Biodiesel Will It Save Us?

Safeway grocery trucks no longer just deliver vegetables. In a sense, they now run on vegetables, too.

Safeway, the nation's third-largest grocery chain, said Friday that its entire nationwide trucking fleet now uses biodiesel, a renewable fuel that can be made from plant oils, used cooking grease or animal fat.

In Safeway's case, the biodiesel comes from soy oil or canola oil. It is blended with regular petroleum diesel before being pumped into the company's more than 1,000 trucks.

The move is part of Safeway's broader effort to green its operations. The Pleasanton company buys much of its electricity from wind farms, has switched to energy-efficient refrigeration and lighting, and is installing solar panels on 24 of its California stores.

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Chevron Corp. executives committed fraud when they told owners of a biodiesel plant in Galveston they would "not let you fail," but then refused to inject more money into the struggling project, partners in the venture alleged in a court filing late Tuesday.

Chevron "never intended to do anything more for the project, aside from enjoying the favorable publicity that resulted from being associated with it," said the amended plaintiff's petition in a lawsuit brought in December by Galveston Bay Biodiesel, the partnership that owns the plant.

The partnership filed the lawsuit against Chevron, a 22 percent owner of the plant, in Galveston County Court. The partnership alleges Chevron breached agreements and misrepresented its intention to boost its investment in the plant in 2007.

But Russell Johnson, a Chevron spokesman, reiterated that the company, which invested in the project through a subsidiary called Chevron Technology Ventures, has lived up to all of its contractual agreements.

"The parties' agreements specifically state that the partners are not obligated to make any further contributions," he said. "The plaintiffs' allegations of fraud are a bold attempt to circumvent the clear written agreements of the parties." In addition, the parties had agreed in writing that any disputes would be settled through arbitration, Johnson said.

But Richard Mithoff, an attorney for Galveston Bay Biodiesel, said his client is continuing its case in court. "We intend to pursue this and achieve a just result for the investors," he said.

The Galveston Bay Biodiesel plant had been touted as one of the first large-scale U.S. production plants.
The goal was to boost production to 60 million gallons a year by fall 2007 and 110 million gallons by 2008.

But the owners said Chevron's refusal to invest more in the plant kept it from hitting its target. Last week, the partnership said it will spend $15 million to settle liens against the plant and expand the facility to 30 million gallons per year by this summer. Domestic biodiesel production increased from 25 million gallons in 2004 to more than 250 million gallons in 2006, and was expected to exceed 300 million gallons in 2007, according to the National Biodiesel Board, an industry trade group in Jefferson City, Mo. But U.S. biodiesel producers have been slammed recently by a sharp increase in the price of soybean oil and other vegetable oils used to make the clean-burning fuel.

A weak U.S. market for the fuel also has hurt producers.

Martin Tobias is out as chairman and CEO of Imperium Renewables, the company has announced. John Plaza, who founded the company with Tobias, is interim CEO while Nancy Floyd has taken over as chairman.

Tobias has been the spokesman and public figure for Imperium since its founding. The company has raised more than $200 million dollars and earlier this year christened a 100-million gallon refinery in Washington state. It has plans to build similar sized facilities in Hawaii, Argentina and elsewhere.

The ouster of Tobias is something of a surprise. He was a frequent fixture on the green-tech conference circuit and presided over the unveiling of the Washington facility in August. The company sent out a press release on the departure of Tobias at 4:30 p.m. PST on the Friday before the Christmas break. Talk about getting maximum exposure for your news.

A biodiesel plant is the latest economic development project announced for Greensburg, Kansas after a tornado destroyed the town in May. Torsten Energy LLC and state officials announced Monday in Topeka that the firm, based in nearby Wright, Kan., will construct a new plant in Kiowa County. It eventually will employ 20 to 25 people.

Earth Biofuels, at least in its present form, may be down to the last fumes in its tank.

The Dallas-based company, which once rode high on celebrity endorsements and the surge of interest in alternative fuels, expects to have news in coming days, spokeswoman Shawne Horn said. The company, led by embattled chairman Dennis G. McLaughlin III, is down to $534,000 in cash, according to financial statements filed last month. The company lost $60.2 million in the first six months of the year on just $13.4 million in revenue.

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Hmm...seems that Ol' Wille has the inside scoop-

Willie Nelson has liquidated most of his shares in the company and resigned as a director. Nearly all the high-profile fund managers who invested in Mr. McLaughlin's company have sold their shares as the price has fallen sharply to its Thursday close of 7 cents a share.

This 10 part series tells you not only how to make biodiesel, but holds your hand through the entire process. It covers purchasing a processor and guidelines, finding oil, testing the oil on site, making a test batch of biodiesel, then moving on to larger batches. This e-course is the most complete instructional on biodiesel available and is yours free with the purchase of The Rise of Biodiesel.

You are only a Click Away from your fossil fuel independence. What are you waiting for?

