HEMPCAR TOUR PUMPING BIODIESEL FUEL

They're burning a heap of hemp on that road trip. But don't freak
out. On the Hempcar Transamerica Tour, it's all legal, man.

The Hempcar, a 1983 Mercedes Benz diesel station wagon, is running on
biodiesel fuel made from industrial hemp, a legal product if it is
grown outside the United States.

Growing the plant in the United States is illegal because of another
hemp product: marijuana. Some environmental advocates are driving the
Hempcar 10,000 miles through 40 North American cities to promote hemp
as a fuel source.

Yesterday's stop at Whetstone Park in Columbus was the 19th day of
the 90-day trek. Today the Hempcar will be at the Knox County Fair.

The Benz has been getting about 27 miles per gallon on the highway
during the tour and is running exclusively on hemp biodiesel, which
costs about $4 a gallon, spokesman Scott Furr said.

"The production cost is minimal -- about 50 cents per gallon -- but
because we can't cultivate it in the U.S., the oil used to make the
fuel has to be imported,'' he said.

Organizers have relied on sponsorships and donations to cover the
roughly $30,000 cost of the tour.

Among them is Todd Swearingen, founder of Appal Energy in the Athens
County town of Amesville, who donated labor and chemicals so the
travelers could process the hempseed oil into diesel fuel. His
company processes all sorts of biodiesel fuels, which are made from
vegetable oil or animal fat.

"People assume I smoke pot because of what I do and because I look
like a stoner with my long hair and beard,'' he said after gingerly
mixing hempseed oil with methanol, water and lye to make the fuel.
"But that's not at all what I'm like.''

Hemp fuel is safer to ship and store than traditional diesel fuels,
Swearingen said, because its flash point is 325 degrees. Petroleum
diesel has a threshold of 120 degrees, he said.

Swearingen said biodiesel likely never will be cheaper than fossil
diesels, but would be about the same price.

More important than the economic benefits is the minimal
environmental impact of hemp biodiesel emissions, he said. "It's 83
percent cleaner than petroleum diesel fuel.''

Industrial hemp supporters say it can be used to make 25,000 types of
products, including clothing and food, without significant amounts of
THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.