For years, Pasadena-area Ass-embly and congressional elections have been pretty boring affairs — a foregone conclusion that the incumbent Democrat will cruise to victory with little or no viable opposition.

But this year, it’s different.

Three-term incumbent Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff faces an array of challengers, most notably Monterey Park Democrat Bob McCloskey and former Pasadena Mayor and Green Party candidate Bill Paparian, who are steering debate toward a possible referendum against Schiff’s pro-war and, at times, pro-Bush administration record.

In the race for Assembly, Democratic incumbent Carol Liu has stepped down due to term limits, leaving four Democrats to square off in a hotly contested primary in which, nonetheless, two Green Party candidates have surprisingly set the agenda, like Paparian and McCloskey, around opposition to the war.

Outranked by Democrats by more than 30,000 voters in each race since 2002 redistricting, it appears Republican congressional candidate Bill Bodell and Assembly hopeful Scott Carwile have little to gain — and so the race has emerged not as a battle between liberal and conservative, but as one between left and center.

“It leaves us with lefties who are still being careful [not to offend conservatives] when they don’t need to be,” said Green Party Assembly candidate Philip Koebel, who faces the Green Party’s Ricardo Costa in California’s first competitive primary for a seat on the state Legislature.

Rockin’ the party

That battle is not limited, however, to vociferously anti-war Greens vs. the more status-quo Democrats.

The Democratic primary race for the 29th Congressional District is emblematic of a party in crisis: Schiff supports the Iraq War and has more than $1 million in campaign funds, while McCloskey, with only $20,000 in his war-chest, has comparatively little more on hand than a steadfast belief that the war is wrong.

In 2001 Schiff, who represents Pasadena, Burbank, Glendale and parts of the San Gabriel Valley, cosponsored the House version of the USA PATRIOT Act and later called for Iraq reconstruction efforts to match the scale of World War II’s Marshall Plan, maintaining a position that military occupation should continue until the new Iraq is politically stable.

A retired union activist, McCloskey is opposed to the PATRIOT Act and wants the troops out of Iraq right now.

“It’s time for the Democrats to stand up and have some backbone, to stand up to the Bush administration and call for impeachment,” said McCloskey, 55 and a father of three.

That McCloskey may have more in common with Green Party opponent Paparian — who also supports peace and impeachment and has frequently campaigned alongside McCloskey — than with those in control of his own party is precisely the problem, and precisely why he is running as a Democrat.

“I want to take the party back,” he said.

The Democratic Party’s officially endorsed candidate, there are a lot of people counting on Schiff to nonetheless cruise to victory on Tuesday.

Among major donors are political action committees sponsored by military contractors such as Boeing, General Electric, Parsons Corp. and Raytheon, and media giants such as News America-FOX, the Recording Industry Association of America, Sony Pictures, Time Warner, Yahoo!, Viacom, Microsoft and Disney; and financial giants AT&T, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Capital One.

Schiff has also found $10,000 in support (half of McCloskey’s entire bankroll, including loans to himself) this year from the Blue Dog Political Action Committee — essentially spelling out his centrist leanings.

But for his part, Schiff has stayed away from directly challenging McCloskey’s assertions but says he is not apologist for the Bush administration, and is working to put the breaks on domestic spying by the National Security Agency.

During an April 6 House Judiciary Committee meeting, Schiff asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales whether the NSA had been monitoring domestic calls between American citizens

“The attorney general didn’t really give me a direct answer, said he wouldn’t rule it out. I think we were all a bit shocked,” said Schiff, recounting that hearing. “If they can’t rule that out, there’s truly no limit to what they can do.”

Schiff has since called for security officials to be subpoenaed for congressional hearings and co-authored the NSA Oversight Act, which would take a position against unwarranted wiretapping and require the Bush administration to give full disclosure of their wiretapping activities to Congress.

But for McCloskey, that’s not good enough.

“How can we expect a congressman who receives campaign money from corporations to use oversight on those corporations? Schiff continues to support the war-time budget, perpetual war in Iraq … It’s not right,” he said.

