The Hailey Planning and Zoning Commission denied a request by the Blaine County School District Monday to install a biodiesel tank at the district's bus maintenance facility southeast of the Community Campus.
The plan called for a 12,000-gallon biodiesel tank, costing $82,000 to build, to satisfy an agreement made five years ago with the city to run district buses on B20 diesel.
Commissioners Michael Pogue and David Lloyd voted for the tank installation. Mark Johnstone and Owen Scanlon voted against it.
Installation of the tank would allow the district to use B20 biodiesel for its school bus fleet, which currently runs on lower-grade B5 biodiesel. The B5 is available from United Oil pumps behind the Chevron station on Main Street in Hailey.
B20 is not currently available in the Wood River Valley for pump sales, but could be shipped for bulk purchases. Mike Chatterton, the district's business manager, said in April that the only way he could get B20 biodiesel was to put in the district's own tank.
Scanlon said the school district could appeal the decision back to P&Z or to City Council.
Tony Evans: tevans@mtexpress.com