Grange dives into biodiesel business

Mitch Lundquist, an equipment operator for the Ashland Electric Department, pulled up a pick-up truck to a gas pump at the Grange Co-op to do something the City of Ashland had never done before.

He filled the city truck with biodiesel.

City of Ashland equipment operator Mitch Lundquist fills up his truck with biodiesel at the Grange Co-op in Ashland. FRONT: City of Ashland truck driver Matt Guthmiller fills up his truck with biodiesel at the Grange Co-op in Ashland. Robert Plain | Daily Tidings

The Grange Co-op became the first Ashland business to sell commercial-grade biodiesel on Monday. City officials decided to experiment with their product. The Grange Co-op is selling B-20, which is 80-percent standard diesel fuel, made from oil and 20-percent bio-fuel, made from soy beans grown by Midwestern farmers.

"It's something we've always wanted to do and now we have a way to do it," said Michael J. Morrison, the maintenance and safety supervisor for Ashland's public works department. "It's more environmentally friendly and it's American made."

The city uses about 1,800 gallons of gas a week in its 130 vehicles. About 800 gallons of that is diesel fuel used in about 60 of those vehicles, Morrison said.

As an experiment, the city will start using the biodiesel in 15 of its vehicles. He doesn't want to use it in ambulances or fire trucks until they determine if there are any side effects, such as loss of power. He doesn't expect their will be.

"We're going to start small and if we don't have any problems we'll increase it to the whole fleet," Morrison said.

Bill Christie, the petroleum operations manager for the Grange Co-op, which operates three stores in the Rogue Valley, "have been looking into biodiesel for quite some time." He decided to test market the product at the Ashland location because "that's where we were getting the most requests for it. Several of our members have been asking us when we were going to get into alternative fuels."

So far, the only drawback is the price. The blend of biodiesel the Grange is selling is about $.20 a gallon more expensive than traditional diesel fuel. But because soy beans are a seasonal commodity, the price will be more commiserate with diesel fuel when soy beans are in season, Christie said.

The benefits to biodiesel, he said, include cleaner emissions coming from the tailpipes of the autos that use them. "They have a tendency to clean out the system," Christie said.

Of course, Christie added, "the big gain is it means burning less fossil fuels."

Bob Inglet, a farmer who owns Blue Collar Berry Patch on the Old Siskiyou Highway, used to drive to Phoenix to purchase biodiesel for his two vehicles, tractor and oil burning stove. Now he buys it in Ashland.

"I feel so strongly that we have to encourage domestic fuel," he said. "We're so dependent on the imported stuff."

Inglet trades energy stocks when he's not caring for his blueberry bushes, and understands that biodiesel "is no panacea" because growing soy for fuel is in direct competition with food production, and there are still much fossil fuels burned to grow and ship the soy product.

"But at least it's a start," he added.

"My thinking is we should encourage it now, even though it's not perfect, because it will get better," he said. "Biodiesel is just the beginning."

Staff writer Robert Plain can be reached at 482-3456 x. 226 or bplain@dailytidings.com