Biodiesel Shipment Could Be First Step in Fueling Base
by Suzanne Ulbrich (ENCToday) A delivery aboard Camp Lejeune Monday morning marked the culmination of a test project to provide renewable fuels for North Carolina’s military.
Officials aboard Camp Lejeune received 800 gallons of state grown and processed biodiesel fuel as part of the Fuel the Force initiative. State farmers, entrepreneurs, economic developers, elected officials, environmental groups, educators and interested citizens worked together on the initiative since 2007, said Maj. Gen. Carl Jensen, commanding general of Marine Corps Installations East. “This is a momentous day for us,” he said. “We didn’t get here all in one jump. But what we have here is 800 gallons of home grown Tar Heel biodiesel.”
…”We need to reduce our dependence on petrochemicals, foreign oils and reach those mandates … This will keep our military strong, keep our land in farming and forestry which helps us keep our mission and fundamentally keeps the agrarian nature of Eastern North Carolina.”
…Monday’s delivered biodiesel was produced from 25 acres of canola grown last fall and winter in Jones and Craven counties… “The harvest was taken to North Carolina State University, which has a crushing facility, and spun into crude oil,” said Miller. READ MORE