John and Marcia have a small 75 acre family farm with their two daughters and their families. They are energy self sufficient, with solar and wind power and Biodiesel powered vehicles, including their tractor. WPE's Nate Haney and I, Saphir Lewis, stopped by to take a look at their Biodiesel setup. It was a beautiful spring day. John and Marcia took us on a tour of the farm. We were welcomed by ponies and goats and a very proud turkey, all hoping for our pats and attention.

Marcia: We have animals. It's really nice knowing that it isn't going to kill them if we spill some Biodiesel. In fact our little mustang enjoys it if we spill some, she's always licking the tank and she loves the smell because it smells delicious. It's very funny to watch the animals while I'm out in the field with the tractor because they all love it. You can make Biodiesel out of any kind of vegetable oil, so - if you live in Alaska you'd use some kind of plant that grows in Alaska, if you lived in Texas, you'd use something that grows there. There are many different plants to use....

To read more go to www.WorldPeaceEmerging.com

These days biodiesel isn't just good for the environment - it's good for the bottom line.

The U.S. market for the BIODIESEL has more than doubled every year since 2004 and will hit $1 billion this year. The number of retail pumps nationwide has grown from 350 in 2005 to more than 1,000 today. A couple of biodiesel IPOs are in the offing - and opportunities abound. "Biodiesel is the rock star of fuels"

To Read more click Here.

Created under the 2004 American Jobs Act, the "blenders tax credit" was supposed to boost US production of biodiesel by encouraging US diesel marketers to blend regular petroleum diesel with fuel made from soybeans or other agricultural products. It succeeded, perhaps too well. Attracted by the $1-per-gallon subsidy, US diesel-fuel marketers mixed away, setting off a nationwide boom in biodiesel refinery building. But no one anticipated splash-and-dash.

The maneuver begins with a shipload of biodiesel from, say, Malaysia, which pulls into a US port like Houston, says John Baize, an industry consultant in Falls Church, Va. Unlike domestic diesel-biodiesel blends, which typically contain from 1 to 10 percent of biodiesel, the Malaysian fuel starts off as 100 percent biodiesel, typically made from palm oil. Then, the vessel receives from a dockside diesel supplier a "splash" of US petroleum diesel. It doesn't take much to turn it into a diesel-biodiesel blend that is eligible for US subsidies. If the ship holds roughly 9 million gallons, it takes only about 9,000 gallons of traditional diesel (0.1 percent of the total) to make the entire load eligible for the blenders tax credit. The US importer of the load applies to the Internal Revenue Service for the credit - a dollar for each of the 9 million biodiesel gallons, Mr. Baize calculates. The next day the tanker can set sail - dash - for Europe. There, the US importer resells the biodiesel, taking advantage of European fuel-tax credits that, in effect, keep biodiesel prices above US prices. "Splash-and-dash is something Congress never intended," says Baize. "It's bad for taxpayers and it ought to be fixed now." Signs of splash-and-dash began to show up last fall. But efforts to fix the problem only began taking shape in Congress this spring after European biodiesel manufacturers complained in March about the subsidized imports and the US biodiesel industry also complained a month later. "This [splash-and-dash] is something our people are aware of and that's on their radar screen," says a staff aide on the House Ways and Means Committee, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. "It's one of the issues that's driving closer scrutiny." European officials are also unhappy about the practice. Such "touch and go" maneuvers could quickly become a much larger problem, warned Raffaello Garofalo, secretary general of the European Biodiesel Board, in a March 19 letter to the European Trade Commissioner.

European manufacturers are worried about all US biodiesel imports - not just the splash-and-dash variety - because the subsidized fuel is flooding their markets, cutting into their domestic biodiesel business and lowering prices. "We want really to get a fair trade and want this unfair subsidy to stop," says Mr. Garofalo in a phone interview. "The US products get subsidies in the US, and in Europe, a double subsidy." The industry is calling for trade sanctions against the US. So rich is the US subsidy, however, and awash in biodiesel is the European market at present, that a third form of imported biodiesel is now reportedly hitting European shores - at US taxpayer expense. European biodiesel producers themselves are shipping fuel to US ports to get the US blenders credit and then bringing it back to Europe for sale, according to British press accounts. But US biodiesel manufacturers and Congress may not be in a hurry to close the loophole, some insiders say. That's because the blenders credit not only benefits splash-and-dash traders, it gives US producers of soybean-based biodiesel a distinct export advantage, industry insiders say. "The US biodiesel producers talk out of one side of their mouth and then the other, because some of their members are clearly benefiting from this credit," says one veteran industry expert, who asked not to be named because such comments could harm his business prospects. "It's their own members importing a lot of that palm oil and biodiesel." Indeed, congressional staffers say a legislative solution is snagged at present.

