WHO'S WHO IN CALIFORNIA BIODIESEL  Eric Bowen Ex. Dir. Corporate Business Development and Legal Affairs, REG While visiting his wife's relatives in Italy, Eric Bowen noticed a surprising number of diesel cars, which far from being the stinking, belching diesels he knew from California, were actually the ones passing him with considerable speed and style on the autostrada. He needed a new car, and once back home in San Francisco, bought a used Volkswagen Passat TDI. But it wasn't until a year later that Eric heard about biodiesel on an NPR radio show. He googled biodiesel and found, generally, a whole new world, and, specifically, a rare pump in San Francisco established through the work of Randal von Weidel of Cytoculture. He fueled up for the first time in October 2002 and fell in love with the culinary smells, the softer engine sounds, and the possibilities for biodiesel, the fuel that would soon begin to change the course of his life. The first person to set that change in motion and to help create the force that Eric would become in California's biodiesel industry, and in the public policy arena, was Biofuel Oasis co-owner Melissa Hardy. Eric's first five years out of law school were spent at Heller Ehrman/Venture Law Group working with high-tech startups helping to raise venture capital, executing mergers and acquisitions, and facilitating IPOs. He was considering starting his own clean tech law practice when Melissa recruited him to help write a letter to the IRS requesting that the new law providing a $1.00 biodiesel tax credit be extended to include blend levels up 99.9%. The effort with the IRS was a success and so was Eric's professional transition to biodiesel. He had begun doing legal work for many of California's biodiesel co-ops when Sigma Capital Group, an investment banking and advisory firm, saw the IRS letter on a co-op web site. They hired him first to consult and then as Vice President of Energy and Biofuels, where he specialized in biodiesel project finance. In 2005, Eric co-founded the company San Francisco Biodiesel with Anna Halpern-Lande, now Manager of Future Fuels and CO2 for Royal Dutch Shell, with the mission to build a production plant in San Francisco in conjunction with Darling International. However, in 2006 the partners charted a new course when they merged their company with Santa Monica-based LA Biofuels, which was owned by Joe Gershen, now Director of Sales and Marketing at Crimson Renewable Energy LP. The new partners co-founded Tellurian Biodiesel, Inc. where Eric served as President and CEO. The management and shareholders of Tellurian came to the conclusion during the dark days of biodiesel in 2009 that survival required a scale that Tellurian was not going to be able to reach on its own, so Eric and Joe began reaching out to a handful of potential acquirers. It became clear that Tellurian could offer the most value to Renewable Energy Group (REG), one of the country's largest manufacturers and marketers of biodiesel with a presence in virtually every state. By 2009, REG had begun its transitioning from soy-based to waste-based production and was looking for the type of recycled feedstock relationships that Tellurian had established. "REG has benefitted from being in the Midwest and doing business in states that enjoy strong support from state governments. It is my hope that REG, through its work with CBA, can help create a similar dynamic for the industry in California around the Low Carbon Fuel Standard," Eric said. As a nationally recognized expert, Eric has been very actively involved in local, state, and national biodiesel policy since 2004. In his role as Chairman of the SF Biofuels Co-op, Eric was instrumental in establishing the City of San Francisco's biodiesel programs through the mayor's executive order, which successfully converted the entire fleet to B20, making it the largest city in the world to do so. He assisted in the creation of the City's new master fuel contract and established the SF Biodiesel Access Task Force, which he chaired. He also helped Ben Jordan found Biofuel Recycling and create the SF "Greasecycle" program, which collects local restaurant grease that is processed into biodiesel and used in the City's fleets. As one of CBA's co-founders and its chairman since inception in 2006, Eric has been a key player in the list of accomplishments detailed on CBA's web site, including establishing a relationship with State Water Board staff and negotiating new UST regulations when State Water Board actions threatened to shut down the biodiesel industry in California; working with US EPA on design and implementation of the RFS1 and RFS2 programs; working to insure funding for biodiesel through the California Energy Commission; and serving as member of the LCFS Advisory Committee, to name a few. Eric is a talented leader whose dedication and skill have brought together users, business owners, National Biodiesel Board staff, and experts around the country in focused efforts to face biodiesel's unique challenges in California. He shows no sign of letting up and for that we can all be extremely grateful. Note: Lest anyone think that Eric is all work and no play, it's important to note that he and his wife, Ughetta, have an 8-month-old son, Marcello, who makes Eric light up even more than the low carbon qualities of used cooking oil, or any other feedstock for that matter. by Celia DuBose |
