Senate President Takes Tour of Biodiesel Facility

By Jen Thomas
05:52PM / Thursday, November 29, 2007

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Senate President Therese Murray and Sen. Benjamin Downing listen to Lee Harrison during a tour of the biodiesel facility.

PITTSFIELD - Though still in the planning stages, Berkshire Biodiesel LLC is ready to show the state that its willing to make a real impact in Western Massachusetts.

"With so many things going on globally, we need to get smart about how we're using energy," said Lee Harrison, executive vice president of Berkshire Biodiesel, before touring the site of the future biodiesel facility with Senate President Therese Murray, D-Plymouth, on Thursday morning.

Joined by state Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D-Pittsfield, Harrison and Berkshire Biodiesel President and CEO J.Garth Klimchuk led Murray through what will be a $50 million biodiesel production facility, located at Crane & Co.'s Ashuelot Park. Expected to begin construction next year and begin operations in 2009, Berkshire Biodiesel will be the state's largest producer of biodiesel and will boast an output of 50 million gallons of biodiesel per year.

"If we're going to use biofuels, let's make them right here in Massachusetts," Harrison said.

Biodiesel is the result of a process that combines organically-derived oils with alcohol to create a renewable, environmentally-friendly fuel. According to Harrison, biodiesel cuts greenhouse gas emissions in half, reduces the release of sulfur and nitric oxide and makes the air cleaner. As a way to reduce reliance on foreign oil with no byproducts or waste products, biodiesel is a large part of the answer to tackling an impending energy crisis, said Harrison.

"We really need to get a hold of these problems and there are a lot of good things about biodiesel," he said. In a statement, he also said "This new industry is vital, not only to mitigate the ravages of global warming and to reduce air pollution and our reliance on foreign oil, but also to create new jobs and investment in Massachusetts."

The company plans to build two large manufacturing bays and offices on eight acres of land at the Pittsfield/Dalton site, as well as an additional seven acres allotted for construction of a rail line that will transport materials to the plant. The construction phase will employ approximately 100 people and the plant itself will create at least 30 permanent jobs.

Legislative Support

With a progressive alternative energy bill introduced this fall, the state legislature is looking to ensure that 20 percent of the state's energy is generated by renewable sources by 2020, while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent in the same time period.

"The sky is falling and we have to do something," said Murray on Thursday.

With a standard built into the bill that would require all diesel and home heating fuel sold in the state to contain a minimum amount of renewable, biobased alternatives in their blends, Berkshire Biodiesel would be poised to thrive as an emerging biofuel producer.

"It's really exciting to be here and to see the facility," Murray said after her tour. "This is what we've been talking about. We need to find alternative energy sources. We're right here at the forefront and moving in the right direction."

The legislation that would make Massachusetts the first state to establish a biofuel standard for home heating oil passed through the House earlier this month and Downing and Murray said they expect the Senate to take up the energy plan in January.

With plans to utilize previously unusable farmland and pioneering new feedstock methods, Harrison and Klimchuk are eager to get their project moving into the next stages.

"We, as a country, should be shifting to renewable sources to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and we're excited about being a part of that," Klimchuk said.