Biodiesel Day in Bloomington

I couldn’t help but laugh out loud this morning over the news that the Bloomington School District is closing all schools today because state-mandated biodiesel has frozen in school bus tanks.

When legislators first started talking about mandating biodiesel
in state vehicles, I represented a railroad and worked on the issue.
[If memory serves, this happened during the Jesse Ventura
Administration.] At the time,biodiesel was the hottest thing since
sliced bread. One would naturally presume that legislators
contemplated Minnesota’s cold winters during that conversation, right?

Wrong. And put this in the category of "you just can’t make it up": The only "science" behind the entire biodiesel mandate debate was one Hennepin County study of about a dozen vehicles. The study was conducted in July.
[Those of us lobbying on behalf of railroads quietly got railroads
amended out of the mandate when we obtained a letter from railroad
engine manufacturers saying that all warranties on those engines were
void if biodiesel was in the fuel mix.]

Minnesota school children enjoy a rich tradition of schools closing because of "snow days."

Now they have "biodiesel days."

No Responses to “Biodiesel Day in Bloomington”

1. lojasmo Says:
   January 17th, 2009 at 3:34 pm

   I can’t help but laugh at the fact that you derive mirth from a predicament that leaves Minnesota children, and taxpayers at a disadvantage because you are provided grist in your personal anti-environmental gestalt.

   You do realize that Dino-diesel gells at these same low temperatures. As A driver of a diesel vehicle, I can tell you that even winterized #2 diesel does indeed gel at these low temperatures.

   Perhaps we should migrate to gasoline powered school busses, which get 1/2 the fuel efficiency ratings as diesel vehicles. That would certainly fit your world view better, no?

   Laugh away, Ms. Janicek. Keep laughing at the expense of Minnesotans.

2. Holly Cairns Says:
   January 18th, 2009 at 3:44 pm

   So, Sarah Janecek, are you are saying Biodiesel is bad? Biodiesel = bad.

   In reality, both Biodiesel and Ethanol need work to be helpful. Ethanol: We need an enzyme to tackle the corn waste and convert that to ethanol. The farmers will have to wisely replace soil every once and a while, but celulosic ethanol would be great step in the right direction. Biodiesel isn’t used enough and is prone to certain problems.

   The families who watch every penny are the ones that really get hurt by ethanol production, so we need to be careful about our green energy goals. Food prices alone soared due to corn problems, yes?

   As to the bus problem… come on, someone should have had a brain. It’s a no-brainer. Hmmm, hey, our school district buses ran those cold days… maybe Bloomington missed a memo.

3. Anonymous Says:
   February 12th, 2009 at 1:19 pm

   Funny, when experts looked at the problem, they found the filters clogged with petroleum:

   http://nbb.grassroots.com/resources/BloomingtonBusReport.pdf