Biodiesel producers could shutter without state subsidies

Pennsylvania biodiesel producers said without help from the state they could go belly-up by the end of this month.

The companies are urging the Legislature to pass a bill to increase the amount of subsidies per biodiesel gallon produced. Without that boost, many of the state’s producers could go out of business in less than 30 days, said Ben Wootton, president of Keystone Biofuels Inc. based in Silver Spring Township, Cumberland County.
“We’ve all been running on fumes and bank loans,” he said.

Keystone stopped producing at the end of February and laid off about 70 percent of its staff, bringing employees down to three, Wootton said.

“The clock’s no longer ticking, it’s officially stopped,” he said.

At least two other biodiesel producers have ceased operation in the last 30 days, including Middletown Biofuels, he said. The company, which has production in Middletown, Dauphin County, is a division of CQ Inc. based in Blairsville, Indiana County. At deadline, several phone calls to Middletown Biofuels and CQ Inc. were not returned.

CentralPennBusiness