Singer Willie Nelson trying to sell biodiesel to truckers
By Matt Curry
Associated Press
DALLAS — "On the Road Again" means something new for Willie Nelson these days — a chance for truckers to fill their tanks with clean-burning bio-diesel fuel.
Paul Natkin • Associated Press
Nelson and three business partners recently formed a company called Willie Nelson's Biodiesel that is marketing the fuel to truck stops. The product — called BioWillie — is made from vegetable oils, mainly soybeans, and can be burned without modification to diesel engines.
Singer and farmers' advocate Willie Nelson, shown at a pump for biodiesel fuel in Seattle, has started a company that intends to sell biodiesel fuel, or BioWillie, at truck stops across the United States.
It may be difficult to picture the 71-year-old hair-braided Texas rebel as an energy company executive, but the singer's new gig is in many ways about social responsibility — and that is classic Nelson.
"There is really no need going around starting wars over oil. We have it here at home. We have the necessary product, the farmers can grow it," said Nelson, who organized Farm Aid two decades ago to draw attention to the plight of American agriculture.
Nelson, a part-time Maui resident, told The Associated Press in an interview last week that he began learning about the product a few years ago after his wife purchased a biodiesel-burning car on Maui.
"I got on the computer and punched in biodiesel and found out this could be the future," said Nelson, who now uses the fuel for his cars and tour buses.
Nelson isn't the only celebrity user of biodiesel in the Islands. Actor Woody Harrelson, who also owns property on Maui, keeps a tank of biodiesel at his house, so he doesn't need to drive into town to fill up. And singer Neil Young uses biodiesel in his cars when he's at his Big Island home.
Peter Bell, a Texas biodiesel supplier, struck up a friendship with Nelson after filling up a tour bus. The business partnership came together just before Christmas.
National Biodiesel Board: www.biodiesel.org BioBeetle, Maui and O'ahu: www.bio-beetle.com Biodiesel links: www.ecobusinesslinks.com/biodiesel.htm
Bell said Nelson's name will help the largely unknown fuel — typically purchased by government agencies to promote environmental awareness — gain wider national acceptance. The fuel's average U.S. price per gallon is $1.79.
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"What Willie brings to this is the ability to communicate directly with a truck driver. That kind of community is hard for people to get to," Bell said. "When he starts talking, these folks really listen to him. ... It's like having Tiger Woods talk about golf clubs."
Still, a driver can cover many miles without spotting a biodiesel pump. A map on the National Biodiesel Board's Web site shows a heavy concentration of distributors in the Midwest, but very few in other parts of the country.
Nelson's group is negotiating with Oklahoma City-based Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores to carry the fuel at its 169 locations nationwide.
Dan Gilligan, president of the Petroleum Marketers Association of America, expects commercial expansion for biodiesel, but says supplies are still limited and that making the fuel available in Northern states is a challenge.
"For terminals to store bio-diesel, they have to store it in heated tanks to avoid gelling problems. That's a challenge for the industry to overcome," he said.
In Hawai'i, biodiesel is produced exclusively by Pacific Biodiesel, which was started on Maui in 1996. The company has a Maui plant making about 200,000 gallons annually, and an O'ahu plant on Sand Island that produces about 400,000 gallons a year. Most of the fuel goes into fleet truck and bus operations.
