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The distributor of Willie Nelson’s BioWillie® brand biodiesel, Earth Biofuels, has launched a new website. According to this Earth Biofuels release, the site, www.BioWillieusa.com, is supposed to help inform customers on company developments and where they can get BioWillie® biodiesel.

From the BioWillie website:

All Americans understand the importance of reducing our dependence on foreign oil. Long or short haul carriers understand that every gallon we grow from our nation’s crops reduces what we buy from foreign soil.

BioWillie® is sold at 17 locations in five states. The BioWillie website also includes updates of where to get BioWillie® and the progress of a new truckstop called Willie’s Place at Carl’s Corner… about an hour south of Dallas, TX on Interstate 35 expected to open this summer. It even tells fans where to find the legendary country singer.

Seattle-based Imperium Renewables has agreed to purchase a large amount of canola oil from Earth-firendly Natural Selection Farms to make biodiesel. The deal will produce one million gallons of biodiesel a year and is, in fact, the largest sale of Washington state-produced canola oil ever. From this Businesswire.com story:

“This partnership demonstrates the incredible opportunity for our state’s agricultural industry to benefit from the increasing demand for biodiesel within the state as well as nationally,” said John Plaza, Imperium’s Founder and President. “We’ve always said that we’d be the state’s biggest customer for Washington State produced canola oil, and today we are. This is just the beginning of what we hope will further establish a new market for Washington State farmers as well as Washington State consumers of the fuel.”

“Diversifying our crop base to include canola makes both great agricultural and business sense,” said Ted Durfey, owner of Natural Selection Farms. “We’re proud to be doing our part to clean up the air, increase jobs and revenue in our state and reduce our nation’s dependency on foreign oil. I hope others will realize the benefits of adding canola to their crop mix.”

Imperium is already the biggest producer of biodiesel on the West Coast, and when a new Imperium Grays Harbor facility comes on line in mid-2007, it will be the largest biodiesel facility in the country… making 100 million gallons a year.

ARES Corporation, a California-based engineering and research firm, has joined with Colorado-based Blue Sun Biodiesel to build a 15-million gallon/year B100 biodiesel plant under the name ARES Blue Sun near Clovis, New Mexico. They’ll break ground early this year. According to a joint company press release:

“This new joint venture represents the initial implementation of ARES’ strategic goals in creating new businesses in the clean energy and biofuels sector,” said Dick Stuart, CEO and President of ARES
Corporation.

“Since its inception, Blue Sun has been focused on distributing a premium biodiesel fuel with warranted industry-leading specifications. The ability to bring to bear ARES’ superior engineering expertise assures Blue Sun of a continuous supply of B100 that meets our stringent quality requirements,” added Jeff Probst,
CEO of Blue Sun Biodiesel.

While the release doesn’t directly indicate more plants, it sure implies this won’t be the only biodiesel venture for the new company.