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.”
Jenson said the military must meet aggressive federal mandates to reduce energy consumption by 30 percent by 2015.
“That’s one heck of a target,” he said. “And we’re working toward that … Using renewables is part of that. 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.”
George Miller, with Food and Fuels Programs and a member of the Military Growth Task Force, explained the Fuel the Forces initiative started out as an idea written on the back of a napkin in 2007.
Monday’s delivered biodiesel was produced from 25 acres of canola grown last fall and winter in Jones and Craven counties on land supplied by Bobby Banks, Sam Davis, Michael Shepherd and Kenney Mackilwean through the coordinated efforts of Mark Seitz and Jacob Morgan, with N.C. State Cooperative Extension, he said.
“The harvest was taken to North Carolina State University, which has a crushing facility, and spun into crude oil,” said Miller.
He said the biodiesel would be used to fuel non-tactical auxiliary equipment.
“It can make a big difference,” Miller said.
Banks said he was proud to be involved in the project.
“I’m glad I got in on the roots of it and it’s caused 1,000 people to ask me about it,” the Jones County farmer said. “I hope it really develops into a big thing, because we need some help on the fuel situation and on other things.”
Shepherd, also of Jones County, agreed growing the crop was worthwhile and said he felt it could benefit farmers in the state.
“We need to get away from some of this foreign fuel and it will help the farmers out by giving them another crop to raise to give them income,” he said.
The establishment of regional production capacity will reduce and eventually eliminate the need to import from distant locations.
“This has 360-degree goodness on it,” Jensen said. “It is extraordinarily innovative. This is one small step, a small stone down the mountainside … We are only limited to the amount North Carolina can produce.
“I see no reason why this can’t continue to be a huge success.”
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