Though many drivers seem to be helpless in the fight against rising gas prices, one local tax advisor is helping create a company that could bring some change at the pumps.

Ian Briscoe, who owns a tax preparation business in Burien, is the chief financial officer of a new company that aims to make bio-diesel more of a regional product.

By localizing bio-diesel production, the company, Planetary Fuels, plans to reduce transportation costs that commonly cut into profit margins in the current alternative fuel industry.

Keeping bio-diesel in the state from production to the pump will also benefit the economy in Washington, Briscoe said.

"We are going to produce a product that uses the agriculture grown in the state of Washington," he said. "This form of production can be harnessed to produce economical, social and ecological rewards."

Planetary Fuels will place bio-diesel production modules on farms, and then add software to allow the company to monitor the production process in every module around the state from a central location.

"By remotely monitoring the systems, we will be able to have a continual flow of production with no slow downs," said David Landers, vice president of production.

The software will also allow the company to be notified should something break, allowing them to respond quickly.

Once up and running, each module will be able to produce two million gallons of bio-diesel a year.

Instead of huge refineries producing large quantities of bio-diesel at a single location, Planetary Fuels' small modules will convert farm products into the fuel at locations that are convenient for growers.

"Transportation is expensive and it's only going to get more expensive, so the closer you can make it [the production process], the better it is," said Ophir Ronen, chief executive officer of Planetary Fuels.

While there are many bio-diesel refineries in the making around the state, completion of the plants won't be done for a few years.

Planetary Fuels, however, will offer their services by the end of 2006.

In the meantime, most of the bio-diesel fuel pumped in the Northwest will continue to come from the Midwest.

"We will plan to focus our efforts on a local supply," said Sheldon Balberman, vice president of Planetary Fuels. "By doing so we hope to help the state economy by keeping this a homegrown product."

Alternative forms of fuel could help drive down the demand for foreign oil.

Washington recently passed a Clean Air Act to require that by 2008 all diesel vehicles operate with a fuel mixture that is at least 2 percent bio-diesel to help create a higher demand for alternative fuels.

Ethanol has become a hot item on the alternative fuel market as well, but it is limited. Unlike bio-diesel, ethanol can't be mixed with regular forms of petroleum to produce a more environmentally friendly form of fuel.

"With the amount of interest we've had so far in the company, this [bio-diesel] could turn out to be a huge project," Briscoe said.

Planetary Fuels has already reached its sales goal for 2007. Now it's only a matter of how fast they can produce it.

Editor's note: Jerry Bergman, a print and broadcast major at Central Washington University, is a Times/News student intern this summer.