Kent Batman

Hardin Fuels Featured on Local and National News

Hardin Fuels received local and national media attention this past week, spured on by a visit from Republican Kevin Brady of the Woodlands area.  Brady visited the Hardin Fuels plant in Kountze on Wednesday and it was covered by Beaumont Enterprise and the Associated Press.

Wednesday's excitement led to the ABC affiliate in Beaumont, KBMT 12, contacting Hardin Fuels and doing a story in its evening news on Thursday.  See the article and video here.

Lies, Damn lies, and Statistics Being Used Against The Biodiesel Industry

The biodiesel industry has been under attack by some unusual adversaries lately and these opponents have employed some serious misrepresentations. Here are some examples:

Fallacy #1: The biodiesel industry takes food and makes it into fuel.

Biodiesel is made of oil extruded from crops such as cottonseed, sunflower, rice bran, canola, soybean etc. when these crops are extruded and the oil removed, the by-product is now a much more effective livestock feed. In the case of rice bran, the meal is made stable as rice bran decays very quickly if not stabilized (extruded). Most rice bran was lost for any use until fairly recently and brought about in large part by the bio-fuels industry.

There is also a great move toward crops with no human food uses such as Algae, Jatropha, etc.

Fallacy #2:  Bio-diesel increases pollution and must have additives to be used, or mixes must be limited to 20%.

  I know this one surprises everyone since biodiesel creates 48% less carbon monoxide as well as 67% less total unburned hydrocarbons and 47% less particulate matter.

However; the EPA has decided that biodiesel creates 10% more NOX than petro diesel and for that they require that only 20% blends and these mixed w/ an additive to decrease NOX be used in high attainment areas such as Houston. There is some debate as to whether this applies to b100 as it says blenders are required to use the additives.

Now why would the Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality. Limit the use of a fuel which cuts carbon monoxide by half? One has to wonder if they were not lobbied heavily by the petroleum industry. The ancient Greek philosopher Perecles once said that “the businessman who is not tending to politics is not tending to business”. Someone is obviously tending to politics better than the biodiesel folks.

Fallacy #3:  We could never replace fossil fuels w bio-fuels.

In fact if Algae takes off like it promises, we could grow all we need to replace fossil fuels on 4% of available cropland in this country. And Algae can be harvested on land not suitable for food-crops.  The American farmer is the most productive in the world and has been hindered only by our own government who pays farmers not to grow crops or encourages them to grow non-food and fuel plants such as trees which add no more oxygen than grass or crops.

Fallacy #4:  Biodiesel uses as much energy as it creates.

This is the dumbest argument of the bunch. We can run our plant on diesel heat and generators and still produce large amounts of fuel with very small equipment. There has never been a study which suggests anything close to fallacy #4. However; there was one study in the 80’s which may have suggested a close relationship to energy used and created with ethanol. Biodiesel creates 3.5 times as much energy as it uses and we can totally eliminate fossil fuels if need be. Convenience has allowed producers to use fossil fuels although the use is shrinking.

In conclusion, we have to ask why these misrepresentations continue to echo through the media and government policies. I can only believe that change is difficult for many people especially government bureaucrats. It is sad that no body profits more than our countries enemies from these lies. If America becomes energy self-dependent once again, terrorism would dry up. The Islamo-terror organizations can not raise money to fund their crimes without petroleum dollars.   

Five reasons business owners who use diesel should own a share of a biodiesel company

Business owners gain many advantages from the biofuels industry.
Many companies are watching the biofuels industry. It may be  time to quit watching and start participating.

Reason number one; your tax credits can pay for investment.

A president of a trucking company was complaining about the high cost of fuel and how it was affecting his profits. I asked him how much diesel he used each year. 2 million gallons he replied. I showed him that an investment of $2,000,000 would allow him over 2 million gallons of fuel from a biofuel plant that he would own 50% of. The government allows $1 per gallon for  diesel he purchases. He can then sell to his trucking company for a discount or make the extra profit in the fuel company. Under current conditions profits are over 40%.

Number two; all byproducts are marketable

Biodiesel is made from oilseeds ie. Soybeans, Sunflowers, Canola, Flax etc..
After squeezing the oil out of the seeds the resulting meal is an excellent livestock feed.the byprodust of methanol lye and vegetable oil is glycerin which is sold as soap or lotion or according to scientists at Rice University easily make into ethanol. This means that there is virtually no waste in this clean energy solution.

Reason number three; almost all products involved in manufacture are available domestically.

Every business owner knows the value of local dollar multipliers, in an industry supplied by American suppliers we continue to keep profits in this economy. With the concern over global terrorism, many Americans are asking if we are indeed funding our own terrorism.

Four; biofuels are sustainable and will continue to expand as new technologies and products are developed.

Many have falsely asserted that biofuels can replace only a small portion of petroleum fuels. This may prove to be true only if agriculture is stifled by restrictions of a cheap food market artificially implemented by world governments. Ask any full time farmer how much of his land he tills at any time, he will tell of the government allotments and crp programs as well as seasonal habits encouraged by a need to keep commodity prices high. In southeast Texas we are experimenting with Canola which was developed by the Canadian Government and grown mostly in cool climates. We are planting in November which opens  new acreage during off season. Many individuals are harvesting algae which can be grown in shallow tanks over open water. There are currently many such operations in the Atlantic.

Reason number five; your competition will certainly use biodiesel in the future… beat him to the punch.

Minnesota as well as other states have implemented mandates for all diesel sold in state to have a percentage biodiesel. All new diesel trucks manaufactured by  Dodge come from the factory filled with B20 (20% biodiesel).
Kent Batman is President of Hardin Fuels Inc. a Southeast Texas corporation providing fuel and livestock feeds.