Setting the debate

In the race for Pasadena’s 44th Assembly District, Democratic candidates are racing to distinguish themselves from each other as Costa and Koebel contend they are more and more the same — all “soft” on the core progressive issue of out times, the War on Iraq, and all too willing to play politics as usual (see “Behind enemy lines,” page 9).

Despite raising only a few thousand dollars compared to the tens and even hundreds of thousands in the war chests of their Democratic competitors, Koebel and Costa have taken debate on a sharp left turn.

Both have also focused on such progressive issues as increasing affordable housing, establishing living wage increases for the poor, immigrants’ rights, civil liberties and universal health care.

So why are Greens picking up the torch on traditionally progressive Democrat issues?

Costa believes big-money politics have turned candidates ever-closer to the political center.

At best, “We’re running against stealth candidates. They’re progressives, but they have to hide how progressive they are… because ultimately the Democratic Party and its big-name candidates are getting money from corporations. And as progressive Democrats, if you stay stealth too long you wind up being indistinguishable from corporate candidates,” said Costa, a unionized film projector for Laemmle Theatres who, like other Greens, will not accept corporate donations.

When it comes to money, the Democratic frontrunner is former La Cañada City Councilman Anthony Portantino, who has spent nearly $350,000 this year reaching out to voters and still has $140,000 on hand, according to the most recent state reports. He also has more than $72,000 in an account set up by EdVoice, a philanthropic group that includes billionaire Eli Broad and encourages state spending on schools.

Portantino, 45, carries Liu’s endorsement to take over her seat and counts among his financial supporters several unions as well as Raytheon, Clear Channel, California Edison and several movie studios.

Pasadena Planning Commissioner Diana Peterson-More has spent $207,000 on her campaign and still has $137,000 left to spend, but she is on top when it comes to local contributors.

Contributors include developers Mike Balian, Jim Plotkin, Jayleen Mosley, Pacifica Services, Clarence Broussard and Associates and Marilyn Buchanan. Other notables are Glendale state Assemblyman Dario Frommer, Pasadena City Manager Cynthia Kurtz, City Council members Sid Tyler and Chris Holden and former LA City Councilman Nate Holden, School Board member Steve Lizardo, Housing Administrator Greg Robinson, All Saints Rector Emeritus George Regas, Vroman’s Bookstore owner Joel Sheldon, NAACP-Pasadena Area President Joe Brown, former Secretary of Education Shirley Hufstedler and Edwin Jed Fish Gould III (better known as KROQ DJ Jed the Fish). Parsons Corp. gave a healthy $2,500, and the Pasadena Firefighters PAC gave $3,300.

Brian Center, a 38-year-old adviser to the LA County Sherriff’s Department who lives in South Pasadena, has spent $44,000 and had $83,000 on hand at last count. His contributors include Merrick Bobb, who audits Sherriff’s activities for the county, Villa Sorriso owner Jack Huang and the Motion Picture Association of America.

Brian Murray — who has convincingly billed himself as the only true progressive among the four Democrats running — has spent only $27,000, but still had $177,000 left to spend at the state’s last count.

Murray, 36 and a father of two, is an attorney dealing with commercial litigation who teaches economics at East LA College, is president of the anti-discrimination Housing Rights Center and is a founding member of the Center for Progressive Leadership think tank.

His mantra during this campaign: Do more for the area’s poor and disenfranchised.

More choices…

In Glendale, the race for termed-out state Assemblyman Dario Frommer’s seat will ultimately feature Republican Michael Agbaba and Libertarian Steve Myers in the fall, but the first round of the battle will come Tuesday when Glendale City Councilman Frank Quintero and Burbank Board of Education member Paul Krekorian face each other in the Democratic primary.

While Krekorian supports government incentives for alternative energy use, stronger vocational and technical classes in the public schools and strongly opposes term limits, it is Quintero who has snagged the endorsement of Frommer.

“My main issue involves what I’ve done for 28 years of my life and that’s basically education, since I was director of Alliance for Education,” said Quintero. “Secondly, health care coverage, because we need to try to get all Californians insured. Thirdly, the environment and its attendant transportation issues since they go hand-in-hand in Southern California.”

