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Local Sinclair Stations to Offer Biodiesel Fuel

Posted on: Friday, 23 June 2006, 12:00 CDT

By John G. Edwards, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Jun. 21--Sinclair Oil Corp. is no dinosaur when it comes to introducing alternative fuels.

The company today will make a new variety of motor fuel available at 16 of its service stations in the Las Vegas area.

Anyone can drive up to one of these stations and buy biodiesel for their diesel car or truck, advocates say.

"You don't have to modify anything to use (biodiesel)," said Dan Hyde, manage of Las Vegas Fleet and Transportation Services. "You just pump it and use it."

Biodiesel is made from animal fats or vegetable oil. In the case of Sinclair, it comes from soy bean oil.

The soy beans are grown on Midwestern farms and crushed to create oil that is shipped by rail to Biodiesel of Las Vegas, which converts the soy bean oil into 100 percent biodiesel.

Haycock Petroleum mixes the biodiesel with regular petroleum-based diesel to create B-5 biodiesel, which is 5 percent biodiesel. Sinclair buys B-5 from Haycock.

B-5 is 5 percent cleaner than standard No. 2 diesel, said John Saxon, vice president of Haycock.

He declined to make an environmental comparison of biodiesel fuel to gasoline, noting that they create different air pollutants.

The price of biodiesel will be about the same as diesel fuel derived entirely from oil because of federal tax incentives, according to Haycock executives.

Advocates say biodiesel burns cleaner than standard petroleum-based diesel, helps reduce the country's reliance on foreign oil and adds lubrication to the fuel system.

"We feel the retail customer is ready for biodiesel," Bud Blackmore, senior vice president of Salt Lake City-based Sinclair, said in a statement.

Still, some are apprehensive about the switch from a pure petroleum product to one with vegetable products.

Don "Doc" Dascher, a saddle maker and wrangler for cowboy movies, burns diesel in the pickup he uses to transport horses.

"If I were to switch to (biodiesel), I think I would do a little more research on it," Dascher said. "If it burns cleaner, it's just going to be a benefit to your engine," he added.

Yet, Dascher was concerned about making an abrupt change from pure petroleum-based diesel to a biodiesel mix.

Gary Weinberg, regional sales manager, said the Clark County School District encountered no problems when it started using biodiesel instead of standard diesel in its school buses without any phase-in period.

The Sinclair stations are not the first places that consumers who own diesel vehicles can go to buy biodiesel locally, but they may be the handiest. In October, Haycock Petroleum began offering biodiesel at one of its stations at A Street near downtown.

To pump biodiesel from the A Street station, however, a motorist needs a prepaid card from Haycock.

Hyde said there are other alternative fuels in the Las Vegas area. Some local government fleets have cars using compressed natural gas, but compressed natural gas is not readily available to consumers in the area.

The city has two cars that use fuel cells that utilize natural gas, Hyde said. Yellow Checker Star Cab Co. has been burning propane in its vehicles for 25 years.

Ethanol, a gasoline substitute sometimes made with corn, can be used in autos with specially designed engines, but most cars cannot use ethanol, Hyde said.

Many hybrid cars use electricity as a backup power source, rather than solely gasoline, he noted.

"There is no one single bullet" to solve the country's energy problems and reduce reliance on foreign oil, he said.

BIODIESEL LOCATIONS IN SOUTHERN NEVADA:

--24/7 Express #1

201 N. Stephanie/American Pacific

Henderson, NV 89074

Phone 932-3210

--24/7 Express #2

785 W. Craig Rd./Revere

North Las Vegas, NV 89032

Phone 633-7227

--24/7 Express #3

6460 S. Decatur/Sunset

Las Vegas, NV 89118

Phone 248-1329

--Dale's Sinclair

1625 Nevada Highway

Boulder City, NV 89005

Phone 294-1828

--Dino Mart (Trimm II)

3280 S. Decatur/Desert Inn

Las Vegas, NV 89102

Phone 320-3071

--Dino Mart (WGF)

3260 Losee Rd./Cheyenne

North Las Vegas, NV 89030

Phone 644-2427

--Fills

7110 S. Durango Dr./Arby

Las Vegas, NV 89113

Phone 454-5505

--Glendale Sinclair

2300 E. Glendale

Glendale, NV 89025

Phone 702-864-2277

--Guru Express Market

7730 S. Jones Blvd./Robindale

Las Vegas, NV 89139

Phone 433-9322

--Moapa Paiute Travel Plaza

I-15 Exit 75

Moapa, NV 89025

Phone 702-864-2602

--One Stop

9010 W. Flamingo/El Capitan

Las Vegas, NV 89147

Phone 240-4016

--Short Line #4

500 S. Decatur Blvd./Alta

Las Vegas, NV 89107

Phone 877-6616

--Short Line #10

6390 N. Durango/Centennial

Las Vegas, NV 89149

Phone 307-7765

--Village Shop #6

1080 Whitney Ranch/Russell

Henderson, NV 89014

Phone 458-3525

--Village Shop #7

3815 E. Craig Rd./I-15

North Las Vegas, NV 89030

Phone 632-2999

--Village Shop #8

4171 Boulder Hwy./Lamb

Las Vegas, NV 89121

Phone 433-8277

-----

To see more of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.lvrj.com.

Copyright (c) 2006, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal

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