Posted on 03/23/2009 4:48:56 AM PDT by thackney
The U.S. biodiesel industry will suffer from new trade barriers that threaten to end its lucrative export business to Europe, and in Texas the measure could be devastating.
As the largest U.S. producer of the alternative fuel, Texas has a number of companies that relied heavily on selling biodiesel in Europe and now face gaping holes in their businesses that may prove difficult to fill.
In addition, the Port of Houston has been a major hub for storing, handling and shipping biodiesel overseas, and companies in those businesses also stand to lose.
“The impact on Texas is going to be pretty great,” said Dan du Plessis, marketing and supply chain manager for GreenHunter Biofuels, which operates a 105 million gallon per year biodiesel plant at the Houston Ship Channel that had been exporting more than 90 percent of its product to Europe.
Last week, the European Commission said U.S. biodiesel exporters will now have to pay additional anti-dumping tariffs of up to 29 percent, and anti-subsidy duties of up to 41 percent. The tariffs are temporary for the next six months, but the commission will decide by this summer whether to extend them for five years.
The tariffs came after complaints last year that U.S. biodiesel producers were collecting both U.S. and European subsidies and then selling huge quantities of fuel in Europe at prices that undercut domestic producers.
European officials estimated that 80 percent of U.S. biodiesel production was exported in 2008.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
And they’re probably doing it with Obummer’s blessing. He SAID he wants to shut down the coal industry. And that’s just what he openly said. What he left UNSAID... well, you decide.
Can’t have you Americans taking business away from our covert funding Fathers in Saudi can we? /sarc
Have US based biodiesel producers even tried to sell their product here? I drive a diesel and have for nearly two decades. I know of one place within 100 miles of me that sells biodiesel and the availability is spotty at best.....
Barack Obama, destroying America one business at a time.
If you are willing to pay the price they get in Europe, you will have lots of suppliers.
Energy legislation in 2007 was supposed to require blending of 500 million gallons of biodiesel in 2009, doubling to 1 billion by 2012. But the Environmental Protection Agency still hasn’t approved the rules to put the law into practice.
Ditto - three diesel vehicles, combined fuel tank capacity is over 100 gallons. There’s a domestic market if they don’t want to sell overseas.
Last summer biodiesel was a good .50 cents a gallon cheaper than ULS diesel at the one place near me that had it. Biodiesel shouldn't cost what it does in Europe simply because we don't add the amount of taxes that the Euroweenies do to fund their Socialist schemes.
Figures that The EPA is gumming up the works, btw. Doesn't surprise me in the least.....
If I understand correctly, they don't either, making the great demand. The biodiesel didn't have the taxes as great as the petroleum based diesel. It gave them quite a price advantage allowing a bigger mark up and justified the transportation from the US.
This is yet another example that protectionism does not work. This example is of course O’s fault, but even many “conservatives” are joining the protectionist (and in some cases, more or less xenophopic) bandwagon.
Meanwhile, we continue to import oil in ever increasing quantities from terrorist supporting nations. Excuse me for a moment while I go bang my head against the wall.....
Subsidies are almost always a bad idea. The resulting distortion of the market is rarely following the full intended consequences.
It seems that the only thing the US Gubmint excels at is distorting markets through short sighted intervention. Far too many examples to list here, that's for sure.....
......that U.S. biodiesel producers were collecting both U.S. and European subsidies ........
Har... What a world we live in. These tariffs seem fully justified if the producers are double dipping.
Moral: When feeding at the trough, don’t hog the space and prevent others from bellying up.
Your unjustified bias is showing
LOL! Ready to pay $14.95 per gallon?
Not seen the EU VAT and the massive taxes on fuel of any type?
>didn’t have the taxes as great as the petroleum based diesel
Yeah only half a bazillion rather than a bazillion.
Please.
And still got the coal union to back him.
Why the sudden Tarrif?
Sell it here I would put bio diesel in my VW if I could find a station athat sells it.
Maybe there is a market. I’d like to open a station that sells biodiesel and nat gas.
Um, that wasn't my comment. Please.
Not seen the EU VAT and the massive taxes on fuel of any type?
Actually, I am very familiar with EU VAT because the airplane kit I built and now fly was made in the UK. I'm subject to the VAT on any parts I buy from the manufacturer, plus the effects of the crummy exchange rate of the Dollar vs. the Pound Sterling (thanks Uncle "Helicopter" Ben). I have numerous friends and business associates on the "other side of the pond" who constantly remind me of their Socialist tax woes. In addition, I've traveled extensively in Europe and I've seen it first hand with my own eyes.
Never assume, grasshopper.....especially when your assumptions are based on commentary made by others.....
......And still got the coal union to back him......
Then there is Rick Boucher of the 9th district of Virginia. He came out daily saying the anticoal rhetoric was not true and vote for him and Hussein.
US taxpayers have helped subsidize this product exported from the US.
> I have numerous friends and business associates on t...
Heh.
I work with/instruct EU types every day, and there is one very good reason why over 90% of all aviation pilots are trained right here.
In a word, taxes.
The difference is unbelievable. - and they all take various “toys” back home with them that they cannot afford to buy there under VAT.
Thank you for your post - bill
That might have just a little bit to do with the fact that we, meaning various entities within the USA, namely Jeppessen, but there are many others, developed virtually all of the navigational systems and training criteria currently used worldwide. The rest of the world follows our lead. It isn't an accident that the "official" language for ATC communication worldwide is English.
The difference is unbelievable. - and they all take various “toys” back home with them that they cannot afford to buy there under VAT.
Oh, I am well aware of EU taxes and their effects. Some of what you have noted in so far as Euroweenies taking home various "toys" when they visit has a lot to do with the favorable exchange rate they have enjoyed over the past few years, in addition to the VAT. Interestingly, despite the VAT, most of the interesting innovation in small aircraft, LSA's, homebuilts, etc., is coming out of Europe. This has more to do with our own liability nightmare situation we have in our courts than it does with the respective tax situations. Similarly, ALL of the competitive sailplanes currently being flown worldwide come out of Europe, primarily Germany, with the one exception being a new 18m design manufactured in South Africa (by Europeans who fled to SA to avoid confiscatory Socialism in Europe). There isn't a single competitive sailplane currently manufactured inside the USA and there hasn't been since the 1960's.
Any real free traders or free marketers would support the Euros' position. We all know that the biofuel industry in the US is heavily subsidized, and their agricultural raw material is also probably heavily subsidized. These fuels could not compete in the marketplace if they had to recover all their production costs through sales revenue.
We also have large subsidies for other alternative energy sources such as solar, wind and battery powered vehicles. All of this belongs in the same category of non-competitive products which can only survive due to large government subsidies.
The Euros are justified, just as the US is justified when anti-dumping tariffs are added to imported steel. And this doesn't have much to do with Obama as these subsidies have been around for years.
To stoke demand, the U.S. government offers a $1-per-gallon tax credit to companies that blend biodiesel with petroleum diesel.
The good old free trading, free marketing USA. No hypocrisy there.
Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.
Asked my local diesel supplier about bio and he said could get it, but it was about 30% higher than pet diesel, primarily because of the US gubmint “export” subsidies. Maybe if the euroweenies won’t buy it, it’ll cost less here. Not betting on it!
Yep, just reason 1,000,5001 why we need to start drilling here. Soon the tariffs, taxes and fees on oil imports will make domestic oil drilling feasible. Any idiot that couldn’t see the day coming when foreign companies would hold us hostage to oil use is just to stupid to live, IMO.
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