SAN ANTONIO, Texas Pressure appears to be building for the establishment of a national standard for biodiesel fuel.

Four Congressmen, two Democrats and two Republicans, speaking at the National Biodiesel Boards 2007 Conference and Expo here announced their strong agreement with the call for a national standard.

Such a standard "would be well received on Capitol Hill because petroleum marketers are reluctant to handle all these different blends," said U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof, R-Mo.

Hulshof said operators of commercial vehicles wont use biodiesel-blended fuel "if we continue to offer them all these different boutique blends all over the country."

U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich., said that a national biodiesel standard would help "build a national political movement in favor of biofuels."

U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., addressed a different aspect of the biodiesel issue. "We have different mandates in different states," said Peterson. "We have a mandate to use biodiesel in Minnesota, and it works, but theres no mandate in neighboring states. I think we should have a national mandate."

About two years ago, the National Biodiesel Board declared that biodiesel would be a billion-gallon industry by 2015. But the industry built so much capacity during the past two years that the board this past fall approved a new: "5 x 15," or 5 percent of the diesel market by 2015.

That would mean a tenfold increase in biodiesel production levels in 10 years.

Such a production increase would mean that all diesel now made from Iraq oil, and a fourth of all diesel now made from Persian Gulf oil, could be replaced with home-grown biodiesel, said biodiesel board CEO Joe Jobe.