National Associations
AgriFuels LLC consulted with the National Biodiesel Board from 2005 to 2009. Our contract was to provide education and outreach to the 50 state National Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM) association. Under the guidance of National Institute Standards and Technology (NIST) (previously the Bureau of Standards) NCWM provides a state based forum to enforce “equity in the marketplace”. The NCWM is divided into four regional associations-Northeast, Southern, Central and Western as illustrated on their website (www.NCWM.net) State Weights and Measures (W&M) organizations develop standards for the conduct of commerce to provide guidelines to legislatively adopt and enforce so that buyers and sellers conduct business on a level playing field. For example, pounds, gallons, cubic feet, temperature and the standards for fuels are regulated (by most states) to insure that manufactures provide products that are “fit for use” by the customers who buy and use them.
The national fuel quality standards organization, ASTM International, establishes fuel quality standards for biodiesel and biodiesel blends: ASTM D6751 for B100/B99.9; ASTM D7467 for B6-B20; ASTM D975 for B0-B5 (transportation diesel); ASTM D396 for B0-B5 (heating oil). These standards have now been incorporated into NIST Handbook 130 providing guidance to states.
AgriFuels and the NBB have been instrumental in communicating these ASTM standards to the NCWM states and have worked to incorporate the standards into their laws and regulations. Progress on that activity can be found in the Trends section on our website.
Federal Regulatory Agencies
During the consulting period and subsequently, AgriFuels LLC has been a consistent advocate that biodiesel must meet the biodiesel standard ASTM D6751. Federal agencies such as the EPA and IRS have consistently supported this standard as well.
The EPA has adopted ASTM D6751 requiring that motor fuel / fuel additives be registered with the EPA under the Clean Air Act. (40 C.F.R. Part 79). The IRS requires ASTM D-6751 compliance on which the Federal Tax Credit ($1.00 per gallon) is claimed. The blender claiming the credit is required to obtain a certificate from the biodiesel producer stating that the biodiesel is properly registered with the EPA and meets the requirements of ASTM D-6751. (26 U.S.C. 40A(d)(1)).
State Regulatory Agencies
AgriFuels works through the national, regional and state W&M organizations to educate state fuel quality enforcement entities about the ASTM standards and help them adopt the standards as the fuel specification for biodiesel in each state and develop appropriate surveillance processes to insure biodiesel quality compliance within their states.
To effectively enforce fuel quality, state W&M entities require legislative authority to enforce the standards, and ability to economically test biodiesel in the marketplace. Many states don’t have funds to staff or equip laboratories or to have tests conducted by private laboratories. Obtaining funding and changing processes within state governments to remedy the situation in times of reduced resources is difficult. AgriFuels will continue to promote new methods and resources to assist states, producers, marketers and laboratories insure biodiesel quality as we have done by introducing our Biofuels Quality Trending Service (BQTS ©).
Currently, AgriFuels is a subcontractor with the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources(DOER) to assist in implementing their biodiesel mandate.