Senate Agriculture Committee members led by John Thune of South Dakota and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota are asking Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack have USDA complete a full lifecycle assessment of soybean based biodiesel before the end of the year. National Biodiesel Board Director and Nebraska grower Greg Anderson is pleased with the Senator’s Support and that he’s encouraged that the Ag Secretary has been friendly to biofuels in the past and is hoping he’ll follow through.

He says the Senator’s request comes at a time when states, regions and cities are designing new or expanding existing greenhouse gas reduction targets. Anderson says biodiesel has proved it’s been effective in reducing those greenhouse gases.

Anderson says this request by the Senators is helpful for the biodiesel industry, for farmers and for the country and with such strong backing should prompt USDA to do the science based study.

The Senators believe having this updated assessment will show significant reductions in the overall lifecycle emissions of biodiesel.