Despite Quintero’s commitment to education issues, EdVoice has set aside more than $100,000 in independent expenditure funds to support Krekorian.

“I’ve helped to lead a school district, and I know from experience what California schools need to provide the best possible education for our children,” said Krekorian.

Reporters Justin Chapman and Carl Kozlowski contributed to this story.

Green Party congressional candidate and former Pasadena Mayor Bill Paparian has described Democrat opponent Congressman Adam Schiff as out of touch with area voters — most of all when it comes to his support for the Iraq War.

During a debate May 12 at the Pasadena Senior Center, Paparian tried to advance his contention that Schiff isn’t really hearing his constituents with the allegation that Schiff no longer really “lives” in the 29th Congressional District.

In November 2002, freshly re-elected Schiff sold the family home in Burbank and purchased a 3,000 square foot, two-story mansion in an exclusive suburb of Washington, DC. Around that time, Schiff rented a small apartment in Burbank, where he is registered to vote.

“Adam and his family have been inhabitants of Montgomery County, Md., ever since. His children are enrolled in school there and his wife is an active PTA volunteer,” said Paparian, who described Schiff’s apartment as not much bigger than the garage of his Maryland home.

“Now I don’t know if that means he can’t legally run for the House,” Paparian continued, “but it sure means in my book that he shouldn’t. He doesn’t live here, except on paper.”

A member of the House of Representatives is only required to keep an address anywhere in the state he represents, according to the Web site of the Office of the Clerk of the US House of Representatives.

Schiff told the audience that he is, in fact, still very much a part of area life — even if his kids aren’t.

“We brought my wife and kids to DC when my daughter was ready to start school because I wanted to be involved in her school,” said the three-term incumbent. “I think for most young parents in Congress, they tend to bring their families back to DC and they keep a residency [in their home district], which I do in Burbank. But as I’m back in my office here in Pasadena every week or every other week, I find it very easy to stay in touch with my constituents.”

Paparian was not swayed.

“He doesn’t drive the freeways or ride the Gold Line or breathe the same air every day. He and his family have no idea. His kids don’t go to school here; his wife doesn’t shop here. He knows about our schools and our lives only by what he reads in the papers and what he picks up in these quickie visits to get re-elected. Now maybe that’s why Adam has lost touch with us,” said Paparian.

For perhaps the first time in local political history, a third party with candidates in races for Congress and the state Assembly appears to be setting the political debate, which this campaign season has taken on a decidedly anti-war character.

In the race for the 29th Congressional District, three-time incumbent Adam Schiff (D-Pasadena) faces an array of candidates, including the Green Party’s Bill Paparian, who feel betrayed by his pro-war and often pro-Bush administration record.

And in the race for the 44th Assembly District, two Green Party candidates — Philip Koebel and Ricardo Costa, who will square off June 6 in the first competitive state Legislature primary election for the Greens — are running as a tag team to encourage pro-peace debate, even among Democrats, who are increasingly seen as sympathetic to President Bush’s plans to continue the fighting in Iraq.

By that standard, and the fact that LA County Registrar-Recorder’s Office statistics show Democrats outnumbering Republicans by nearly 30,000 registered voters in the 44th Assembly District race for termed-out Democrat Carol Liu’s seat and more than 35,000 registered voters in the 29th Congressional District, it certainly appears Republicans have little to gain in either race.

In fact, Republican congressional candidate Bill Bodell, a businessman from La Cañada Flintridge, didn’t even show up at a recent candidates’ forum at the Pasadena Senior Center, leaving Schiff to defend the war — and his record — by himself.

The race for the Assembly also features only one Republican, Scott Carwile, who is running in a field of eight candidates including two Greens (Koebel and Costa), four Democrats (Anthony Portantino, Diana Peterson-More, Adam Murray and Brian Center) and one Libertarian (Barron Yanaga).

Fred Mazie, an Altadena peace activist and registered Democrat, said at a small peace rally outside Schiff’s Pasadena office Thursday that he was considering changing his voter registration to Green and voting for Paparian, an attorney and former Pasadena City Councilman.

