New York, NY —

The nation's largest biofuel production facility is coming to Brooklyn next spring. Metro Fuel, based in Greenpoint, says its plant on Newtown Creek will go on line in March, converting various waste products into renewable fuel. Queens councilman James Gennaro, who chairs the committee on environmental protection, says Metro Fuel's work will help his efforts to create a new mandate for home heating. "There would be biofuels blended with standard heating oil, making it a lot cleaner, a lot better for the environment, and not any more costly," Gennaro says.

This goal is shared by the Bloomberg administration, which has made introducing biofuel into the city's truck fleet part of the PlaNYC program.

Environmentalists and public health experts at the Metro site say those policy changes and more biodiesel facilities like Metro's would help the city bring down its rates of asthma and diabetes.