Biodiesel and the Environment
Biodiesel helps improve our environmental quality because it is produced from a renewable resource and has lower emissions compared to petroleum diesel. Throughout its entire life cycle biodiesel is less toxic than table salt and biodegrades back into the environment as fast as sugar. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), and the Department of Energy (DOE) all recognize and support the use of biodiesel as a clean burning alternative fuel. Improving Our Economy
In 2005, the trade deficit stood at approximately $617.7 billion. Of this amount, approximately $100 billion accounted for foriegn oil imports. As the United States imports more oil at higher prices, the trade defecit will increase. Since the Department of Energy estimates that every $1 billion in trade deficit is equal to the loss of approximately 27,000 jobs, the $100 billion-worth of oil imported to the United States each year is equivalent to the loss of approximately 2.7 million jobs. Instead of hiring people in our country to produce energy, we are hiring people in other countries to produce our energy.1 Biodiesel can be produced here in the United States from renewable farm crops such as soybean, cotton seed, and canola, and it will help decrease our dependence upon foreign oil supplies, returning jobs and income back into our own domestic economy. 1. Excerpt taken from a book by Josh Tickell entitled "Biodiesel America". | 
Biodiesel is the name of a clean burning alternative fuel, produced from domestic, renewable resources. Biodiesel contains no petroleum, but it can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a biodiesel blend. It can be used in compression-ignition (diesel) engines with little or no modifications. Biodiesel is simple to use, biodegradable, nontoxic, and essentially free of sulfur and aromatics. 