“It takes some courage to stand up against the Democratic machine: They have all the money and these guys don’t,” Mazie, 68, said of local Green candidates. But, said Mazie of the Greens, “They got the message, and I hope they’ll continue to stand up for what they think is right.”

In fact, the theme of another candidates’ forum, this one happening last week at Throop Church and moderated by Pasadena Star-News Editor Larry Wilson, was “Is the war an Assembly issue?” At first, the war in Iraq was only an issue for Koebel and Costa. Now, all candidates agreed it was important to the race, though some disagreed how effective any Assembly action, including a Democrat-sponsored resolution calling on the governor to withdraw California National Guard troops from Iraq, would be.

Koebel, who has run campaigns against both Schiff and Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard, believes such a call would send a strong message to Washington and the world.

Once a Democrat, Pasadena Air Force veteran and former JPL engineer Gregory Harrison is now a Green, specifically because Democrats, as a whole, he said, have been too soft when it comes to standing up for the left.

“They take weak positions on things such as whether President Bush should be impeached, and also I’m concerned about the amount of money that’s involved in politics and that many of the same corporate funders support both the Republicans and the Democrats” said Harrison, 41, at the protest outside Schiff’s office.

“They’re really trying to fight for what’s right, but it’s a long uphill battle. People forget that there’s more than two parties, and the media — the corporate media — seem not so interested in that,” he said.

Case in point, said Costa, was the recent treatment by the Star-News of an April 5 Assembly race debate in Altadena. A story about that debate failed to mention that any Green candidates, let alone two, were even present.

“I can’t run an effective campaign without shaming the Democrats, and for that I have to be on the same page,” said Costa, a projectionist with Laemmle movie theaters.

Costa said he was also disappointed that Star-News elections coverage following the “Is the war an Assembly issue?” debate again focused on Democrats and failed to mention either the war or Green Party candidates until the 21st paragraph of a 22-paragraph story.

Meanwhile in the race for Congress, Schiff has found competition for the June 6 primary from the local progressive wing of his own party in the candidacy of peace activist and retired union organizer Bob McCloskey, who is being supported by Costa and Koebel as well as Green opponent Paparian.

“If Bob wins the primary, I return to my political retirement. I will support his candidacy. But if he does not win the primary against Schiff’s $1.3 million campaign fund, what will he and the other progressive Democrats that support him do? Will they help me defeat the pro-war Bush DINO (Democrat in name only) incumbent?” Paparian, a former Marine, wrote in a recent email to the Weekly.

Claire Gorfinkel, a Democrat peace activist who appeared at the anti-Schiff rally, didn’t want to discuss her vote but seemed to echo a campaign statement by Paparian.

“While he’s a good guy, he’s wrong on the war, and it’s important for him to know that members of his constituency feel strongly that the war needs to end, that the war was wrong from the outset and he was wrong from the outset in supporting it, which he did,” she said of Schiff.

Paparian, who was once registered Republican and Independent, is also supporting the two Green candidates in the Assembly race, along with the proposed Assembly Joint Resolution 39, which calls on Congress to immediately begin impeachment proceedings against President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Vermont and Illinois are also currently considering impeachment legislation.

And it is the Greens, with the help of candidates like McCloskey in the congressional race and the four Democratic contenders in the Assembly race, who are successfully driving the discussion about California’s role in Iraq, despite low registration numbers — 1,811 in the 44th Assembly district and 2,112 in the 29th Congressional District — and being underfunded and short-staffed.

“We are running for a very unique perspective that we’re bringing to the Assembly, and that is the idea that a California Legislature and any level of government has a responsibility to try to stop the war one way or another,” said Koebel on Saturday during a Green garden party fund-raiser in Altadena that was attended by some 100 people.

“The war gives us the opportunity to point out the distinction between us and the other two parties,” he said.

Not all progressives are excited about the Greens, however.

Longtime Pasadena peace activist Dick Smoak said he essentially believes in the Green platform but disagrees with a strategy of running for top political seats without first building a political base by winning local offices.

