A fire occurred on May 24 at the Minnesota Soybean Processors, a cooperative that owns and operates a soybean processing and biodiesel plant in Brewster, MN. The fire was limited to an area involved exclusively with the storage of and loading out of finished soybean oil and soy biodiesel. No explosion occurred and no injuries resulted.

The NBB and the International Association of Fire Chiefs have cooperated for more than a year to prepare and distribute safety training materials.

Regarding Minnesota’s new B5 requirement, John Hausladen, President of the Minnesota Trucking Association, said “Due to the diligent work of the states biodiesel manufacturers and distributors, the Minnesota Trucking Association is confident that we will have no operational problems as we move to the B5 blend.”

Manning Feraci, Vice President of Federal Affairs for the National Biodiesel Board (NBB), issued a statement today regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed rule for the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS-2).

March numbers show a dramatic fall in U.S. biodiesel production

State and local lung association groups are recommending biodiesel use in response to findings in the State of the Air Report 2009 produced by their national organization.

Minnesota is again leading the national in the charge to keep valuable jobs in the U.S., decrease dependenec on foreign oil and lessen environmental impacts. The state is the first to require that diesel fuel contain a 5 percent blend of homegrown, renewable biodiesel.