Washington, DC – Congressman William J. Jefferson (D-La.) testified today before the House Ways and Means subcommittee to suggest two proposals to address the energy demands of the U.S.

   The proposals are:

• The Biomethane Tax Credit would provide federal incentives for the production of biomethane from landfills, animal waste, sewage, biomass and other renewable resources. Biomethane is a pipeline quality natural-gas substitute produced by purifying biogas.  This biogas is a mixture of methane and other gases produced from the decomposition of organic materials which exist naturally in landfills, animal waste, sewage and crop waste.  It would be environmentally sound to capture the biogas from these renewable waste sources, convert them and then use the biomethane to fuel vehicles and such.
• The Waste Vegetable Oils Tax Credit would extend the small agri-diesel tax credit currently existing for vegetable oils to biodiesel derived from waste vegetable oils. 

Regarding the Waste Vegetable Oils Tax Credit, Congressman Jefferson said, “if the 3 billion gallons of vegetable oil wasted annually in the United States could be collected and used to replace the energy-equivalent amount of petroleum, almost 1% of US oil consumption could be offset.  He added, “The restaurant industry in Louisiana is one of the largest business organizations in the state and a major producer of used oil. This tax credit could give birth to a new lucrative industry in which businesses would collect and recycle used oil and produce bio-diesel.”