Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Actual left/right wing discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: one_less who wrote (4056)	11/2/2006 12:40:18 PM
From: Tom Clarke	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10087

Beer brought to you by biodiesel By TOM RAGAN SENTINEL STAFF WRITER November 2, 2006 WATSONVILLE — Some of the truckers swear the biodiesel gas smells a little like french fries. Jim Griffin, the fleet manager, compares it to cooking oil. Either way, biodiesel is getting the job done for Couch Distributing Inc., whose 57 trucks now operate on the unconventional gas that's made from oil-based plants such as canola and soybeans — and is traditionally cheaper at the pump. "It's inexpensive, it's environmentally cleaner, it helps the American farmer. What more could you ask for?" said Griffin, listing the reasons Couch Distributing, the largest liquor distributor in Santa Cruz County, has gone green. Add Couch to the growing list of businesses along the Central Coast turning to the Freedom-based Nature's Fuel Corp. for biodiesel. Watsonville Coast Produce has been buying the fuel for some of its trucks since April and Santa Cruz-based Ledyard Co., a food service company, is also giving the product a whirl, according to Dennis Ortega, director of marketing for Nature's Fuel Corp. Those in the business of hauling produce up and down the Central Valley have dialed up the company, which buys the biodiesel fuel straight from refineries in the Midwest, and hauls it here. "People are beginning to see the light, and it's getting thick," said Ortega. "But there are some petroleum guys out there who still aren't entirely convinced. They'd rather use regular diesel, but they're just behind the times." The company was formed a little more than a year and a half ago. Ortega said Nature's customer roster has reached more than a dozen, and he expects more to jump on the bandwagon after the November elections, when prices at the pump are expected to rise. Right now, Nature's customers are reporting as much as 25 cents a gallon in savings when they fill their trucks with the fuel, which has been selling for $2.80 a gallon recently. Although the prices between regular diesel and biodiesel are neck and neck these days, Ortega said trade magazines are predicting a sharp increase in price. He said Nature's Fuel Corp. is doing so well it's considering creating some sort of co-op in which a biodiesel refinery would be built here and the crops used to make it grown here. "It probably wouldn't be in Watsonville, though," he said. "It's too cold. We'd have to grow the plants where it's hot, maybe the San Joaquin Valley." Contact Tom Ragan at tragan@santacruzsentinel.com. santacruzsentinel.com