Biodiesel producer pollutes in Washington State

When you’re driving around in certain biodiesel vehicles, one of the strongest emissions is the smell of fried food. While biodiesel vehicles themselves don’t put out as many nasty pollutants as regular diesel or gasoline engines, the biodiesel production process is not as clean, as a large-scale biodiesel producer in Washington State discovered this week.
The Seattle Times reported that a company owned by Air Energy is operating a biodiesel-crushing plant in Creston, WA and has emitted methanol vapors without a permit and spilled vegetable oil or biodiesel on the ground. The plant’s landlord has ordered the plant to stop production.
It’s good that inspectors are cracking down on this plant. If producers want the publicity benefits of producing a more environmentally sound fuel, they need to operate using environmentally sound production standards. Thankfully, a vegetable oil spill is much tastier than a petroleum spill. [Source: Seattle Times]