News Releases

USM Buses First Fleet in Maine to Run Entirely on Biodiesel Fuel

April 21, 2004

Through the efforts of a single student, USM senior Sarah Ferriter, USM's fleet of shuttle buses will be test-driving a cleaner burning biodiesel fuel April 22-23. The buses are owned and operated by the VIP Charter Bus Company.

Ferriter, 29, an Environmental Science and Policy major from Portland, has been working since the fall on a proposal to convert USM's Portland-Gorham shuttle buses to B20 biodiesel fuel. The fuel, which is available through Frontier Energy of South China, Me., is a cleaner-burning alternative to diesel, produced from vegetable-based oils.

Ferriter established the 2004 USM Biodiesel Initiative after garnering fellowships for the project from the National Wildlife Federation and the Center for Environmental Citizenship. She campaigned USM students to add one dollar to their annual student fees in order to fund the project over the 2004-05 school year. They voted five-to-one in favor of using the fuel.

"I want to make USM a little more sustainable," said Ferriter. "I have asthma and was studying the health effects of diesel as well as the climate activity that's happening in Maine. This seemed like a good alternative. Students have made a strong stand in favor of biodiesel and I have hopes that it's the beginning of something more sustaining and long term."

An information table, coffee reception, and biodiesel demonstration will be held outside the Woodbury Campus Center in Portland, 8 to 10 a.m., Thursday, April 22. The locale is a major bus stop for the shuttle buses to the Gorham campus and Portland Hall.

Editors: For more information on Ferriter's biodiesel initiative, visit: students.usm.maine.edu/sarah.ferriter/Earth_Day.htm.

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