Last year was busy for biodiesel in Tennessee. New fleets started using the fuel despite rising prices, the state continued working to advance biofuels, and producers traversed the ups and downs of working within the confines of 2007's upwardly mobile soybean market. The following includes briefs of what several of these fuel sector affecters were up to in Tennessee in 2007.

Many of the state's operating biodiesel producers (and a handful of projects under development) formed the Tennessee Biodiesel Producers Coalition. The first two things they accomplished were to get biodiesel defined by law in the state, and to establish a $1 million producer incentive. Both went into effect last year with the producer incentive becoming active Sept. 1.

The state of Tennessee did a number of things for biofuels last year as noted in the article "A Southern Transformation" in the February 2008 issue of Biodiesel Magazine. The items not mentioned in that article, yet worth noting, begin with the state (along with numerous partners) hosting several biofuels quality workshops. They were well attended, and producers, fuel suppliers, terminal operators and convenience store owners all got to share physical space to learn about and ask questions about biofuels. With biodiesel's significant diversity of participants in Tennessee, it was and will continue to be critically important to get more players on the same page about how to handle biodiesel and look after quality. These workshops coincided with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture Regulatory Services Administrative Manager Randy Jennings' work in 2006 and early 2007 to put biofuels testing on par with state-wide testing conducted on petroleum. The effort revealed non-spec biodiesel in a number of incidents that ended in stop-sales and product returned at both in-state producers and fuel supplier's sites. There is no question that biodiesel quality oversight and assurance took a big step in Tennessee last year.

Several notable fleets began using biodiesel in 2007. In east Tennessee, what is likely to become Tennessee's single largest user of biodiesel is East Tennessee Zinc Co. Since reopening its three mines just east of Knoxville, the company has moved its entire fleet of 120 vehicles to B99.9. Another new first in Tennessee: Eastman Chemical Co. in Kingsport moved its five locomotives to B20 without problems. Also, the biggest mass transit agency in the state, Memphis Area Transit Authority, got started with a biodiesel blend, joining Knoxville Area Transit (fleet-wide B20) and Chattanooga Area Regional Transit Authority (currently in a pilot phase with four buses on B20) as mass transit agencies making the switch. In east Tennessee alone, we are tracking approximately 70 fleets that use biodiesel. The number of biodiesel-using fleets could be easily double that statewide.

As one small fish in a big biofuels pond in Tennessee, I am happy to say that-although this is a time of transition and there are many speed bumps along the way-we are in a good place with all of the partnerships and cooperative relationships working to make a difference. If a wide variety of Tennesseans continue to act like agents for change, you should continue to hear about significant advances being made here.

Jonathan G. Overly is the founder and executive director of the East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition, which is part of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment, and one of 80 U.S. DOE Clean Cities programs. Reach him at jgoverly@utk.edu or (865) 974-3625, or visit .www.ETCleanFuels.org