The home heating oil industry has a long and proud history, and Fuel Oil News has been there supporting it since 1935. It is an industry that has faced many challenges during that time. In its 77th year, Fuel Oil News is doing more than just holding
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T he 2014 National Biodiesel Conference & Expo was held Jan 20-23 in San Diego, and saw more than 1,100 mem- bers of the biodiesel industry from across the country attend. Although accomplishments like a record-setting 1.8 billion gallons of biodiesel produced in 2013 were highlighted at the meeting, a central theme was the need to aggressively push back against an apparent decrease in support from Washington. Central to this was the EPA's decision to reduce the target vol- umes for biodiesel in 2014, and the lapsing of industry-supporting tax credits. "Big Oil" was blamed as the major villain. "The Renewable Fuel Standard is effective policy that is working. It is fulfilling its intention to establish diversity, competition and choice in the transportation fuel sector, which is why the incumbent industry is trying to kill it," said NBB CEO Joe Jobe during the event's first gen- eral session. "How do they justify their own subsidies and 100 years of government policy support? Easy, they flat out deny they exist. Big Oil is counting on the public and our elected leaders to forget history, and to be completely confused by complicated tax policy. And guess what, it's working for them." The Obama Administration also received some criticism. "Senator Obama's policy vision is now President Obama's law to implement," said Jobe. "The law that was his vision as senator and that he cam- paigned and won on twice. It is mission critical that we remind President Obama and his administration of his history with this law. We will have to do so loudly and with such volume that the president himself hears it. We have to be strong, and unified, and loud and make our voices heard." Of specific note at the conference, was the session: "Redefining Win-Win: Bioheat's Got Game. Panelists included Andy Chvatal, Nebraska Soybean Board; Eric DeGesero, Fuel Merchants Association of New Jersey; Michael Ferrante, Massachusetts Energy Marketers Association; Timothy Keaveney, HERO BX; John Maniscalco, New York Oil Heating Association and Michael Trunzo, New England Fuel Institute. John Huber, NORA president, was supposed to participate but was busy with the final details of the organization's pending reau- thorization. NEFI's Trunzo filled in for Huber and described the services NORA has provided the industry. Wearing his NEFI hat, he then stated how important it is for those in the industry to dive home the clean-burning message of Bioheat® combined with ultra-low sulfur heating oil. Maniscalco talked abut the fight in New York City. The last years of the Bloomberg administration posed threats that the association has met, sacrificing No. 6 oil to preserve No. 4 and ultimately No.2 with a bio-blending focus. Efforts will be made to port the municipal building programs to all oil customers and perhaps the state, if budget concern can be overcome. MEMA's Ferrante described the tremendous attack the industry is under by its natural gas utility competitors. Aggressive advertising campaigns on how a biodiesel-blended heating oil is a no-brainer help combat the assault. "Getting government officials to accept that message has been a challenge," he noted. DeGesero described how his organization has been working for a number of years to mandate a B5 fuel blend in New Jersey. He described the resistance from the refiners to replacing any conventional heating oil with a biodiesel product even, if the end result of not taking that action is far more damaging to the volume of fuel sold. Representing the production end, HERO BX's Keaveney describe the importance of Bioheat® to round out biodiesel to provide year- round production efficiency. And, on the agriculture side, Chvatal noted how heating-fuel appli- cations developed out of board studies, and has been a win-win for groups as different (in some ways, not so much in others) as Nebraska farmers and Northeastern fuel oil dealers. l FON 12 MARCH 2014 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com FUELS By KIETH REID Strong! 2014 National Biodiesel Conference & Expo Timothy Keaveney, HERO BX, describes how important heating fuel applications are for a biod- iesel producer at the session: "Redefining Win-Win: Bioheat's Got Game." Seated left to right: Eric DeGesero, Fuel Merchants Association of New Jersey; John Maniscalco, New york Oil Heating Association; moderator Greg Anderson, Nebraska Soybean Board; Michael Ferrante, Massachusetts Energy Marketers Association; Michael Trunzo, New England Fuel Institute; and Andy Chvatal, Nebraska Soybean Board. Left: NBB Chairman Steven J. Levy, Sprague Operating Resources, speaking at the conference's second general session. "For the past 15 years, NBB has placed a high priority on public policy," said Levy. "Policy matters and makes a tremendous difference. We all witnessed this last year, how effective the complementary policies of the tax credit, the RFS and state policies were in stimulating our industry and the economy. And for such a small industry, we have always punched above our weight class."