Mandate It and They Will Come: Minnesota’s Biodiesel Law
The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/mandate-it-and-they-will-come-minnesotas-biodiesel-law/Since enactment of the nation’s first state mandate for nearly all diesel fuel sold in the state to contain a small percentage of biodiesel, there was always some uncertainty whether or not production facilities would be built to meet the goal in the law. Language in the law would have allowed the mandate to never take effect unless the in-state production reached 8,000,000 gallons per year. With the opening of one plant in December and two more under construction, the mandate is expected to come into force at the end of June 2005.