“I’m of mixed mind about the Greens. I admire their stand, but I think their politics are just terrible. They need to establish from the grassroots level, city council and school board, and work their way up. They’re pissing a lot of people off by not having a constituency but putting their message out there thinking people are automatically going to fall in line,” said Dick Smoak.

Hilary Bradbury-Huang, a Green Party member elected last year to the Pasadena City College Board of Trustees, agreed that the Greens need to keep focused on local government, but said Pasadena’s Assembly and congressional candidates are also serving an important local function.

“We’re influencing the debate on issues all too easy to push aside for other candidates — namely the war,” she said. We are a tiny little party, but we’re starting a dialogue.”

And though he may sound like a Green these days, McCloskey said he is very much a Democrat, only one that’s trying to change his own party.

“I want to take it back from the corporations and lobbyists that seem to control it now,” said McCloskey.

Louisa Cauci, a peace activist from Montrose and a registered Democrat, is a little more comfortable with the idea of someday wearing Green.

“They have good ideas. I think they will eventually rise,” she said outside Schiff’s office last week.

Vote by numbers

Registered voters by party,
according to the Los Angeles County
Registrar-Recorder’s Office

44th Assembly District:
Democrat—94,053
Republican—66,202
Green—1,811
American Independent—2,957
Libertarian—973
Peace and Freedom—974
Natural Law—290
Nonpartisan—1,345
Decline to State—41,067

29th Congressional District:
Democrat—121,961
Republican—86,267
Green—2,112
American Independent—4,479
Libertarian—1,339
Peace and Freedom—1,455
Natural Law—350
Nonpartisan—1,888
Decline to State—60,103

The Pasadena Senior Center will be hosting a forum for the six candidates for Congress at 1 p.m. Friday.

Then from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Throop Memorial Church in Pasadena will host a forum for candidates for the 44th Assembly District seat.

The theme of both events is the Iraq War. Larry Wilson, editor of the Pasadena Star-News, will moderate.

On Friday, hear incumbent Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff, his opponent in the June 6 primary Bob McCloskey of Monterey Park, Green Party candidate Bill Paparian, Lynda Llamas of the Peace and Freedom Party, Libertarian Jim Keller and Republican candidate Bill Bodell in what is already shaping up to be an interesting battle focused on the incumbent’s support for the war.

In the race for the Assembly, eight candidates are vying for outgoing Assemblywoman Carol Liu’s seat. They are: Anthony Portantino, Brian Center, Diana Peterson-More and Adam Murray, all Democrats; Barron Yanaga, Libertarian; Greens Philip Koebel and Ricardo Costa; and Republican Scott Carwile.

The candidacies of Koebel and Costa have prompted the first state primary election for the Greens.

Both events are free.

For more information, call the Senior Center, located on the northeast corner of Holly Street and Raymond Avenue, at (626) 795-4331.

During a benefit for the Sequoyah School in Pasadena at Farnsworth Park in Altadena last Sunday, genre-bending Ozomatli performed for a crowd of 500 at the Farnsworth Amphitheatre.

LA County High School for the Arts’ jazz rockers Schizogenic Mother opened for the 10-member band, whose kids attend the progressive private school. Sequoyah is located at the corner of Pasadena Avenue and California Boulevard in Pasadena.

Call them at (626) 795-4351. LACHSA is located on the Cal State LA campus. Call (323) 343-2787 for more information.

To book shows at the Farnsworth Amphitheatre, visit www.myspace.com/altadenabowl.

When the motor of Evan Armstrong’s Mercedes gets heated up — more accurately gets cooking — people tend to notice.

“It’s when it drives past you that you notice something different,” the Pasadena resident said of his nearly 25-year-old diesel-powered car, which he recently personally converted to run on biodiesel fuel — basically, simple vegetable oil.

“It smells like french fries when it’s running on vegetable oil. You should see the look on peoples’ faces when they smell the oil burning,” said the British expatriate whose been living in the United States for the past two years.

The 1982 300D Mercedes, or Mazola Benz, as Armstrong’s co-workers have dubbed it, goes through about a tank and a half of vegetable oil a week before having to refill.

