http://www.bendbulletin.com/opinion/3128152-151/editorial-give-eastern-oregon-schools-biodiesel-exemption#
[Or, they could use winter ("arctic") biodiesel instead.]
Editorial: Give Eastern Oregon schools biodiesel exemption
Published May 5, 2015 at 12:10AM
As school officials east of the Cascades will tell you, biodiesel and
cold weather don’t necessarily mix. The result is school districts can
find themselves with busloads of stranded students — or students waiting
for a bus that will never come — when the temperature dips to 10 degrees
Fahrenheit or colder.
Diesel fuel sold in Oregon must be blended to include 5 percent
biodiesel thanks to a law passed by the 2007 Legislature. Now Sen. Doug
Whitsett, R-Klamath Falls, hopes to change that. He’s the sponsor of
Senate Bill 164, which would relax the biodiesel requirement from Nov. 1
through February the following year east of the Cascades.
He’s got the school districts around here on board. They’ve had trouble
for years because in the coldest weather the biodiesel gels, fouls fuel
filters and brings the buses to a grinding halt.
A fact sheet submitted to the Senate Committee on Environment and
Natural Resources by the National Biodiesel Board pointed out that
communities much colder than Bend or Lakeview run biodiesel all winter
without fouling problems. If it works in Minnesota, the argument is,
then it should work in Eastern Oregon. A spokeswoman for the Oregon
Environmental Council gave similar testimony.
It’s clear neither of them has the whole picture.
Buses sold in Minnesota come with complex heating systems that work to
keep biodiesel flowing even in the coldest weather, says Denice Blake,
director of transportation for Bend-La Pine Schools. Districts in this
part of the country don’t buy those systems because they add several
thousand dollars to the cost of each bus and generally are needed only a
handful of days per year.
School districts across Oregon continue to struggle to make ends meet
these days and have more critical ways to spend money than on fancy,
seldom-needed heating systems.
SB 164 will ensure schoolchildren are safe and school districts are not
burdened with what should be unneeded repairs. It should be approved.
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