Beginning July 3, High Country motorists will have a local fill-up station for their biodiesel vehicles.

High Country Biofuels Cooperative, Inc. is opening the station as the first biodiesel dispensing station for the public. The grand opening is at 3 p.m. on July 3, with the local distribution a step up from the cooperative’s early efforts.

The station is located near Triple-T pumping, about a mile from New Market Center in Boone on N.C. 194 North. Travis Triplett, treasurer for the cooperative, said it has nearly 50 members, though only about half currently have biodiesel-capable vehicles.

“We’ve got some fuel in the tank for both current members and new members,” Triplett said.

Membership is still required to access the fuel, and part of the event’s purpose is to recruit new members. However, everyone is invited to visit and learn more about biodiesel, its production and use, and its impact on the environment of the High Country.

The cooperative formed in 2005, and the following year it began dispensing fuel out of a 1,400-gallon truck, with the truck filling up once a week. The group has also acted as an educational resource, spreading the word about the benefits of biodiesel.

Because the organization is a registered non-profit, it can only dispense fuel to members. HCBC will be accepting new members during the grand opening, which lasts until 6 p.m. HCBC has several membership plans in place, ranging from individual or family memberships to small businesses to fleet memberships. Each membership level is based on the amount of biodiesel fuel used on a regular basis.

The biodiesel fuel is vegetable-oil based and will be selling for $3.25 a gallon. The grade is B99, meaning it is almost pure biodiesel with a small amount of petroleum diesel.

Biodiesel is a plant-derived fuel that can be processed from vegetable oil and used to power diesel engines without the necessity of engine modification, according to the cooperative’s Web site. The vegetable oil can be extracted from soybeans, rapeseed, or other oil-bearing seeds. In addition, used restaurant fryer oil can serve as the source to process a clean-burning fuel. Biodiesel has low pollutant emissions and advocates say it stimulates local economies and farms and lessens dependence on foreign sources of fossil fuels.

After the grand opening, the pumping station will be open during daylight hours for members’ convenience. The cooperative has a long-term goal of developing its own processing system and producing local biofuels, as well as partnering with farmers to grow fuel stock.

The group has also requested a third of an acre of property at the former Watauga County landfill to develop a fuel-processing center. The county commissioners have given approval, contingent upon review of legal considerations.

Triplett said the cooperative is seeking federal stimulus funds for a processing center, focusing on collecting waste fryer oil. “We’ve written a grant and we’re not giving up,” Triplett said.

For more information on HCBC, call Travis Triplett at (828) 262-7148.