Posted on 06/28/2010 1:00:25 PM PDT by epithermal
A plan to lessen Snohomish County’s dependence on fossil fuels while helping local farmers has fallen well short of expectations.
Supporters urge patience. In time, they say, an improved economy will boost demand for locally grown oilseed crops, such as canola, which can be turned into biodiesel. Eventually, they maintain, a $1.2 million investment in a grain dryer and seed crusher at the county’s Cathcart facility south of Snohomish will prove worthwhile.
..snip..
Efforts to wean government vehicle fleets off fossil fuels have lagged.
Snohomish County now runs about two-thirds of its diesel fleet on a blend of 20 percent biodiesel. The county had hoped to have all its diesel-powered vehicles using biofuels by now, Thomsen said. Even missing the goal, the county’s performance still is better than the state’s.
A 2006 law required all the state’s ferries and diesel-powered cars and trucks to use a 20 percent biodiesel mixture by last year.
By the end of 2009, less than 2 percent of the state’s ferries and land vehicles were using biodiesel, said Steve Valandra, a spokesman for the state’s General Administration. Biodiesel’s higher cost and tendency to gel in cold weather were the main reasons for not reaching the target, Valandra said.
(Excerpt) Read more at heraldnet.com ...
Yeah, they were stupid to even try something different.
No Food For Fuel bump!
Yea, i need to get to town, Let me drive 500 miles out of my way to get there first.
Maybe when Biofuel is even remotely somewhat economically feasably maybe then these “Counties” can waste tax dollars on it.
Our company sells equipment to these Bio-industries and the way they conduct business, I find it hard to think it is legit. Meaning, our tax dollars are just flowing into their pockets.... Unless you get people in there that really believe what they are doing and don’t use TAX money to run these businesses, they’ll never be efficient.
Let them try something different on YOUR dime, thanks.
Yet more proof that God wants us to make ethanol from corn, not rape seed.
Agreed. I would have thought they would have had some commitments from the local farmers before going ahead.
ping
Like I said.
If I lived there, I’m sure my dime would be part of it.
This can be done. The county must simply get direction from Hugo Chavez on proper procedures.
What a marroon!
In 2007, the median family income was $50,233. With this number in mind, it is easy to put the costs of such projects in perspective of real people and real families.
For every $1 million in government spending, a project consumes the income of roughly 20 American families. If the project results in support for more than 20 families, we are better off, if not than we are worse off.
I think a few farmers got snookered by the environ-mentalists.
Snohomish Co. is sort of infamous for these kinds of decisions. I used to live there. They built a nuclear plant back in the 1970s without proper permits. Well, the utility did. The rate payers sued and won in court and the utility had to tear down the plant and refund the money to the people in the form of energy grants for weatherizing your home — max. $4000 per household. These were available to everybody, including renters, regardless of income.
We moved there about that time and we super insulated our home with our money. Some people installed new windows and woodstoves (we already had both) or solar panels. Everybody got so energy efficient that in a few years the utility company nearly went bankrupt because nobody was using any heat. Then the county prohibited the use of high efficiency wood stoves on many days. They are nuts in Snohomish County.
I still have one of my wood stoves and I use it all the time in Wisconsin.
“Supporters urge patience. In time, they say, an improved economy will boost demand for locally grown oilseed crops, such as canola, which can be turned into biodiesel.”
Canola Oil; now one of the widely used, and growing, sources of “vegetable” oils, for the home, restaurants and manufacture of packaged foods (also made more cost effective (temporarily???) due to the massive diversion of corn to ethanol).
As with most “bio-fuel” schemes, there are and will be added costs (plenty of them) that will show up outside the direct area of the “bio-fuel”, due to the changes (distortions) in supply and demand of resources diverted to produce the “bio-fuel”.
These are nothing more than corporate welfare for the Green Weenies.
So...it’s a good investment for the County is it ? Another words, it really sucks to be a Tax Payer. Their the ones that will be throwing all that money down a Rat Hole. Until the day arrives that Private Business says that a profit can be made, forget it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.