Biodiesel Makers See Opportunity as New York Seeks Greener Future

By RAY RIVERA
Published: May 28, 2007

On an industrial strip of land hemming Newtown Creek, pipelines snake low to the ground, connecting an array of giant beige oil tanks.

Plans for two biodiesel fuel

refineries are under way in Brooklyn

From outward appearances, this little patch of Texas in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, would not seem to easily fit into Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s plan for a greener, less petroleum-dependent future.

But this fuel terminal may soon be home to one of the largest biodiesel fuel manufacturing plants in the country. The terminal’s owner, the Metro Fuel Oil Corporation, is awaiting city approval to produce 110 million gallons of fuel a year from raw vegetable oils. The output would amount to more than 40 percent of the biodiesel fuel produced in the country last year.

The Greenpoint plant and a smaller proposed plant in Red Hook, Brooklyn, both scheduled to open next year, would be the first biodiesel refineries in the city, hitching onto an industry that has been concentrated in the Midwest and the South.

The growth and eastward expansion of the industry are being driven by high petroleum prices and government programs aimed at reducing pollution and demand for foreign oil. But these changes are also creating concerns that the push for alternative fuels, if not managed carefully, could have unintended consequences like deforestation and higher food prices in the race to convert more land for fuel crop production.

“We have to pick the right policies and the best technologies,” said Ron Pernick, co-founder of Clean Edge, a Portland, Ore., research and consulting company. “But when done right, the move to biofuels addresses a number of issues, from the volatile prices of fossil fuels, to reliance on foreign supplies, to climate change, to job creation.”

Metro, a family-owned company that employs about 130 people (another 35 would come on when biodiesel production begins, officials say), added biodiesel fuel to its traditional petroleum line about two years ago, trucking it in from out of state.

As oil prices spiked last summer, soaring to $78 a barrel, the demand for alternative fuels like biodiesel shot up. “You just couldn’t get enough of it,” said Tom Torre, the company’s chief operating officer. He and the company’s owners, Paul J. and Gene V. Pullo, envisioned barges steaming up the East River loaded with soybean oil from crushing plants in Maryland and Pennsylvania.

“The cost factors were there,” Mr. Torre said. “And we thought, ‘You know, we could put a plant right here in the city.’ ”

Supporters of biodiesel fuel say it is attractive because it comes from renewable sources, like soybeans, palm and seed oils and animal fats. It emits fewer greenhouse gases, which are linked to rising global temperatures, and less particulate matter than conventional diesel. Typically blended with conventional diesel, it can be used in most diesel engines and oil furnaces with little or no adjustment. On the downside, it typically costs more than regular diesel fuel. Leia mais aqui no New York Times