CHESTERFIELD, Mo. — You’ve heard the word “biodiesel.” There’s a new word on the horizon and it’s “bioheat.” And it’s on the horizon of the Atlantic Coast. Massachusetts became the first state to require the use of bioheat, a mixture of biodiesel with traditional heating oil. Other northeastern states are expected to follow Massachusetts’s example. United Soybean Board member and North Dakota soybean farmer Joel Thorsrud says 40 percent of the homes in the northeast U.S. and Mid-Atlantic use heating oil and it represents a huge future market for soybeans. In August, New York City passed a law that requires all heating oil used in the city to contain 2 percent biodiesel. For a city that uses 1 billion gallons of heating oil every year, the law creates a 20 -million-gallon biodiesel market, said Gene Pullo, head of Metro Fuel Oil. He’s building a new biodiesel plant in Brooklyn. He says that not only is bioheat a renewable fuel, it improves the environment. Soybeans are the major fall cash crop for Franklin County.
Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2 p.m.
