NEW CBA WEBSITE OFFERS UNIQUE CONTENT

We have redesigned our website to offer important, timely information about our industry as well as helpful links. CBA's website provides content that cannot be found anywhere else. This includes a history of our accomplishments on the About page and information and documents needed for compliance with underground storage tank regulations on our Regulatory Matters page. We hope you'll take the time to familiarize yourself with our site and visit it often to stay abreast of what's happening in our industry, what we are working on, and how you can help. You can sign up at any time for our special email Alerts at the bottom of our Home page. 

CBA EXPANDS WITH INDIVIDUAL AND SMALL BUSINESS MEMBERSHIPS 

In order to reach out to a broad cross section of the biodiesel community, CBA is now offering membership levels of $100 for individuals and $500 for small businesses with an easy online payment option. Membership benefits include:  

• CBA's Email Newsletter featuring important industry updates and features about Who's Who in biodiesel in California.
• CBA's Email Action Alerts that let you know when your help can really make a difference.
• Your company's logo and link on our Members webpage.
• Discounts on CBA events. 

CBA is working to counter serious threats that  biodiesel faces in our state:  

EMISSIONS REGULATIONS 

Emissions regulations being worked on by the California Air Resources Board (ARB) could result in higher costs for blends of B20 and lower and could even make blends above B20 illegal. CBA is involving the nation's biodiesel experts in this fight.

LCFS

CBA is working with ARB to ensure that the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) fully captures biodiesel's remarkable carbon reduction benefits and that biodiesel is fairly treated by this ground breaking climate change policy.

AB 118 FUNDING

CBA is working to increase funding for biodiesel infrastructure through the California Energy Commission's (CEC) AB 118 funding program. CEC's draft funding plan for 2011-2012 has been issued, and we are asking members of our community to send in letters of support for their proposed allocation of $11.5 million for diesel alternatives. More information and instructions can be found here. 

UST REGULATIONS  

The emergency underground storage tank (UST) regulations that CBA helped establish with the California Water Board to allow biodiesel to continue to be stored in USTs is set to expire in June of 2012. CBA and the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) have begun discussions with Water Board staff to determine a path forward that will provide a stable regulatory environment for UST owners and ultimately accord with pending changes in federal law. The good news for UST owners is that the current version of US EPA's draft guidance document for biofuels, which will be released later this year, provides several options beyond Underwriter's Laboratory (UL) to address the need for UST approvals. This is a major step forward given the current lack of UL approvals for the storage of biodiesel blends in USTs.  We are hopeful that these pending changes in federal law will pave the way for a more simple and stable solution in California for storing biodiesel and biodiesel blends in USTs.

WHO'S WHO IN CALIFORNIA BIODIESEL

Curtis Wright, Biotane Fuels Division Manager, IWP

When he woke up on April 22nd, 2000, petroleum engineer Curtis Wright had never heard of biodiesel or the idea of producing fuel from waste oils. At the end of the day he had, thanks to an NPR story about waste oil-produced biodiesel helping to fuel the Earth Day celebration in Washington, DC. And he was on a mission. In less than two years, Curtis had a new job with IWP in California's Imperial Valley and had researched, designed and built the first plant in California to successfully produce biodiesel from waste oil on a large scale. With this, California's biodiesel industry, with its unique commitment to waste feedstocks, was launched.

Curtis manages the entire operation, including sales, marketing and procurement for IWP's biodiesel division, Biotane. Biotane, which produces its Biotane Biodiesel from animal fats and vegetable oils, holds the prestigious BQ 9000 quality certification. Biotane's innovative "sustainability loop" offers customers a way to green their businesses by recycling their waste vegetable oil into biodiesel to fuel their fleets.  

Biotane's story is full of lessons about how to get started in the biodiesel business and how to survive in tough times. It begins with IWP's very fiscally conservative business policies, especially regarding credit and includes the key factor that from its start in cottonseed trading in 1966, IWP was always in the business of recycling. Over the years, their website says, "IWP has expanded its by-product trading into almost everything a cow will eat."

With the gradual decline in the dairy and the cattle industries, IWP owner Bill Trawick had a vision of biodiesel production as a way to diversify. IWP had the base to grow a grease collection business and a biodiesel production business at the same time. And that is exactly what they did and without any expectation of tax credits, which did not exist as the time.  Amazingly, Curtis was able to build a biodiesel plant in-house using plumbers and electricians already on staff. IWP's vertical integration continues to provide support for Biotane from its other divisions, including sharing and loaning of staff, a key factor in weathering economic storms.

In an especially prescient move, Curtis designed and built Biotane's plant to work with "any oil we could get" and throughout the years has delighted customers with a variety of "flavors" of biodiesel, almond being probably the most delicate. Always working to stay on top of the industry, and ahead of the various technical and regulatory curves as a member of National Biodiesel Board's (NBB) Technical Committee, Curtis has been modifying processes and evaluating new technologies in his lab from day one. Biotane is now cold filtering their product and improving their drying processes to lower moisture levels and improve cold soak levels. Research continues on catalysts, enzymatic production, and ultrasonic mixing.

Curtis reports having seen some increased demand from US EPA's Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) requirements, but none yet from California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). He's confident that those standards and market factors will change and is looking forward to operating his plant at its full 10.5 million gallon per year production capacity.

Along with other NBB members, Curtis began lobbying on behalf of biodiesel in Washington, DC.

As part of that work, he soon met other California biodiesel pioneers and in early 2006 helped co-found CBA.  Curtis has served on CBA's board of directors and as its treasurer since CBA's founding.

When asked about the challenges facing biodiesel in California, Curtis said, "The greatest challenge the biodiesel industry faces is having our fuel accepted by the market, diesel fuel producers, equipment manufacturers and regulatory agencies as a fungible fuel."

The pioneering work that Curtis has done is an inspiration. As one of the first people state agencies came to with questions about biodiesel, Curtis is a treasure and a tremendous asset to California's biodiesel community.