“I was driving about 500 miles a week to get back and forth from work when I decided to give it a try,” he said. “The engine is pretty efficient. I get about 30 miles to the gallon, and I even get a little more horse power.”

High financial mileage

Armstrong certainly isn’t alone in turning to alternative fuels to get around, with average gas prices hitting the $4-a-gallon mark and American automakers and public policymakers frantically looking at a variety of ways to help get Americans off their many-layered addictions to fossil fuels.

As petroleum becomes more and more expensive and difficult to come by, gas alternatives besides biodiesel are beginning to take off among US and international carmakers. Brazil, for instance, according to news accounts, has recently switched completely to the corn derivative ethanol, which releases far less carbon dioxide than fossil fuels. Automakers here are also developing hybrid gas-electric engine cars for the US market, as well as hydrogen-powered fuel cell cars. (Toyota, General Motors and virtually every other major automobile manufacturer, writes the Internet business and news wire CNET, are all probing new fuel economy technologies in their new lines of cars.)

Some are more popular than others, and diesel power isn’t at the top of the line. Ethanol, and natural gas- and electric-powered cars are. Most industrial-size vehicles are switching to new technologies altogether — to electricity, ethanol, natural gas or combinations of the three — for power.

But for those who already own diesel-powered vehicles, what was old is new again — nearly 110 years after German engineer Rudolph Diesel first developed his revolutionarily simple motor to run on peanut oil.

In fact, Diesel’s motor is so easy to convert that it’s become child’s play for a group of award-winning high school students enrolled in teacher Michael Winters’ Eco-Fuel Project.

According to Winters, the Eco-Fuel Project is a class and an after school activity at Gabrielino High School in San Gabriel in which the students do all the work: writing grants, testifying in Sacramento, implementing alternative energy strategies for schools, addressing public transportation, and designing and building the machines they use.

Along with biodiesel, the kids also work with solar, electric and hydrogen based energy systems, Winters said in a phone interview.

In September, the San Gabriel students were building a fleet of biodiesel rigs to loan to other schools that otherwise could not or would not invest in their own equipment. The goal was to spread the word to students of all ages across the region that alternative energy production can be simple and fun.

"I realized that it is the children that need to be our target to implement full adoption of alternative energy," Winters told the Weekly at the time about the impetus for the program’s founding in 2000. "They need to develop a passion like I did early in life and then have an opportunity to actually build and produce energy from the alternative sources."

Today, Winters said the kids create partnerships with corporations and businesses to create biodiesel in their existing infrastructure and train them how to use it on their own.

“We are working with American Apparel to implement a machine which the students built that creates 150 gallons of biodiesel to run their vehicles,” Winters said.

The class, as Winters explained, is an ongoing project that includes anywhere from 70 to 100 students and teaches them skills they can use in a critical industry to earn a livable wage after graduating from high school. It integrates regular class curriculum including engineering and design.

“With the fleet of biodiesel rigs the students built, we have what we call a Happy Meal, which makes a scientific research unit of one liter of fuel. This is to make sure the chemistry is correct before mass producing it," said Winters.

Josh Tickell is founder and director of Hollywood-based Biodiesel America, a nonprofit group helping to spread public awareness and enthusiasm for this plant-derived fuel. Tickell was so fascinated with this wonder fuel that in the mid-1990s he bought a 1986 Renault-based Winnebago LeSharo motorhome, started running it on biodiesel and, with the help of some friends, repainted and rechristened it "The Veggie Van."

Following that came a series of books, a cult-like following and the formation of Biodiesel America.

"Why wouldn’t we use it?" Tickell asked during an interview with the Weekly. "It does function like a normal fuel."

In addition to the aforementioned benefits, Tickell also pointed out that roughly $100 billion of the $600 billion federal trade deficit comes from oil imports and that even a mere 25 percent market penetration of biodiesel would provide the country with a massive financial boost.

"Economically speaking," he told Weekly reporter Tom Anderson for a separate but related article, "it would stabilize the American economy and create literally millions of jobs."

Fill ‘er up

Perhaps that will happen in the not-so-distant future. But today, if you didn’t know exactly what you were looking for, you might drive right past the Los Angeles area’s first biodiesel fuel station.

