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Production has started at Iowa’s 13th biodiesel plant… this one, a Western Dubuque Biodiesel, LLC, plant near Farley.

It will produce 30 million gallons of biodiesel a year, bringing Iowa’s annual biodiesel production up to 258 million gallons… according to this article posted on Grainnet.com:

Western Dubuque Biodiesel, LLC, will produce fuel from soybeans or other vegetable oils at the new plant, which will be beneficial to area soybean farmers, says Ray Gaesser, (Iowa Soybean Association) president and a soybean farmer near Corning, Iowa.

Iowa is the largest soybean-producing state in the nation and grows about 500 million bushels per year.

The plant was built by Ralston, Iowa-based Renewable Energy Group.

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.