Jumpstarting U.S. Biodiesel Industry For Less Than 3 Cents Per Gallon

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Imperium Renewables today applauded U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Patty Murray (D-WA) for their continued support of the U.S. biodiesel industry. The senators co-signed a letter from U.S. Senators Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) which asked President Obama to enforce the consumption of 1.15 billion gallons of biodiesel, as mandated by the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) and Congress in early 2007. Those goals could be met by replacing 5 percent of each gallon of petro diesel with biodiesel at a cost of less than 3 cents per gallon. This would revitalize the U.S. biodiesel industry, creating tens of thousands of jobs, contributing $6 billion to the nation's Gross Domestic Product and reducing CO2 emissions by 30 million tons.

"Senators Cantwell, Murray, Conrad and Grassley recognize the tremendous ROI of supporting the U.S. biodiesel industry," said Imperium Renewables CEO John Plaza. "For less than 3 cents a gallon, we can create job growth, increase GDP, reduce reliance on foreign oil and lower emissions. The price of gas already changes by a few pennies each day and no one blinks an eye. Had the EPA begun enforcing the mandates on the timetable Congress established, we would be well on our way to realizing these benefits."

The RFS mandates the consumption of 1.15 billion gallons of biodiesel at retail pumps in 2009 and 2010. Meeting those mandates by replacing 5 percent of each gallon of diesel with biodiesel (a level that is approved by nearly all engine manufacturers), would result in significant benefits, including:

Reduction of imports of 27 million barrels of foreign oil over two years
Retention of more than $2 billion dollars that would otherwise go to foreign governments and unstable regimes
Creation/Retention/Re-hiring of more than 20,000 family wage jobs
Contribution of more than $2 billion to nation's GDP
More than $550 million in local, state and federal tax revenue
Reduction of greenhouse gas emission by nearly 13 million tons
Over $50 million in tax and other revenues to Washington State

At current prices, the additional cost to using a 5 percent blend of biodiesel is less than 3 cents per gallon.

However, the RFS target of 1.15 billion gallons is still only a small percentage of the overall 60 billion gallons of annual diesel consumption in the U.S., and significantly lower than the U.S. industry's current capacity of 2.6 billion gallons. By producing at full capacity the impact would be even greater:

Reduction of imports of 60 million barrels of foreign oil over two years
Retention of more than $5 billion that would otherwise go to foreign governments and unstable regimes
Creation/Retention/Re-hiring of more than 50,000 family wage jobs
Contribution of $6 billion to nation's GDP
More than $1.3 billion in tax revenue
Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 30 million tons

Best of all, most of that production (nearly 2 billion gallons) could be met with feedstock supplied from within North America by surplus or waste vegetable oils.

U.S. surplus soybean and other oils provides roughly 1 billion gallons per year that does not enter into the food markets
Canadian surplus canola oil provides roughly 400 million gallons per year
Waste vegetable oil (i.e. yellow grease) and tallow provide roughly 400 million gallons

"It's clear that biodiesel remains one of the quickest and least expensive methods to creating near term economic and national security benefits," said Plaza. "In addition, biodiesel is the most immediate way to reduce the environmental footprint of fuel consumption, based on the peer reviewed CO2 emissions study by the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Lab. The long term impact of enforcing the mandate would be to accelerate the development and commercialization of second generation feedstocks as well as advanced processing and refining technologies."

Biodiesel is an environmentally friendly alternative to petroleum diesel fuel made from oils derived from crops, plants and waste products, which can be used in any conventional diesel engine. It can be used in pure form (100 percent biodiesel) or in a "blended" form, in which it replaces a percentage of petroleum diesel. A National Renewable Energy Lab study shows biodiesel emits about 78 percent less carbon dioxide than petroleum diesel. Imperium's high quality fuel meets or exceeds ASTM D-6751 specifications.

"Enforcing the biodiesel mandate, given its proven emissions reductions, is entirely consistent with the President's support for other emissions reductions approaches, including Cash for Clunkers, the recent $2.4 billion dollar commitment to electric vehicles and the $8.4 billion investment in public transit," said Plaza. "We hope the President will act quickly and decisively to push the EPA to enforce the biodiesel mandates voted in by Congress in 2007."

About Imperium Renewables

Founded in 2005, Seattle-based Imperium Renewables owns and operates a production facility in Grays Harbor County with a nameplate capacity of 100 million gallons per year. It is the largest BQ-9000 certified production facility in the United States and the second largest facility overall. More information on the company is available via the website at www.imperiumrenwables.com.