Mass. Places Biodiesel Mandate on Hold

BOSTON - The Massachusetts B2 biodiesel mandate, scheduled to go into effect this month, has been suspended indefinitely by state officials, Biodiesel Magazine reported. 

The mandate was suspended because of the expiration of the federal tax credit, Dwayne Breger, director of the renewable energy division of the state Department of Energy Resources, told the magazine. 

Breger said that without the federal tax credit, the added cost of using B2 blend instead of diesel would be around 3 cents per gallon. The Clean Energy Biofuels Act allows for such a delay if implementing the mandate is "not feasible due to lack of supply, lack of blending facilities or unreasonable cost."

The rules, adopted in 2008, required that all diesel fuel be a B2 blend of biodiesel this year and B5 by 2013.