Southold-based Burt's Reliable Inc. takes delivery of soybean oil

Long Island Business News, Jul 21, 2006 by Jean Paul Vellotti

Not many people think about home heating oil deliveries during July, but a delivery for the record books took place on the North Fork today.

Burt's Reliable Inc., a Southold-based heating oil delivery company, took delivery of an inaugural load of soybean oil the company will blend with traditional heating oil to produce an alternative bioheat supply.

We have a responsibility to the environment, said Burt's owner John Romanelli. That's why we're introducing this renewable and domestically produced resource to Long Island.

Joshua Horton, a spokesman for Burt's Reliable and former supervisor of Southold town, said there will be no premium increase for the bioheat. Additionally, effective July 1, New York State began offering a 5-cents-per-gallon tax credit to homeowners who use bioheat.

Horton said that initially, the non-toxic, domestically grown soybean oil will be 5 percent of the blend as a precautionary measure. Then, the blend will be increased to 20 percent.

Nationwide, the bioheat industry is beginning to mature. The MidWest, which is close to where the fuel is grown, has taken the lead in using soybean oil as an alternative fuel. The Northeast has started to see deliveries only recently.

Michael Devine, owner of Connecticut's Devine Brothers, one of the first companies in that state to offer bioheat, told a renewable fuel industry source, Bioheat has become a passion, an obsession, a cause.

According to the National Biodiesel Board, blenders throughout the United States made 75 million gallons of the fuel last year, compared to 25 million gallons in 2004.