Utterly alternative

Moses Lake BioFuels owner foresees explosion of growth

MOSES LAKE — Mason Utter really started thinking about biofuels before most people in Grant County.

Before the news that the town of Warden would house a large biodiesel facility and the confirmation of an ethanol plant locating in Moses Lake, about 18 months ago, Utter was turned on to biodiesel by fellow engineer John Ousterhout, who makes biodiesel in his garage.

After six months of research, Utter began to pursue biodiesel as a business endeavor. Licenses and permits in hand, he decided to go for it.

"I grew up on the coast over in Bainbridge, so the environmental aspects are pretty important," he said. "It's a renewable resource, so we can continually provide this fuel."

In addition, there are no pollutants to using the fuel, and it can be locally grown.

"If we're not keeping the money in state, we're keeping it in-country, so we're not relying on foreign oil," Utter said. "And it's cost-effective, especially for the farmers who count every penny. It's cheaper. And there's other benefits, like it has much better lubricity, so the equipment lasts longer."

The business began in January, and sells biodiesel in a variety of blends, from B-20, which is 20 percent biodiesel, to what Utter called "neat" fuel, 100 percent biodiesel. Utter called himself "the first and only distributor of bio-diesel" in the Columbia Basin.

Because it's a warm time of year, the most popular blend right now is B-99, Utter said, which is 99 percent biodiesel and 1 percent fossil fuel. During the winter, B-20 is a more appropriate blend.

Utter's customers run the gamut from neighbors using the fuel for their pickup trucks to farmers using off-road diesel in their tractors. He recently began delivering to a local school district for lawn mowers, and hopes that will lead to use in buses.

"Anything that runs diesel can run biodiesel," Utter said, noting he uses the fuel in his own vehicles which run on diesel.

One of the bigger misconceptions about biodiesel Utter finds is that people think biodiesel is used french fry oil or used fast food fryer oil, and smells as such. His fuel is made out of pure food-grade vegetable oil that comes from Iowa by rail car, he said, noting it also smells like that. Another wrong conception is the perception that biodiesel costs more, he said.

"I've done a lot of education, to customers and people in general — how it's made, why we're doing it," he said. Utter was one of the speakers at the Big Bend Economic Development Council's biodiesel seminar in July, and said another seminar will take place at the University of Idaho next week.

Utter plans to retain his day-job as an engineer as part of his three-year business plan, doing the majority of his biodiesel work on the weekends and in the evenings. Ultimately, he would like to move into a full-time business, since the need is present, and added he would like to eventually hire other people, and have another truck and driver.

"Every other spare moment besides sleeping is spent with biodiesel, delivering or office work," Utter said.

A resident of Moses Lake since 1992, after graduating from college, Utter is married to high school math teacher and volleyball coach Amy, and they have an 11-year-old son, Sage, who rides with his father upon making deliveries.

As public knowledge about biodiesel increases, Utter envisions an explosion of growth for his business, adding he hopes to bring some retail outlets on board.

Utter first got into biodiesel when people were just starting to think about it, he said, so he was ready and had everything in place when his producer was able to meet demand.

"I kind of thought about it, thinking that if this is going to happen, more people are building plants, which is actually good for me, too, because I'll have more resources to get my product from," he said. "Most of those people are just refining, and I'm just distributing. So it's a good partnership. There's no way we can meet the demands of all the diesel needs, so we're just going to do as much as we can."