There’s no giant, spinning green ball with a big glowing “B” or anything — the environmentalist analogue to the famous Unocal 76 ball.

Instead, wheeling into a Culver City parking lot, as per instructions offered on the Web site www.biodiesel-coop.org, you come across a nondescript horse trailer. It sure doesn’t look like the key to overcoming our national addiction to fossil fuels or any kind of ecological or economic panacea.

But it’s what’s inside that counts: One 1,000-gallon tank full of American-farmed soy oil, or a B99 mix that is 99 percent soy oil, 1 percent petrol (they get a tax break to include that little dab of petrol), to fill the gas tank of any paying member’s diesel car.

Getting into the game can be a costly endeavor ($500 membership fee, plus about $3.40 per gallon), but is well worth the investment for a myriad of reasons.

“It’s unfortunate right now in California that the ability to go to a station and buy biodiesel is not there,” says Kent Bullard, a long-time biodiesel advocate and employee of the National Park Service. He’s co-founder of the Biodiesel Co-op along with Colette Brooks of BIG Imagination Group, an advertising agency in Culver City.

“My advocacy is to see biodiesel available commercially to pumps,” Bullard said, “because until you get it at the pump so that people are pulling in their pickups or their Mercedes or VWs, it’s not going to happen on a broad scale within the community.”

Bullard drives his vehicles on a B100 mix — 100 percent biodiesel, zero petroleum. “I have to remain pure at heart,” he said. “I have to walk the talk. By the same token, driving on straight vegetable oil is a ‘onesy-twosey’ kind of thing, where you’re more interested in taking care of yourself instead of taking care of your community. I want to see biodiesel produced locally. Every dollar that we spend in California on petroleum essentially is a trade deficit for the local area. As long as we’re having biodiesel imported, it doesn’t have the caveat of being a local fuel.”

The co-op’s vision for the mobile fueling station is to raise awareness in a specific area — in this case, the Culver City-Marina del Rey area — to inspire the construction of a permanent station, then move on to the next town in need.

“What we want to demonstrate is that there is a market here and our hope is that a gas station comes and puts us out of business,” said Brooks.

If used in conjunction with solar and wind power, biodiesel could radically improve the wretched air quality of Los Angeles and help strengthen the local economy. This city was ranked the third worst polluter of fine particle pollutants in the country in 2004.

Plus, with no relief from high gas prices in sight, why not try something new, err, old? With gasoline prices going through the roof, a vast number of people globally are returning to Diesel’s technology. As it stands now, 45 states officially utilize biodiesel in various ways (25 million gallons were sold in the US in 2004), as well as some of our neighboring countries to the north and south, and a slew of European nations.

And why shouldn’t they? Biodiesel adheres to strict EPA standards, and when burned, results in a substantial reduction of unburned hydrocarbons. Plus, carbon monoxide emissions are approximately 50 percent less than that from straight petroleum fuel.

But perhaps the best part is that biodiesel is made from beans, or any number of other vegetables. It may sound simple, and it really is, but it’s not like going to your nearest restaurant, taking their oil runoff from the deep-fryer and dumping it into the tank of your car. The oil needs a little filtering and processing.

Bringing the cost of biodiesel down to an affordable price seems to carry a burden similar to what has confronted solar power, taking the better part of three decades to gain momentum. With each advancement of alternative fuels, however, like the recent passing of the state’s Solar Power Initiative, biodiesel gets just that much closer to its day in the mainstream marketplace.

Government involvement

State Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, has been one legislative advocate of biodiesel. On Sept. 29, Ashburn’s biodiesel bill was signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, passing through both houses of the Legislature with unanimous support. The bill gives incentives to public agencies and utilities to use vehicles that operate on biodiesel and biodiesel blends.

“By using biodiesel, we can reduce dependency on foreign oil by up to 20 percent,” Ashburn recently told the Weekly’s sister paper LA CityBeat. On the federal level, the 2000 Energy Policy Act and a subsequent presidential executive order require that all federal fleets, including the military, use high percentages of “alternative” fueled vehicles, including biodiesel.

