A bill that would have required all diesel sold within the state to be a 2-percent blend of biodiesel died in the
Idaho Senate Monday, March 20.
The Spokesman-Review, a
Spokane, WA, newspaper, reported that the bill lost by a vote of 11 to 23.
Opponents of the bill said that Idaho’s biodiesel industry is not yet equipped
to handle such a mandate.
Sen. Dick Compton, R-Coeur d’Alene, told The Spokesman-Review that he opposed the bill because it was
a mandate.
“I don’t like mandates,” he said. “I like incentives.”
But Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, the bill’s primary sponsor, said the
mandate wouldn’t have kicked in until the state’s Department of Agriculture
certified that Idaho’s biodiesel production reached 4 million gallons a year, The Spokesman-Review reported.
