Petrol’s gone, but the bus rolls on

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

By Henry Sweets

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Last Friday at the Teton Science School a group of western agricultural conservators sent a biodiesel bus on a mission to promote rural prosperity, save the environment and keep energy dollars in American towns.
The Homegrown Prosperity Energy Tour will travel to 40 communities in seven western states to educate their citizens about energy conservation, local foods, green building, renewable energy and, of course, biofuels.

“I want it to be local, I want it to be homegrown prosperity,” said Chelsea Hummon, who will be on the bus all summer to facilitate the educational presentations. Hummon will be promoting towns where biodiesel is available, and asking questions about where the biodiesel comes from.

The Billings, Mont. based Western Organization of Resource Councils wants to see farmers grow their own oilseed crops, from which biodiesel can be pressed. The fuel would be used to run farm machinery and the by-product used as a nutritious supplement to grass-fed cattle, said WORC director Patrick Sweeney.
“The technology is readily available,” he said. “There are affordable presses from Europe, but because of the redtape, [on-farm biodiesel production] is prohibitively expensive.”

Large biodiesel plants can internalize the costs of testing their fuel (about $2,500 per batch), but community bio-diesel cooperatives would have a hard time meeting the expense and keeping their products affordable. Sweeney and WORC board members are trying to identify solutions that could ensure the quality of production at a lower cost.
Dean Hulse, a WORC board member, said western states witness firsthand the cost of energy development because their environments and communities suffer from fossil fuel exploitation. Hulse, like other board members, likes the idea of energy dollars going to farmers and communities, instead of international oil companies.

“Make it, use it, own it … then you’re building wealth from the ground up,” he said.
Hulse called the movement away from fossil fuels “The great redirection,” in which agriculture and energy can redirect their focus and solve some of the country’s environmental and economic problems.

Though some might assume farmers and rural westerners are too conservative and stodgy to accept change, WORC members said ideals like old-fashioned American thrift and local ownership will help get people on board.

Margie MacDonald said the move to on-farm biodiesel would be like “unleashing the creative ingenuity of our American heritage.” Economic struggles speak more clearly than environmental concerns, she said.

“When these guys are getting crunched, good solutions are good solutions,” she said.
Randy Joseph, the chair of WORC, said some communities have readily available wind, hydro, solar or biofuel solutions. As the bus travels it will tailor its presentation to the tools available to each community.

The bus tour will take its own theme song with it as it travels across the west. The song is sung to the tune of “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”

One line of the song says; “Hey city-councilman, vote for biodiesel (petrol’s gone but the bus roll on). Don’t make excuses and don’t be a weasel (petrol’s gone but the bus roll on).”

The bus will have a 125-gallon capacity for biodiesel, so it can voyage up to 600 miles into territory where biodiesel is not available and it never has to fill up with petroleum products.

COURTESY PHOTO
These guys want you on the biodiesel bus.

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Petrol’s gone, but the bus rolls on | Planet JH News Article: General Environment

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