Willie Nelson burst onto the environmental stage in 2005 with a grand unveiling of his own personal brand of biodiesel, BioWillie. His old, familiar face was in newspapers across the U.S., broadly smiling as Nelson lifted the nozzle of another new biodiesel pump in yet another gas station somewhere along a Midwestern highway. People suddenly remembered Willie Nelson; sentimental types smiled fondly when they learned that the old country singer was also a good sort, making a contribution to the health of the planet. Willie was back on stage.

But something has happened to BioWillie.

Wikipedia states that some, if not all, of the 22 gas outlets selling BioWillie in June 2006, have ceased to do so, possibly because of financial problems. My telephone calls to gas stations advertised on the BioWillie site could only positively confirm that seven stations in the U.S. are selling BioWillie. What has happened?

First, some history.

Earlier this decade Willie Nelson’s wife started using biodiesel in her Volkswagen Jetta. A spark went off in his combustion chamber and Nelson started putting biodiesel into his luxury vehicle.

I bought me a Mercedes, and the Mercedes people were a little nervous when I took a brand new Mercedes over and filled it up with 100 percent vegetable oil coming form the grease traps of Maui. I figured I’d be getting notices about the warranty and that stuff. However, nobody said anything. – Willie Nelson

Then he decided to go one step further and put his name on his own brand of biodiesel. That was the start of a media circus that followed the country and western icon as he skirted the Bible belt, proclaiming the good news of biodiesel, and proselytizing to would-be converts at truck stops everywhere. His congregation comprised mainly truckers; his celebrity appeal wasn’t a minor factor in the conversion of cross-country truck drivers to the church of BioWillie.

What Willie brings to this is the ability to communicate directly with a truck driver. That kind of community is hard for people to get at. When he starts talking, these folks really listen to him. …It’s like having Tiger Woods talk about golf clubs. - Peter Bell, a Texas biodiesel supplier

Nelson’s platform was to “put five million farmers back on the land growing fuel and keep us from having to start wars for oil.” This philosophy had wide appeal in rural areas, home to much of Willie Nelson’s country music listening audience that remembered his involvement in Farm Aid in the 1980s. Nelson’s plan was to support farmers to grow the raw materials needed to power the nation’s prime movers.

Nelson licensed Earth Biofuels Inc., a company based in Texas, to sell BioWillie. Earth Biofuels started out recycling restaurant waste grease into biodiesel in 2004, but moved to using feedstock from U.S. farms, as its raw material, in response to growing demand.

Biodiesel is a renewable fuel produced from agricultural resources such as vegetable oils. In the United States, most biodiesel is made from soybean oil; however canola oil, sunflower oil, recycled cooking oils and animal fats are also used. – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Alternative Fuels: Biodiesel fact sheet

Pure biodiesel is known as B100 (100 percent biodiesel), however BioWillie is a cocktail of biodiesel and conventional diesel, usually at a 20:80 ratio, called B20. Pure biodiesel tends to congeal in cold climates, so is unsuitable for many vehicles in the U.S.

Nelson rode a biofuel wave in 2005. Newspaper reporters followed him from pump to pump as he posed for publicity shots and told people that they could get better mileage from biodiesel (an assertion challenged by some).

I like biodiesel because I can tell that my truck runs smoother and stronger. Fuel economy is better with biodiesel. – Wayne Weaver, Ohio trucker.

Biodiesel is not only good for the environment, but with the advent of lower sulfur diesel, we have to replace the lubricity lost and biodiesel is the perfect fit. – Michael Frybarger, Maryland trucker

Nelson said that he didn’t expect to make much money from biodiesel. When asked about his Mercedes, he conceded, “I didn’t get it selling BioWillie, I’ll tell you.” He said he hoped that someone would make money from it one day, but feared the oil industry would buy up biodiesel infrastructure once it had been established.

Recent events may suggest that, not only will Nelson not make money from his biodiesel venture, but that his biodiesel infrastructure might not survive much longer.

The BioWillie experience may have turned out to be a bad trip.

In December 2006, after the company lost nearly $63 million, Nelson resigned as Director of Earth Biodiesels. This was the second year of crippling financial loss for the company after ending 2005 $11.5 million in the red. In 2007 auditors suggested that the company cannot survive.

My email attempt to get information from the BioWillie Web site has been unsuccessful. A gallery of photographs of Nelson’s soon-to-be-opened Willie’s Corner at Hillsboro, Texas, a veritable Willie World of restaurants and memorabilia celebrating Nelson’s musical career, ceased to grow in July 2007.

What is the biodiesel reality that may have let the air out of Nelson’s tires? There are a number of factors:

1. Efficiency reports of biodiesel are debatable;
2. Biodiesel costs more than regular diesel and profit margins may not convince conventional diesel outlets to switch to biodiesel. Less than 1 percent of U.S. diesel is biodiesel;
3. Terminals have to keep biodiesel in heated tanks to avoid gelling problems, making biodiesel an unattractive product to some retail outlets and currently an impossible solution in northern states.

In addition to these challenges, Earth Biofuels Inc. bought a natural gas provider in 2006, contributing to its growing debt and its chairman, Dennis G. McLaughlin III, has been accused of poor management.
Nevertheless, Willie Nelson prevails. Not to be dragged down by a flailing pet project, Nelson has recently published a book on biodiesel, sporting a front cover of the old fellow, himself, in chaps, holding twin gas nozzles at his side. “On the Clean Road Again: Biodiesel and the Future of the Family Farm” includes a chapter titled “To All the Oils I’ve Loved Before” as well as a comparison of the recipe for petroleum (Mother Earth’s Recipe) against the recipe for biodiesel (Willie’s Blender Biodiesel). Nelson seems determined to stay on the biodiesel wagon.

Willie Nelson performed in the “Ambassadors of Rock” tour on Sept. 12 in New York. He helped launch the Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance, a non-profit group founded by his wife, Annie.

You can’t keep an old rocker down.