Alternative fuel alive and well in Ventura County
Biodiesel Cooperative celebrates anniversary of filling station
By Alex Wilson 07/17/2008
Early adapters to a less polluting alternative fuel to petroleum diesel here in Ventura County are celebrating a milestone now that they’ve built their own filling station.
The Ventura County Biodiesel Cooperative was created to help people running their cars and trucks on biodiesel get the supply they need after the only local gas station that sold it commercially abruptly stopped.
Members are filling their tanks from a specially built trailer parked at a Baldwin Road facility run by the Help of Ojai charity, a site that once housed the Sheriff’s Honor Farm jail. They’re planning a grand opening celebration for Saturday, July 19, at 6 p.m.
Ojai actor and environmentalist Larry Hagman is a financial backer of the co-op, even though he gained fame playing oil tycoon J.R. Ewing on the hit TV show “Dallas.” Hagman says he’s glad to play a role in improving air quality.
“I am proud to be a founding member of the Ventura County Biodiesel Cooperative,” says Hagman. “I think we need to support community organizations that are creating local solutions to our fossil fuel dependency.”
Co-founder Paul Jenkin says they’re in the unusual position of hoping to eventually become unnecessary when more gas stations start selling biodiesel.
“The ideal goal is that we’d be put out of business by a retail station nearby, in which case we’ll move the trailer on to the next location,” says Jenkin.
The spike in gas prices and rising concerns about global warming are creating more interest in renewable plant-based fuels.
“I think people are starting to think a lot more than they used to in terms of what we’re going to do when oil runs out, which is what the whole fuel price thing is really all about,” says Jenkin. “It’s peak oil, the idea that we’ve reached the peak in global supply and the market keeps rising and is not meeting that supply.”
Members drive up and enter a combination to get into the biodiesel trailer and then log the amount of fuel used after filling up. The biodiesel is made with converted waste vegetable oil from restaurants. Any diesel engine can run on biodiesel, although minor modifications are sometimes necessary. It costs a bit more than regular diesel, but co-op members hope to keep the price down by teaming up.
Jenkin hopes the demand continues to grow as people look for alternatives to oil-based fuel that reduces pollution.
“It’s basically people who are concerned about the environment and not wanting to support big oil corporations,” he says.
Some of biodiesel’s advantages are that it burns cleaner and smells better than petroleum-based diesel fuel.
“At the current time, biodiesel is one of the only concrete things you can do to get off fossil fuels,” says Jenkin. “We all end up driving to a certain extent; and since we’re basically addicted to a life of fossil fuels, this is one very concrete way that you can eliminate or begin to reduce your own carbon footprint.”
More information about signing up for the co-op and advantages to biodiesel are on their internet website at www.vcbiodiesel.org.
The head of Ventura County’s Air Pollution Control District, Mike Villegas, also says alternative fuels like biodiesel can help clear the air and reduce dependence on foreign countries with lots of oil.
“It’s positive that people are looking at alternative fuels from an energy security standpoint,” says Villegas.
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