A company co-founded by one of U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie's gubernatorial campaign co-chairs received a $3.5 million congressional earmark arranged by the congressman.

Kelly King is one of four honorary co-chairs of Abercrombie's gubernatorial campaign. She also is vice president of Kahului, Maui-based Pacific Biodiesel, a renewable energy company that she established with her husband.

Congressional records show that Abercrombie made the request for a $3.5 million earmark for Pacific Biodiesel to grow renewable energy crops on U.S. Army lands in Hawai'i.

Randy Obata, Abercrombie's spokesman, said Abercrombie made the request because of his longstanding support of funding for alternative energy programs and because it helps the Army fulfill its mandates to use alternative fuels.

Obata added that the Pacific Biodiesel fuel appropriations request was first approved by the Army before the company requested Abercrombie's support for the appropriation.

"First of all, the suggestion that the earmark went to this company because this person works on Neil's campaign is trying to make a connection that really isn't there," said Obata.

The earmark, which was passed by the U.S. House but still needs to be approved by a House-Senate conference committee, was first disclosed by CBS News last month.

The CBS report found that earmarks accounted for about $5 billion of the U.S. Department of Defense's $623 billion budget for 2010.

As a voluntary co-chair of Abercrombie's campaign, King is not involved in the day-to-day operations of the campaign, Obata said.

Those duties are handled by Campaign Manager Bill Kaneko and Deputy Campaign Manager Andrew Aoki.

King also said there was no connection between her role with the campaign and the earmark, and said the issue was never discussed during campaign events.

King said Pacific Biodiesel approached Abercrombie and other Hawai'i congressional leaders more than a year ago seeking support for funding for renewable energy programs.

At the time, the company had lost out on a major U.S. Department of Energy grant to large Mainland corporation with a big lobbying presence in Washington, D.C., she said.

King added that the discussion began well before Abercrombie announced his plans to run for governor in March.

"It's not like we're studying the flow of ketchup or buying $500 toilets," said King.

"We're talking about the future of fuels for one of the most strategic ports here and the more fuel we can provide for that strategic port, the more secure it will be."

Founded in 1995 by King and her husband, Robert King, Pacific Biodiesel has built 10 biodiesel plants on the Mainland and in Hawai'i and Japan. Country music legend Willie Nelson is a partner in the venture.

The company's Hawai'i and Japanese plants convert used cooking oil into biodiesel, while most of the Mainland plants use cottonseed oil, soybean oil and canola oil.

According to King, the $3.5 million earmark will help purchase harvesting and crushing equipment for crops such as jatropha, sunflower, canola or even kukui nut that would be grown on Army lands.