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As schools gear back up for another year, many of them will run their buses on biodiesel.

This story in the Grand Rapids (Michigan) Press cites the Kenowa Hills School District and the success it had with biodiesel:

In January, three of the district’s 40 buses were equipped with special filters to burn the biodegradable fuel average of 8 miles per gallon instead of 7, said transportation supervisor Julie Chlebek.

The district used its “green” buses to transport students Kenowa Hills Middle, Kenowa Hills High, Kenowa Hills Intermediate and Fairview Elementary schools, racking up an average 414 miles daily.

School officials say the biggest problem is getting enough of the green fuel.

Now, this, of course, is just one small example of one small district that is using biodiesel. But if this district could get about 12 percent more out of its fuel by switching to biodiesel, imagine what it might do on a larger scale.

Following up on a story I told you about yesterday, the Chesapeake, Virginia Planning Commission has voted 7-0 to in support of building a 320-million-gallon-a-year biodiesel plant.

This story in the Virginian-Pilot says the advisory vote will be taken into consideration by the Chesapeake City Council next month when a final decision is made on the half-billion-dollar project.

The commissioners told a handful of neighbors that fought the project that an environmentally friendly biodiesel plant was a good use for 44 acres that could otherwise house something worse.

“It is going to be used for industry,” Planning Commissioner Betty P. Weaver said. “This sounds like one of the best things we can do there.”

Some people at City Hall on Wednesday were excited about the plant, which could produce 320 million gallons per year of biodiesel fuel.

“This is a chance for Chesapeake to be a leader in offering a site for new alternative fuels that our country desperately needs for the future,” said Burnie Mansfield, a longtime South Norfolk resident who lives less than a mile from the site.

Smiling Earth Energy is one of the proposed refiners for the project.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has announced a new initiative to move his state from using two percent to 20 percent biodiesel by 2015.

The announcement comes on the heels of yesterday’s word he wants Minnesota to use 20 percent ethanol by 2012 (see Chuck’s post from August 8th). According to HometownSource.com, Pawlenty will bring the proposal before the state legislature next year:

“Minnesota has led the nation in unleashing a renewable energy revolution,” Governor Pawlenty said. “Other states are starting to catch on and it’s time for us to continue to blaze the trail to a cleaner, more secure energy future. Increasing the level of biodiesel in diesel fuel means that more of our energy will come from farm fields rather than oil fields and that’s a good thing.”

The percentage would be phased in over the next seven years, and Pawlenty would also include the requirement that all the biodiesel sold in the state would be BQ9000 certified.

The Green Mountain State has taken its first step to being a green fuel state as Vermont gets its first biodiesel mixing plant.

This story on the WPTZ-TV (Plattsburgh, NY) web site says it opened at the Robinson Oil Terminal at Essex Junction, Vermont:

The Robinson Oil Terminal makes biodiesel by mixing traditional home heating oil with vegetable oil.

“It’s new, but it’s needed,” Oeschger said. “We’re trying to work with the environment and keep Vermont green and this is a good start.”

The area will start slowly, using just a two percent blend. But promoters of the biofuel hope its a start in the right direction.

A proposed $532-million, 320-million-gallon biodiesel refinery… one of the world’s largest… is up for a vote before the Chesapeake, Virginia Planning Commission tonight to decide if the project will move forward.

But this story in the Virginian-Pilot says even if the commission approves the plan, there are issues over the developer securing the land:

Developer Smiling Earth Energy LLC and landowner David Peck continue to have different takes on the status of the deal. Peck has said the company defaulted on its purchase agreement after missing two key payments and that the property, in the city’s South Norfolk section, is back on the market.

The differences will not interfere with tonight’s advisory vote, city planners said. Next, the matter would go to the Chesapeake City Council, which could make a final decision next month.

An ethanol plant planned just across the river from this biodiesel plant ran into a series of protests and problems that have put the brakes on the ethanol refinery. But the biodiesel plant seems to be only facing some fire safety rules.