Don’t get me wrong —the last thing I want to see is another business go under in an economy that shows little sign of improving. But when you base your business model on government subsidy —– as Patriot Biodiesel did —–you’ve got problems when that subsidy runs out:

You’d think with all the fuss over America’s dependence on foreign oil and the mess the BP spill is making in the Gulf of Mexico, the nation would be doing everything possible to support alternative ways of fueling our cars and trucks.

That’s certainly what local businessman Gabe Neeriemer thought. But his trust that federal officials would follow that line of logic soon might cost him his fortune along with two years of hard work.

“I don’t want to be a failure,” Neeriemer said, sitting behind his desk at Patriot Biodiesel on North Chimney Rock Road. “But I’ve talked to friends who are business people and they say, ‘Look, it’s not you that failed. It’s Congress, government officials and the community that failed.’”

Putting things in perspective, let’s keep in mind that the government officials who ‘failed’ Patriot Diesel are handling the money of hard-working people running businesses that are struggling just as hard to survive without a dime of government money.