Petitioners pursue biodiesel use in Billings, MT

A citizen group wants Billings to hop aboard the biodiesel bus.

A petition drive under way seeks a ballot initiative that would require the city to use biodiesel – traditional diesel fuel blended with vegetable oil – in buses and other diesel-powered vehicles.

Supporters of the biodiesel initiative must collect 9,425 valid signatures, representing 15 percent of the city’s registered voters, for the measure to appear on the ballot.

If the initiative qualifies and voters approve it, the city would be required to blend 2 percent vegetable oil into its diesel fuel beginning June 1. The blend would increase to 20 percent vegetable oil beginning in 2009.

By TOM HOWARD
Of The Gazette Staff

Full Story: http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/08/05/news/local/45-biodiesel.txt

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Biofuels Becoming Part Of West’s Cultural Lexicon

By Carol Flaherty

The words are becoming familiar, even if the products aren’t: biofuel, biobased, biodiesel, bioethanol.

All refer to fuel that’s made from bio-produced materials such as plants. Chengci Chen (pronounced Chen-see Chen), an assistant professor of cropping systems at the Central Agricultural Research Center at Moccasin, and his collaborators are investigating Montana’s potential for producing biofuels using "biomass," which refers to all biologically produced materials like grains, straw, hay, trees and fruits. He and his collaborators are working on a project to evaluate the ethanol production potential of various straws, hays, and silages in Montana.

People can make fuel from many kinds of plants, though over 90 percent of ethanol made in the United States comes from corn grain. However, other sources of ethanol are needed, because even if the entire United States’ corn crop was used for ethanol, it would meet only 10 percent of the country’s fuel needs.

Full Story: http://www.newwest.net/index.php/city/article/10516/C396/L396