Willie Nelson has been advocating for truckers and farmers for decades – now he sees BioDiesel as a solution for both groups and the environment. Willie Nelson Biodiesel Company, founded in December of 2004, is owned by Nelson and three partners. Customers are lining up for it at truck stops throughout Texas and it will soon be available along the eastern seaboard from Miami up to Rochester, New York.
Biodiesel is actually available at over 450 retail pumps in the U.S. and is carried by 1400 U.S. petroleum distributors. But because of his down-home celebrity status, Willie Nelson is bringing it into the spotlight. He’s quickly expanding the bio part of the diesel from 20% (B20) to B40 and B95 blends.
Carl Cornelius, owner of one of the most popular truck stops in Texas says, “I’m so doggone enthused about it, it makes my liver quiver.” He plans to build a biodiesel production facility a few hundred yards away. “We’ve got the resources in the U.S. – feedstock from animal fat, soybeans, sunflower seeds, the whole works. All we need is plants to process the biodiesel and get it going. If everybody’s got biodiesel, we don’t need awful wars. We can be totally independent from foreign oil.”
Truckers say they get a mile per gallon better fuel efficiency when they use biodiesel, which can add up to tens of thousands of dollars since the average truck gets about five miles a gallon. In Texas, biodiesel is exempt from state tax, so the retail price is about the same as petroleum diesel.
How do truckers hear about it? Nelson has a direct line to his customer base through satellite radio program, reaching truckers around the country as they drive the endless miles.
Indeed, biodiesel is manufactured in about 35 plants and new production facilities are beginning to sprout up around the country. States are beginning to subsidize it along with ethanol, and its bound to get a boost when the federal energy bill passes.
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BioWillie Website
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