ENERGY: New imports threaten home-grown fuels

For U.S. agriculture, the energy gold rush is on, and Minnesota’s pioneering biodiesel and ethanol producers are in the thick of it. But suddenly, they have foreign competition.

A ship loaded with South American biodiesel pulled into a Florida port this month, and immediately qualified for a new U.S. biodiesel tax break. For the home-grown biofuels industry, it was a shocking notice that their domestic market had gone global.