The biodiesel industry is “hanging in limbo” after a federal tax credit that provided U.S. producers $1 for every gallon expired Dec. 31, said Carol Balvanz, director of public policy at the Iowa Biodiesel Board.

She said the industry depends so much on that tax credit to stay afloat that some plants have suspended operations until Congress returns from year-end vacation to extend the incentive. The biodiesel board is working with legislators to get the incentive extended.

“We have submitted to Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) all the information about the impact of the tax credit expiration on the industry,” said Balvanz. “It’s the first item on the agenda when Congress returns on Jan. 21.”

Legislation that was supposed to extend the biodiesel tax credit before it expired on Dec. 31 was caught up in partisan Congressional wrangling last month.

Several Capitol Hill sources told Telvent DTN that the biodiesel tax incentive bill, drafted by Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, was not scheduled for a hearing. It was part of a package of numerous expiring tax provisions that were supposed to be acted on by the Senate before Christmas. But that didn’t happen as Congress was consumed by the healthcare reform bill. Sens. Grassley and Cantwell introduced the bill in August.