"There are trade issues involved in solving this problem," says a committee aide who asked not to be named because of the issue's political sensitivity. "The tax people want to go after it, but the trade people say you can't and I don't know precisely why that is." Mr. Jobe, however, says his US biodiesel trade association remains committed to stopping abuse of the blenders credit loophole "to the extent that it is occurring." So far, the amounts involved look relatively modest. Although there is no official IRS tally of how much US taxpayers have spent on this program, the US Department of Agriculture does track exports of US vegetable and animal oils, a category that is mostly biodiesel, experts say. In one year, those exports quadrupled - from about 9 million gallons in 2005 to 36 million gallons last year. If biodiesel accounted for 80 percent of the total, analysts calculate that taxpayers would have paid out about $30 million in 2006. This increase is corroborated by the European Biodiesel Board, which has tracked 50-plus shipments from the US to Europe totaling about 60 million gallons in the first four months of this year. Most of those shipments originated in Houston; Savannah, Ga.; or New Orleans and arrived in the ports of Rotterdam, Netherlands; Bilbao, Spain; or Hamburg, Germany, Garofalo says.

Ultimately, this rise of US exports points to a larger American problem: a serious imbalance between domestic biodiesel production capacity and demand, some experts say. Although biodiesel sales in the US soared to 250 million gallons last year - more than triple the level in 2005 - domestic biodiesel plants are still operating at just half their capacity, industry analysts say. That's because the industry, spurred in part by the blenders credit, has been on a tear building new plants. Another 1 billion gallons of capacity is expected to come on line this year. Renewable-fuel standards that mandate biodiesel blending may one day boost US domestic demand. Until then, the US industry seems set to depend more on exports - and the blenders tax credit, industry experts say.

BIODIESEL MAGAZINE.COM

The Race for Feedstocks
Most nations are looking to biodiesel to assist them in decreasing their dependence on petroleum. Taking care of their internal fuel needs by producing it within their borders is the standard focus, with a few competing for 100% independence. However, another race is on as well, the race to seize the market for feedstocks. Feedstocks are the plants that are used to produce biodiesel. Though the very nature of biodiesel enables nations to grow and produce it internally, many governments see a marketing opportunity in selling feedstock
to corporations with large biodiesel production facilities.

There are approximately 22 feedstocks being used to produce biodiesel. Some are more economical, others more productive. Jatropha and palm are two that tropical nations are preparing to market in great quantities. Malaysia and Indonesia both have been fervently clearing their rainforests in order to increase their palm fields. This is creating great international controversy. The sad fact is that production of feedstock for biofuel is the number one cause of deforestation in the world today (more in Chapter 8), the worst taking place in Malaysia and Indonesia. Brazil is also not far behind, cutting its trees to plant sugar cane for ethanol. In global press releases, Brazil touts itself as the current world leader in feedstock supply.
CLICK HERE To Read On!

~ This year just 4 percent of U.S. passenger cars run on diesel, but analysts expect that number to rise fast, in lockstep with rising oil prices.

~ The U.S. EPA and NBB announced they have teamed up to educate the trucking industry about the benefits of biodiesel, and match shippers with truckers using biodiesel. Click HERE to read on.

~ Check out 1-866-BIODIESEL a free hotline that will make finding biodiesel in your neighborhood a whole lot easier.

~ Thanks to yahoo's Green Center you can now find a bunch of vehicles that run on biodiesel. Go check it out!

~ Truckers can now use their laptops or any computer to find truck-accessible biodiesel fueling sites along their planned routes. The NBB and ProMiles® announced the availability of biodiesel locations in ProMiles XF®, the commercial vehicle/truck routing and mileage software for professional drivers and fleets. Click HERE to read on.

~ The TWO MILLION MILE HAUL started by Decker Truck Lines is putting B20 to a massive road test. With eight identical big rigs running the exact same route and rigorous maintenance pit stops they will hash out the truth behind biodiesel. I will keep you posted as the journey unfolds.

~ World Peace Emerging.com has just released the most controversial biodiesel report ever to hit mainstream media. Includes 12 never before seen interviews with ADM, Volkswagen, Bio-Willie and more. This ebook is a must have check out a free sample FREE SAMPLE.

~ Is biofuel driving and ecological disaster? The numbers are damning. Within 15 years 98% of the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia will be gone.
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I just received this email and figured all of you great folks should know about it. If you want to register email Matt at:

Matthew.Probyn.joazhoaknswo@greenpower.msgfocus.com

You guys rock! -Nate

WORLD BIOFUELS MARKET

Dear Colleague(s),

I would like to invite you to attend World Biofuels Markets '08, which will take place on 12-14 March 2008 at the Brussels Expo in Belgium.

World Biofuels Markets is the premier event for any organisation involved in the rapidly maturing global biofuels markets. With 1300 participants from 58 countries attending in 2007, the World Biofuels Markets Congress is Europe's largest gathering of biofuels professionals.

This year's agenda includes over 200 top speakers and is organized into three streams with five workshops. Several networking events are also built into the program, offering participants plenty of time to meet new contacts and visit our 100 exhibitors.

Did I mention that making biodiesel is easy! The Biodiesel Processor enables you to create renewable fuel that is earth friendly and also saves you money! Keep up with this worlds increasing pace without this worlds increasing prices. With biodiesel you can help the earth and yourself.

Click Here to learn how to make biodiesel for FREE.