The more biodiesel we blend, the less carbon
adjacent counties come online and the
City’s biodiesel blend standard increases
to B20, the biodiesel industry will have
a concentrated market measured in
hundreds of millions of gallons.
When NYOHA first emerged as the
leading voice for biodiesel blending, its
members were, to some degree, acting in
self-interest. Heating oil had a target on
its back because environmentalists were
pushing hard to reduce harmful emissions
from the City. The long-running pursuit
of cleaner air was converging with the
emerging sentiment to make the city a
leader in climate change, and petroleum
was in the crosshairs.
Rather than sit back and let others
decide their fate according to their
petroleum-hostile agendas, NYOHA’s
leadership elected to push for a seat
at the table. The association showed
the region’s environmental advocates
that they could make great progress by
addressing fuel quality instead of focusing
exclusively on fuel conversion.
in the system, that can only help
“The City wanted to clean up this
environment, and we found this way to
do it”, Lacertosa said. “We succeeded in
positioning our dealers and their cleaner
fuel as an important part of the solution.
Bioheat® is a great way to improve the
environmental performance of the
equipment that is already in place at
thousands of locations throughout the
City.”
NYOHA successfully pursued two vital
changes to fuel standards. One was
blending biodiesel into the fuel, and the
other was reducing the sulfur content.
On-road diesel and other distillates were
already in the process of converting
over to ultra-low sulfur, as mandated
by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), and the oil dealers saw
an important opportunity. NYOHA and
the state’s other oIlheat associations
successfully pressed the state to make
ultra-low sulfur (15 parts per million) the
standard for heating oil statewide.
With both victories in hand, New York
City became the home of what NYOHA
called “Clean 2,” a one-of-a-kind ultra-low-
sulfur Bioheat® Fuel blend that was
the cleanest heating oil sold anywhere in
the country.
“We are now the epicenter of this
whole movement and we have built a
great market for biodiesel,” Lacertosa
said. “There was some hesitation in the
beginning, but now everyone seems to
have warmed up and embraced it,” he
said.
Biodiesel suppliers have taken
advantage of the Bioheat® standard
to build out a robust infrastructure of
terminals around the City. “As far as
I know, no one has had any trouble
securing biodiesel supply,” Lacertosa said.
The city’s legislation calls for waivers of
biodiesel requirements in an emergency,
and that option was invoked in the wake
of Hurricane Sandy in 2012. “We were
having trouble just getting diesel into New
York Harbor at that time,” Lacertosa said.
Through its advocacy, NYOHA has
gained an impressive list of political
allies, such as the National Resource
Defense Council (NRDC) and the New York
League of Conservation Voters, who have
welcomed the oil dealers’ leadership on
the environment.
NYOHA can never rest on its laurels,
according to Lacertosa. “The mayor and
the governor are no fans of fossil fuels,
and we have our work cut out. But the
more biodiesel we blend, the less carbon
in the system, that can only help.”
The National Biodiesel Board (NBB)
has supported NYOHA every step of the
way and expressed its gratitude. In 2016,
the Board honored Maniscalco with a
Biodiesel Pioneer award, and last year
Constantinides won a Climate Leader
award from NBB.
“We have been trendsetters all along
on biodiesel,” said Lacertosa. “I definitely
see biodiesel continuing to grow, and it is
great to be out front on this.”
Biodiesel Success Stories 21