[ the ] NORA checkoff had expired ,” Anderson recalls . “ We also helped NORA get reauthorized and got it written into the farm bill . It ’ s been renewed ever since . We came to the plate and delivered a home run for them . John Maniscalco and Rocco Lacertosa , New York State Energy Coalition , Michael Ferrante , Massachusetts Energy Marketers Association , and Paul Nazzaro , all those guys who are in on that are aware of this . Paul invited us to attend a Bioheat fuel symposium held at Fenway Park in 2012 to discuss with 200 oil heat dealers the advantages of Bioheat fuel . We asked them , ‘ How many of you have been to a soybean field ?’ Only two raised their hands . We educated them and showed them that we have billions of pounds of this soybean oil , which is the byproduct of soybean processing , and we want to turn it into biodiesel so they can use it out there .” He remembers one oil heat dealer who was already selling Bioheat fuel . “ He came up to me with a tear in his eye . He said , ‘ Thank you . You and the farmers you represent saved my business .’ I thought , ‘ Wow , this is the kind of impact we ’ re creating .’”
Not only was the biodiesel industry creating tens of thousands of jobs , but now it had the potential to save tens of thousands of more jobs in the heating-oil sector . “ This was eye-opening for me , to see how vast this market could be ,” recalls Anderson . “ Paul kept telling me the heating-oil market is [ at least ] 4 billion gallons . That is more biodiesel than all the [ biodiesel and www . fueloilnews . com | FUEL OIL NEWS | FEBRUARY 2023 19