"Engines using biodiesel have been shown to emit fewer greenhouse gases, particulate matter and sulfur than standard diesel," Ashburn wrote in a statement soon after Schwarzenegger signed his bill. “We are assisting the Armed Services within our state to comply with federal conservation standards. We are also promoting the use of alternative fuel sources which will help improve the air quality all across California."

Brooks said that the one way to bring the cost down is for the government to subsidize biodiesel.

“With biodiesel, the demand increases, the infrastructure sets in, and then the price comes down,” she said. “If the co-op is able to get it down to $3.41 a gallon with a thousand-gallon tank, with a regular fueling station that could pump 50,000 gallons a month of this stuff, you could get it for much less.”

BioWillie

And then there’s the celebrity factor, which raised the profile of biodiesel considerably.

The National Biodiesel Conference in San Diego recently recognized country-music legend Willie Nelson for his efforts in promoting the awareness of biodiesel.

Nelson helped to build a fueling station in Texas stocked with BioWillie fuel, his own B20 (20 percent biodiesel, 80 percent petrol) blend currently sold in four states.

Singer Bonnie Raitt hosted a biodiesel educational event last month and is touring the country in a vehicle running on a B20 blend.

Actress Daryl Hannah drives her car on the fuel and is a member of the biodiesel co-op who regularly speaks at conferences and rallies.

“People see this as the right thing to do for a variety of reasons,” Bullard said. “My boss is very Republican. He gives me grief about going out and doing this biodiesel thing. And I look him right in the eye and say, ‘I’m doing this 100 percent American fuel thing.’ Then he can’t say anything. You can tell that class of people that this is supporting American farmers and supporting American economy, not sending petrol dollars out to support hostile regimes.”

A win win

Christopher Rainone, a 32-year-old freelance photographer who works for the Weekly, drives a 1984 Mercedes station wagon. Last year, Rainone made the conversion and hasn’t looked back.

“I’ve been thinking about doing this for awhile, actually, then my car died and it kind of forced my hand,” said Rainone, who, like Armstrong runs on 100 percent used vegetable oil, which he personally filters before using in his car.

“I love it,” he said. "It’s made me a little more conscious about driving and how the vehicle works, especially when I’m thinking about getting fuel and I can’t just go to a gas station. … It’s a little more maintenance, but it’s what, 12 bucks for a new filter and you have to get one every eight months?”

Armstrong installed a specially designed 12-gallon tank and attachments, which retails at specialty auto parts outlets for about $700, into the trunk of his car to carry the vegetable oil.

“On cold mornings vegetable oil tends to be quite thick,” Armstrong explained, “so I start the car using diesel fuel and when the engine warms up I flip a switch and start running the vegetable oil.”

Gallon for gallon, vegetable oil costs about the same as diesel fuel. So where is the savings, you might ask?

In Armstrong’s case, the savings come in getting used vegetable oil from an English pub in Sierra Madre that fries its fish and chips in what ultimately becomes fuel for Armstrong’s car.

“I get it from them about once every other week,” Armstrong said. “Usually they have to pay somebody to dispose of it for them, but I just come and take it off of their hands for free. It’s a win-win situation for everybody.”

Armstrong was thinking of going to doughnut shops for oil, but said with a laugh, “I’m worried that I’ll have a long line of police cars following me.”

Some Local Biodiesel Sources

Lovecraft Biofuels can convert your diesel vehicle to run on 100 percent vegetable oil. Their fueling station is now open at 2029 Blake Ave., Echo Park (213) 291-8587 or (877) 201-4369. Email brian@lovecraftbiofuels.com.

Buy B20 from the pump at ITL’s Cudahy Fuel Stop, 8330 Atlantic Ave., Cudahy, (323) 562-3230. Call in advance to order B99 in five-gallon buckets.

LA Biofuels delivers 55-gallon drums of B99 to your door. (310) 396-5310

Make your own B100 at home for less than a buck a gallon with the Biodiesel Homebrew Guide, which can be purchased with all the gear needed, from Utah Biodiesel Supply.

See www.utahbiodieselsupply.com.