REYNOLDS, Ind. -- Tour buses carrying members of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young stopped in the northern Indiana town of Reynolds to support turning it into "Biotown USA.
According to an Associated Press report, the rock group, whose touring vehicles have used alternative fuels for six years, made a detour Saturday on its current Freedom of Speech '06 tour to visit the town, some 80 miles northwest of Indianapolis.
The buses pulled into a new gas station in Reynolds that sells alternative fuels and filled up on B20, a mixture [image-nocss] of 20% biodiesel and 80% diesel fuel. Footage was shot during the stop for a VH1 documentary.
"This is a beginning, a start," Graham Nash said. "Someone has to lead us out of this dark hole of dependence on foreign oil."
Reynolds, Ind., trademarked as BioTown USA last year by Governor Mitch Daniels, is a showcase community where all the energy needs will be met through renewable resources, according to its website.
Announced in September 2005, Phase I of the project has focused on promotion, education and increased use of ethanol and biodiesel as agriculturally derived replacements for gasoline and petroleum diesel. Phase I is nearly complete, the website said. More than 125 flex-fuel vehicles (FFVs) that have been purchased by area residents; town-owned vehicles were replaced with FFVs that operate on ethanol; and the BioIsland at the local BP fuel station, which will offer biodiesel and E85, is nearly finished, the website said.
A recent report in The Indianapolis Star, however, said efforts to put an E85 pump at the station, Reynolds' only fueling center, has repeatedly stalled. Station owner John Harris said it would have cost $500,000 to $700,000 to alter his station to include ethanol and biodiesel pumps. The nearest E85 pump is currently about 30 miles away, the newspaper said.
State officials hope to break ground in November on Phase II, a $10 million technology suitea privately funded center that will house equipment needed to turn everything from municipal trash to farm waste, hog manure and even town sewage into energy.Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.