a 20-million-gallon market for biodiesel.
“That has been a great thing for our
members,” Bohuslavsky said.
As the Bioheat® market was emerging,
NSB worked to build relationships
between farmers and heating oil
marketers. One focal point was
ambassador-type programs that brought
two groups together on each other’s turf.
First, the New Yorkers visited the Midwest
to see the soy farms and biodiesel
production facilities that would ensure
robust supply. Then the Midwesterners
went to New York to meet the dealers
and fleet operators who were putting
biodiesel in their tanks.
The visits have continued through
the years, and now NSB and other soy
associations make an annual pilgrimage
to New York to exchange ideas and forge
greater cooperation. The New York City
Council recently passed a measure that
increased the biodiesel blend level in
heating oil to B5 in 2017. The bill also
implemented a series of increases that
will culminate in a B20 standard in 2034.
Bohuslavsky says biodiesel’s strongest
domestic markets are in the large
“The public is saying they want
cleaner air and cleaner fuel,
and that is what will push
our industry forward.”
population centers on the east and west
coasts. “The big cities are addressing the
environment more quickly than Midwest
cities are,” he said. “They want to have a
cleaner, safer environment.”
He would like to see stronger biodiesel
programs in the Midwest, and he is
encouraged by recent developments
in Omaha, NE, where policymakers are
beginning to leverage biodiesel in bus
fleets to improve air quality. “Biodiesel is
a great way to clean the air,” he said.
He believes the biodiesel industry
advocates effectively for the fuel in
the face of stiff opposition from the
petroleum industry. “We are doing a
really good job for the amount of money
or collateral that we have available. We
are going against some
industries that really have
their pockets loaded.”
He believes the
petroleum industry
will continue to resist
biodiesel. “They are
concerned about their
bottom line, not about
the environment,” he said. “The public is
saying they want cleaner air and cleaner
fuel, and that is what will push our
industry forward.”
He believes policymakers do not have
enough information about the benefits
of biodiesel. “If they are not informed,
they cannot move forward like some
would like them to do,” he said. “That is
our challenge, to get them informed and
educated.
He is optimistic about biodiesel’s
future. “I think the outlook is good,
we have got a good group of retail
distributors who believe in the product
and merchandising, and we’ve got a
good reputation for a product that is very
compatible to the engines people are
driving today.”
21 billiongallons of
advanced biofuel to be used
in the US by 2022 through RFS-2*
*Renewable Fuel Standard
Biodiesel Success Stories 15