Washington, DC - The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) today welcomed Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue's announcement of $100 million funding for Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program (HBIIP) grants, approximately $14 million of which will go to support biodiesel blending.
NBB also applauded Perdue's announcement of USDA's commitment to fuel its fleet vehicles with higher blends of biodiesel and renewable diesel.
Kurt Kovarik, NBB's VP of Federal Affairs, said, "NBB's members appreciate Secretary Perdue's strong support for soybean growers and biodiesel producers and USDA's leadership in driving demand for higher blends of biodiesel and renewable diesel.
"The grant program that USDA is announcing will expand consumers' access to cleaner, better transportation and heating fuels, such as biodiesel and renewable diesel.
"USDA's fleet program can add significant market pull for those biofuels simply by utilizing available data on where to fill up."
USDA owns 3,700 diesel fuel vehicles; but currently, its biofuel purchases are less than 4% of its annual fuel use.
The agency anticipates increasing its purchase of biodiesel and renewable diesel blends by up to 3 million gallons.
For more information, please contact Paul Winters at 202-737-8801 or pwinters@biodiesel.org