Interested residents turn out for biodiesel seminar

Biodiesel is piece of energy puzzle

MOSES LAKE — People interested in fuel alternatives filled the Grange Hall at the Grant County Fairgrounds Monday.

Residents from around the Columbia Basin and beyond were on hand for the Big Bend Economic Development Council's second in a planned series of biodiesel seminars.

The day-long agenda included a presentation on how to make smaller and larger batches of biodiesel for small producers, guidelines for safety, taxes, licensing and permitting; project financing and biodiesel distribution and avoiding troubles with processing and record keeping.

Bruce Barbour, managing partner of Bellingham-based Biodiesel Works prepared a batch of biodiesel, while addressing the concerns of safety, quality and waste management.

"There's just a huge interest in biodiesel popping up all over the place, and if we don't take care of those three things, somebody else is going to move in and take care of it for us," Barbour said.

He advised biodiesel is a piece of the energy puzzle.

"Everybody wants one thing to be the answer, but that's not the way things work, generally," he said. "If we put all of our eggs in one basket, like we do with petroleum oil, than we get into trouble. I think that's clearly being demonstrated today."

Barbour wants U.S. residents to develop their alternate energy sources, which range from biodiesel and ethanol to wind and tidal generation.

"In all of the alternative energies, we are behind globally," he said. "It's our turn to step up. I think biodiesel and ethanol are one of those things where we can really make a difference and create a new industry based on doing the right thing."

Wenatchee resident Fern Burts is interested in starting a biodiesel business and currently in the research stage of setting up an operation.

"It gives us an alternative to a dependency on petroleum," she said. "That's gotten us in trouble. The days the price of regular petroleum goes so high, the common man has a real difficult time getting around."

The lesser impact of biodiesel upon the environment is also important to Burts, and another reason to consider a business.

"I have grandchildren, and I love them dearly," she said. "I'd like to leave a legacy to them that the world is worth saving."

Moses Lake resident Jeremy Shuler was interested in learning more about the biodiesel process and how it can be used in agriculture.

"It's all interesting," he said. "I think the biggest thing is to let people know they need to be educated on biodiesel as a whole, because it can be used in so many different things. To get people to come out to these things and get educated, I think, is the biggest deal."

Ephrata resident Vicki Bratton and husband Bill were in attendance to learn more about biodiesel, as they consider the possibility of ultimately planting crops. More research is needed, Vicki said, calling attending the meeting the first step.

"I think everybody needs to start looking at all the alternatives, for all of the areas for preserving that we have and using the crops, the water and all of the other things that we have here, rather than pump the oil out of the ground," she said. "It makes the farmers more important, and I think it's very important for them, and for their usage of water ultimately. Otherwise, they're going to lose it to the coast and California."