LSP Environmental Studies Community Event Reports

Sidra Farooqi

On Wednesday, November 19th, at 7:30 P.M, I attended a lecture called Biodiesel & New York. The event took place at Kimmel Center and was open to all NYU students and faculty. It was hosted by the Earth Matters Club at NYU, and Solar One, a non-profit organization in New York City which seeks to educate people on issues of environmental sustainability and alternate energy, specifically solar power. The event was a formal academic lecture, during which five speakers, including legislative representatives, and representatives from Solar One, CUNY Sustainable Energy Center, and Tri-state Biodiesel, informed the audience about biodiesel fuel and how it fits into New York’s long term energy plan.

http://solar1.org

During the event, five panelists, who represented commercial, legislative, and scientific perspectives, discussed biodiesel and its use in New York. All were very knowledgeable about the subject, although several reiterated the same points over and over. Also, several were representatives from biodiesel groups, so naturally, they only gave the positive benefits and neglected to mention the negative consequences – the event was definitely biased in favor of biodiesel fuel.
The first speaker was Brent Baker, who is the Chief Executive Officer, President, and founder of Tri-State Biodiesel LLC, which is based here in New York, and specializes in biodiesel marketing, production, and waste collection. Baker is an environmental advocate and educator, and also the director of several non-profit organizations. He explained that biodiesel is a renewable fuel that is derived from plant oils and animal fats, including cooking oil. It is blended with petroleum based diesel for transportation and heating purposes, in a chemical process called transesterification.

The second speaker was Luis Torres, who is the Associate Director for Community and Public Affairs at the Bronx Community College’s Center for Sustainable Energy. He explained that used of biodiesel fuel is being considered at the City University of New York (CUNY), and that some campus’s, such as CUNY Staten Island, are using cooking oil to create biodiesel fuel, for use on campus. Another speaker, Samantha Swanson, represented Councilman James Gennaro, who serves as the Chair of the New York City Council’s Environmental Protection Committee. Gennaro wants to pass a bill requiring all suppliers of heating oil to supply at least 5-20% of biodiesel fuel. He spoke about how there is an enormous market for heating oil in the Northeast, where winters are cold. Biodiesel fuel helps run furnaces and makes them run more efficiently, plus it is better for the environment and air quality.

http://www.tristatebiodiesel.com/

The following speaker was Daniel Falcone, who is the owner of a total Fuel Services Corp., a wholesale and retail distributor of diesel and biodiesel blended products. Mr. Falcone is an advocate for alternative fuel markets, and is also a member of the New York State Environmental Business Association. The first thing he pointed out is the biodiesel is not corn ethanol, although the two are often confused by the public. Biodiesel is made from soy or cottonseed oil, or waste animals fats, and not from corn. It is 90% less toxic than purely petroleum diesel, and also has 55% less particulate matter – particulate matter is known to cause cancer and lung disease.

The next speaker, John Nettleton, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of City and Regional Planning and Executive Director of the Cornell Urban Scholars Program, elaborated on the topic of lung disease and cancer. He explained that New York City has one of the highest incidences of lung disease in the country, and a high rate of premature death as a result of petro-diesel exhaust; this is particularly an important issue in lower-income areas of the Bronx. The asthma rates in some New York neighborhoods are five times as high as the rest of the U.S! He stated that biodiesel fuel will result in carbon emission reductions, reduces greenhouse gases, is less toxic, and readily biodegradable. He mentioned that it is now being used by government fleets, military nautical fleets, individually owned vehicles, and consumers of heating oil. Mr. Nettleton also emphasized that while boilers can’t currently use 100% biodiesel fuel, they can use petroleum-biodiesel blends, which cuts down on particulate matter and carbon emissions. While biodiesel fuel will certainly not eliminate American reliance on foreign oil, it is better for public health and the environment.
The final speaker was a representative for Hon. James Gennaro, who represents New York City Council’s 24th District in Queens. She spoke of the economic benefits of biodiesel fuel – it is a homegrown fuel source, it can lead to economic development, it will create jobs in New York State, and provides opportunities for regional production, which can boost the local economy. She also emphasized Biodiesel fuel does not necessarily increase food prices, which is a common misconception. Currently, Gennaro is trying to pass a bill, called the Casey Bill, which will increase use of biodiesel fuel in New York. She also mentioned that they tried to put a state mandate into place that would require all New York City taxi cabs to be diesel hybrids, but that was blocked twice, and that they were close to getting Mayor Bloomberg sign the Casey Bill the first time, but then Time Magazine came out with an issue that stated biodiesel fuel raises food prices.

This was a familiar experience for me, because I’m an active member of the Earth Matters Club, which is an NYU organization that helped to host the event. Over the course of the past semester, I’ve attended multiple events, from academic lectures to public park clean-ups. However, this was the first event I attended which concerned biodiesel fuel, a subject I knew little about. I finally learned exactly what biodiesel fuel is, how it is derived from organic feedstocks like plant oils and animal fats, and how it can be used to make the world, specifically New York, more environmentally sustainable.
The event was definitely of value to the community, because not many people know the issues concerning biodiesel fuel, yet the climate change crisis affects us all. The event achieved its aims of informing people about biodiesel fuel and how it should be used in New York. Overall, it had a positive impact on the environment, despite the myriad of unnecessary flyers and handouts being passed around. However, I think it would have been more beneficial had the lecture been open to a broader audience – this issue affects all of New York City, not just professors and students at one university. Most likely, the professors and other adults who made up the majority of the audience already have more knowledge about the subject than most New Yorkers do.
I also think the whole event would have been more beneficial had it been a debate rather than a lecture, or that the lecture should have included both sides. For almost two hours, I listened to scientists, policy-makers, and business owners lecture about the various benefits of biodiesel fuel. On my way out the door, I was handed a flyer by a member of an anti-biodiesel fuel group. As I read the flyer, I realized it listed all the con arguments of biodiesel fuel, none of which were brought up during the lecture. Some of the arguments included were that biodiesel fuel will increase heating oil costs by 15-30 cents a gallon, require more pesticides because it relies on soybean farming, and cost millions of dollars, at the taxpayer’s expense. Most alarming was that 91 percent of the soybean acreage planted in the U.S last year was genetically engineered to tolerate herbicides, which has boosted the application of a powerful weed killer called glysphosate, which has been linked to cancer, miscarriages, premature births, and is the third most common cause of pesticide illness in farm workers. Also, the entire event was obviously very biased, as many of the speakers were directly involved in the biodiesel industry. When one of the speakers mentioned that the Time Magazine issue stopped the bill from being passed, I thought that was pretty suspicious, because Time Magazine wouldn’t publish something not rooted in facts and research, and the speaker obviously had a political agenda. Because of this, I am still undecided as to whether or not biodiesel is a good idea.
Overall, this was definitely a worthwhile event. I was surprised that I actually enjoyed the lecture, as I expected it would be dry and dull, since biodiesel fuel didn’t sound like a particularly exciting topic. I was expecting to hear scientists lecturing about the science of biodiesel fuel for two hours, but several of the speakers were actually policymakers and business owners. I’m considering pursuing a career in public policy and law, so I found it interesting to hear what policy makers had to say about biodiesel and New York City’s energy plans for the future.