Biodiesel is a clean burning fuel for diesel engines made from domestically produced, renewable fats and oils such as soybean oil or recycled cooking oils. Biodiesel has no sulfur or aromatic compounds and already meets the new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ultra low sulfur diesel fuel proposed for introduction in 2006. Biodiesel can be used in existing diesel engines without modification. Biodiesel burns substantially cleaner than petroleum based diesel fuel, and is a powerful option for improving our environment.

Biodiesel can also be blended with diesel fuel as a fuel additive or extender. Burning 2% biodiesel in the 800 million gallons of diesel fuel used in Minnesota each year will have significant positive environmental impacts. Burning just a 2% biodiesel blend in Minnesota diesel fuel will curtail harmful tailpipe emissions. Annually, it will:

• Reduce poisonous carbon monoxide emissions by more than 800 thousand pounds.
• Reduce ozone forming hydrocarbon emissions by almost 91 thousand pounds.
• Reduce hazardous diesel particulate emissions by almost 70 thousand pounds.
• Reduce acid-rain causing sulfur dioxide emissions by more than 70 thousand pounds.

In its recently released low-sulfur diesel ruling for 2006 and beyond, EPA also states that certain compounds in diesel exhaust called polycyclic organic matter (POM) can have significant negatives effects on reproductive, developmental, immunological and endocrine (hormone) systems in both humans and wildlife. These POMs are found in diesel exhaust as gases as well as in deposits on particulate matter. EPA states that reducing particulate matter would reduce the health effects of harmful POM that ends up in lakes and streams-natural resources that are extremely important to Minnesota. Not only does biodiesel reduce particulate matter as stated above, but burning just 2% biodiesel in Minnesota would have the following additional impact on the 16 million gallons of diesel fuel it would replace:

• Reduce harmful and cancerous POM impacts to streams, wildlife and humans by more than 80% compared to diesel fuel.

Biodiesel has been appropriately characterized as "liquid solar energy." Biodiesel is produced from renewable sources grown and harvested each year such as soybeans in what experts call a closed loop carbon cycle-carbon dioxide is taken up by soybeans as they grow and is released back into the air when biodiesel is burned. In a joint study, the US Departments of Energy and Agriculture found biodiesel reduces Carbon Dioxide 78% over its entire life cycle compared to petrodiesel and has a positive energy balance of 3.2 to 1 (3.2 units of energy are produced for every one unit of energy needed for biodiesel production, while diesel is 0.83 to 1). Therefore, burning 2% biodiesel in Minnesota would result in:

• Reducing Life Cycle Carbon Dioxide emissions more than 250 million pounds annually.
• Extending the fossil diesel supply almost four-fold for every gallon of diesel replaced by biodiesel.