With the announcement of the Imperium Renewables biodiesel mega-project in Grays Harbor County, Wash., biodiesel finally loses its innocence.
Why build a 100-million gallon biodiesel plant in Grays Harbor, of all places?
Not to use Washington-grown vegetable oil – that oil, to the extent it will even be produced in the face of cut-rate imports, will be used near where it is produced, as it should be. Certainly not to use Midwest- or Plains-grown vegetable oil – that oil would have to travel a winding railroad or go through the Panama Canal to get to Grays Harbor.
The Grays Harbor biodiesel plant planned by Imperium will make biodiesel out of palm oil imported from tropical countries like Malaysia. A look at current vegoil prices shows why: Soybean oil is selling for about 25 cents a pound for July delivery, while canola oil is a couple of cents higher. July palm oil is about 19 cents a pound, including delivery to the U.S.
Palm oil is essentially made out of rainforests, which are being bulldozed at unprecedented rates to make way for palm plantations.
In an ironic twist, the destruction of Malaysian rainforests may lead to an upturn in the Grays Harbor economy, which has been depressed since the destruction of Washington rainforests.
There is very little that is “green” about palm oil biodiesel, especially when it is produced at the expense of North American vegoils.
In explaining the size of his proposed plant and the source of his vegoil, John Plaza says in last week’s Capital Press, “We have to be competitive to be sustainable.” There is very little that is sustainable about a 100 million gallon per year palm oil biodiesel plant.
Full disclosure: I am working to develop an all-Washington biodiesel operation east of the Cascades "
Steve Verhey
Guest Comment
Friday, May 26, 2006
