(NAFB.com) – The Energy Information Administration says the U.S. imported near-record volumes of renewable diesel fuel in each of the first five months of this year, averaging about 30,000 barrels a day. The imports were 29 percent higher than the same period last year, came from one producer, Neste, and almost all shipped to the West Coast. The EIA says it’s because California, Oregon, and Washington are the only states with active clean fuel programs that incentivize consuming renewable fuel beyond the incentives of federal policies. Scott Irwin of the University of Illinois says there’s an even more important contributor to the increase in imports, calling it a race by Neste, a Finnish oil company, to take advantage of the $1 per gallon blenders tax credit (BTC) before it expires at the end of this year. Renewable diesel imports aren’t eligible when the new Clean Fuel Tax Credit replaces the BTC next year.