Free gas discovered in Ballard

High gas prices. A Ballard gas station with an honor system. You can probably guess where this is going.

The following cry for help appeared today on Craigslist. Dr. Dan’s Alternative Fuelwerks was closed at the time of this posting, so confirmation of the fuel theft is pending.

Stolen Biodiesel
Reply to: see below
Date: 2007-10-23, 2:04PM PDT

This is just plain shitty. Please if you know anything contact Dr. Dan's...

Last night someone stole over $1,000 worth of biodiesel by taking advantage of the prepay honor system at Dr. Dan’s. We need your help identifying the vehicle that was seen leaving the scene.

Someone was seen quickly leaving the station on 9th and 50th between 8:00-8:20 PM on Sunday night (10/21/07) in a very well maintained Ford F250 flatbed truck. The truck is two-tone blue/white and has a red 300 gallon oval fuel tank mounted behind the cab. The vehicle did not have plates, and was spilling fuel at it fled because the driver did not put the gas cap on in their haste.

If you have seen this vehicle or have any information regarding this incident, please contact us immediately. Thank you for your help!

Dr. Dan's Biodiesel
912 NW 50th St Seattle, WA 98107
206-783-5728

Topics: Biodiesel Wars

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Do Your Part For the Planet: Fill 'Er Up in Ballard

Cantwell fills up a gas guzzler at Propel Biofuels' new location in Ballard.

Can you imagine a world in which Washington grown produce becomes Washington produced vegetable oil, which turns into Washington processed biodiesel, only to be sold at Washington gas pumps. Sen. Maria Cantwell can. She joined Propel Biofuels president Rob Elam to dedicate his new location on Leary Way, fill up her tank and call for annual production of 36 billion gallons of alternative fuel by 2022.

According to the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Energy, published in 2005, U.S. drivers were using about 113.1 billion gallons of fuel annually, a number increasing at a rate of about 3 percent each year. So sit tight little polar bears, we’re working on this environmental crisis thing, but we really like driving alone to work.

Topics: Biodiesel Wars

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Go green, void warranty

Last summer Aimee Curl dug into the battle for biodiesel moral superiority and the march toward saving the environment, or weening ourselves off mid East oil depending on your political view, goes on. Today, the Seattle Times published a list of all the locations currently serving up some form of biodiesel.

Most of the blends are B20 or above (a 20 percent mix of biodiesel and regular diesel). But filling up at any of those stations may void your engine warranty on that new F-250.

Ford spokesman Said Deep says anything over B5 will void a Ford warranty. Other car owners should check their manuals.

"Are we looking at going above that? Absolutely," he says. But for now, if you're hearing a weird clank in the engine, you might want to steer clear of alternative fuels until you get it checked out. 

Not that the warranty ever covered much to begin with. 

Topics: Biodiesel Wars

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This Just In...

Leave it to the folks on the East side. At Central Washington Biodiesel’s Ellensburg plant, customers now have a choice: they can fill up using Northwest-grown canola oil-based biodiesel, or they can pick the pump labeled “regular” biodiesel. Either way, they can be sure their petroleum-free fuel isn’t contributing to rainforest destruction. Central Washington Biodiesel guarantees that all of the fuel it sells comes from North American-grown sources— a question that’s been the source of some debate on the West side of the Cascade divide with the impending opening of Imperium’s biodiesel plant in Grays Harbor.

Central Washington Biodiesel CEO Steve Verhey says using as much locally produced oil as possible has been part of his company’s business plan from the beginning. (They opened up shop about eight months ago.) He says the separate pumps are about connecting customers to the local stuff.

“It’s an opportunity to educate people that locally grown and produced biodiesel is available," Verhey says. "If Washington state’s biodiesel industry is really going to be successful, there’s going to have to be branding that identifies Washington-produced product as premium product.”

Plus, be you a light green, a dark green, or a weekend green, at least you know what you're getting. 

Those who choose NW grown biodiesel do so at a premium, $3.75 per gallon compared with $3.29 for the “regular” variety. But price hasn’t been a deterrent so far, Verhey says. “Our first customer this week [a guy from the Seattle area] chose the NW Grown. The price didn’t particularly faze him.”

Topics: Biodiesel Wars

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