WV agency selling biodiesel in Eastern Panhandle

WV agency selling biodiesel in Eastern Panhandle
Daily Press - Newport News,VA,USA
... For $3.89 cents a gallon, patrons of the Inwood farmers market can purchase soy-based biodiesel from the Department of Agriculture. ...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A state-run farmers market in the Eastern Panhandle is giving customers a chance to top off their tanks with an alternative fuel while shopping for produce and other goods.

For $3.89 cents a gallon, patrons of the Inwood farmers market can purchase soy-based biodiesel from the Department of Agriculture. The fuel is sold by the gallon, or in 55-gallon drums, agency spokesman Buddy Davidson said Thursday.

"It's just a convenience for folks in that area," he said. "It's a domestically produced, renewable, cleaner-burning-better-on-your-engine fuel."

The only catch is motorists have to own a diesel-powered vehicle that has been modified to take advantage of the fuel.

Davidson said the agency has sold 1,000 gallons of the fuel since April. The fuel is purchased from a plant in Richmond, Va.

Biodiesel consumption has increased since 1999 to about 75 million gallons last year, the agency said.

The fuel is used to power farm machinery and school buses in West Virginia. At least 13 counties use a biodiesel mixture to operate their school buses.

The Inwood market is one of three operated by the department in West Virginia. Davidson said he is not sure if biodiesel sales will be expanded to markets in Charleston and Logan.

"This is kind of a pilot project at this point to see how it goes," he said.