News & press arhcives

from the Mountain Press
January 5, 2005

SEVIERVILLE - As of today, Sevier Farmers Co-op and its members will begin doing their part to improve air quality in East Tennessee. A 2 p.m. ceremony today at the Farmers Co-op on Chapman Highway will kick off the sale of B-5 biodiesel fuel for on-road use by its customers. The price will be $1.879 per gallon, according to Co-op Manager Darrell Clark.

Clark said there currently are stations in the area that give on-road diesel customers the option of buying regular diesel or biodiesel, but Sevier Farmers Co-op is the first in the area to begin offering only biodiesel for on-road vehicles, he said. Regular diesel will still be available for off-road vehicle use.

"We would like to try to take care of what the good Lord has given us," said Clark, in reference to biodiesel's positive impact in reducing diesel emissions.

It has been more than a year since Clark first proposed that the Sevier Co-op Board of Directors consider making the switch to biodiesel sales.

"We wanted to be sure that what we were doing was the right thing to do - we didn't want to do anything that would cause problems with somebody's vehicle and we wanted to be sure we didn't get into a fly-by-night deal," said Clark.

Letters have been sent out to diesel fuel customers of the Co-op, alerting them to the switch and explaining what biodiesel is made from, how it affects a diesel engine and its positive effect on the environment.

"Biodiesel reduces almost all the air emissions that come from diesel vehicles, which will help our community literally breathe easier and attain the EPA health-based standards for ozone and fine particulate matter that are now upon us," wrote Clark in the letter.

"Air emission reductions benefit us in other ways as well; our community's ability to attract new industry and allow those currently here to continue to grow require that we begin reducing our emissions, and will be a direct positive result of biodiesel usage. Biodiesel puts your dollars back into the U.S. economy, in lieu of into Iraqi and Saudia Arabian economies," he continued.

B-5 biodiesel is regular diesel fuel containing 5 percent biodiesel made from either recycled vegetable cooking oil or soybeans.

Clark said that because biodiesel is a solvent that will clean the buildup of wax and gunk from a diesel engine, it will be a few months before Co-op bumps up the amount of biodiesel in its fuel to 10 percent, then hopefully by the end of the year to 20 percent.