuel too because the state needs splash-blending to keep the terminals honest and to give consumers another option for purchasing their biodiesel fuel.