Hi Mark Tom Leue's posting of the World Energy message also caused some confusion as to who'd said quite what.
As you say, Graham Noyes of World Energy was asked for more info on this and didn't respond. Do you recall other issues he was asked for more info on? He straight away said homebrewers couldn't make standard-spec fuel, and was straight away challenged on it - this was his reply: >The big fear of the biodiesel industry is that homebrewers >are going to destroy the market. I have seen home-brewed biodiesel >cause problems in multiple locations and it has taken significant >efforts to undo the damage. One region of the country in particular >had large quantities of homegrown off-spec fuel that was being sold >and distributed. The use of biodiesel was substantially delayed in >this area until trust for the fuel was re-established. The biodiesel >industry has gone to major efforts and expenditure to make progress >with the engine manufacturers and to establish the ASTM standard. >Frankly, I don't know what percentage of homegrown fuel is in spec >but I do read about a lot of goo being produced. Everytime off spec >fuel causes a problem, it causes a problem for everyone. I also am >aware of at least one prosecution for failure to pay road taxes on >homegrown fuel that was sold. I think it is in everyone's interest >to recognize that there are differences between homegrown and >commercial grade biodiesel. If homegrowers can hit spec and do >quality control and test to spec, then they should consider whether >they want to comply with the various legal requirements and go >commercial. Otherwise they should keep it at home. Of course he then got asked for details - many times he was asked to substantiate these claims, by me and quite a few others here, especially the bit about "large quantities of homegrown off-spec fuel that was being sold and distributed" and delayed the use of biodiesel in that area. Eventually, after quite a lot of pressure, Graham sent us this retraction: "I apologize that I have not been doing a better job of addressing many of the specific points made but I simply cannot keep up with the prolific nature of this group. After some experience here, I have a much better understanding of the efforts that are being made to make top-quality fuel. I also think I should provide some more details regarding my perspective on homebrew (and should have been more careful about sweeping statements in the first place). While I do nothing but biodiesel 40-70 hours/week, I have not seen any significant problems result from the use of homebrew. There are concerns but these are primarily perception rather than experience." A rather different story - so our charge that this sort of stuff was nothing but an industry myth was vindicated. Interesting yarn - try a search for "Noyes" (leave out the quotes) at the Biofuels-biz archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/index.php?list=biofuels-biz Graham didn't specifically address the road taxes question again, but I sort of concluded, perhaps wrongly, that the same applied to that. At the time Tom Leue posted the message quite a few people contacted me offlist seeking further info, but nobody that I know of succeeded in running it to earth. A wild goose chase I reckon, just more apocryphal loose talk from industry. Anyway, Mark, thanks for bringing this up, quite right, it didn't occur to me that bit could perhaps start the fuss all over again, should have snipped it. regards Keith >Hi all, >I wanted to clear up something in an older post here: it was a post about >the status of the EPA position on small producers. IN the end of this, was >the following email from Tom Leue. If I am not mistaken, the story related >below (told by Graham Noyes of World Enegy) was never substantiated. I >believe I asked him onlist (he was participating at the time) at one point >what organization he was talking about, and others have said that they've >asked about it too. > >Last year I recieved a copy of this same exact email from graham, coming >from his World Energy email account, so presumably it was an official >coommunication. He had accidentaly gotten my and other locals' >email addresses from us all being CC'd on a private email concerning a >local gas station biodiesel campaign- and he sent this around, though it >wasn't particularly relevant to the issue we were working on. >This email then led to a lot of panic in our area. This was during the time >when the Welsh SVO driver Fry Squad scandal was in the news (welsh svoers >being stopped and fined by their local police for tax evasion for using >svo). Locally in the Bay Area, the story about the Welsh drivers was making >a lot of svo'ers nervous, and many of them were confused about where it was >happening (various misinformation went out over various local channels, >saying that it happened in san francisco, or australia... we americans >were never good at geography). Right then the World Energy communication >hit, and rumors of our impending crackdown spread like wildfire. > >It seems to me that unless I missed something, that Graham Noyes never >substantiated this story, though many people asked him about it. Since this >has been accidentally re-posted, I would like to either correct this rumor >for the archives, or find out who the heck he was talking about, because >I'm worried about the same set of rumors going out when people read the >otherwise very timely post this World Energy bit was connected to.... >mark > > > > > >>--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > >> > Here is a communication from World Energy about > > >> > government actions against > > >> > one of the few biodiesel producers in the Northeast. > > >> > Be forwarned. > > >> > > > >> > Snip> > > >> > We run into a lot of small producers who are trying > > >> > to do the right thing, > > >> > but I would be remiss if I did not warn about the > > >> > severity of cutting corners > > >> > from an IRS or EPA standpoint. > > >> > > > >> > > > >> > Any biodiesel producer or seller needs to understand > > >> > that any biodiesel used > > >> > (not sold)as fuel in an on-road vehicle is subject > > >> > to on-road tax. We have a > > >> > number of producers around the country who do not > > >> > want to deal with the tax, > > >> > and sell it tax exempt. This fuel does often end up > > >> > in peoples vehicles. Just > > >> > as you and I pay tax at the pump, it is the user who > > >> > is ultimately > > >> > responsible for road tax. > > >> > > > >> > > > >> > We just had a small producer in another state in a > > >> > similar situation. They > > >> > own a number of diesel vehicles and have been using > > >> > it for about a year. They > > >> > were just hit with bill for $0.31/gallon State > > >> > excise tax plus penalties and > > >> > interest for every gallon they have produced. In > > >> > addition, since the fuel was > > >> > used in on-road vehicles, the Federal Government can > > >> > (and most likely will) > > >> > fine up to $10.00/gallon for every gallon used. The > > >> > organization in Maine is > > >> > a non-profit agency and is therefore tax exempt. > > >> > They also do not sell any > > >> > fuel to te outside world. > > >> > > > >> > > > >> > Many of these small producers are yet to realize how > > >> > sad the ending may be. I > > >> > don't mean to sound rude or abrupt, but the tax > > >> > consequences can be quite > > >> > severe. I have already seen it happen once. I think > > >> > we will see it happen > > >> > again. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Get A Free Psychic Reading! 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