The politics of ethanol, virtually all corn derived and therefore benefiting the farm lobby, are tangled. Taxpayers would be better off if legislators wore NASCAR-style uniforms with the patches of the organizations that are their major sponsors.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu have announced that $47 million in taxpayer dollars will be diverted to fund eight research and development projects to support the production of biofuels, bioenergy and biobased products from a variety of biomass sources.
With gasoline prices at record highs there is no need to intervene in the market if one believes in traditional economic theory that is apparently unknown in Washington DC. These subsidies for what are said to be “clean, sustainable transportation fuels” allegedly will help reduce U.S. oil imports, support economic development in rural America and in the currently fashionable political cant “create clean energy jobs for U.S. workers, and protect American families and businesses from future spikes in gas prices.”
Given decades of failed policies by both the Democratic and Republican parties going back to President Nixon designed to get the U.S. off of imported oil, it’s tough to be optimistic that something will actually get done by partisans in our bickering national government. They seem mostly concerned with winning the next election and securing the funds necessary to finance what will no doubt be the most expensive election in history. (See President Obama outlines Energy Independence Plan, Touting Alternative Fuels, “Safe” Nuclear Power, 33% cut in Oil Imports)
“Permanently reducing our dependence on foreign oil and getting a handle on out of control gas prices will require our brightest scientists, our smartest companies, and strategic investments in research” claimed Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack who is currently overseeing billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies for ethanol with no apparent ameliorating effect on fuel prices.
“The projects selected today will help produce affordable, renewable biofuels right here in the U.S. to power our cars and trucks,” claimed Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “President Obama set a bold national goal to reduce America’s oil imports by one-third in a little more than a decade. By developing and commercializing advanced biofuels, we will create new economic opportunities for rural communities, provide consumers with new options to fuel their vehicles, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” Chu said.
The projects are funded through the Biomass Research and Development Initiative that will allegedly help increase the availability of alternative renewable fuels and biobased products to diversify the nation’s energy resources. Funding is provided through USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and DOE’s Biomass Program.
Grant recipients are required to contribute a minimum of just 20% of matching funds for research and development projects and 50% of matching funds for demonstration projects.
Taxpayers apparently will have no equity in the results of projects that integrate science and engineering research in three areas: feedstocks development, biofuels and biobased products development, and biofuels development analysis.
The following projects have been selected for taxpayer funds:
- Cellana LLC, Kailua Kona, Hawaii, $5,521,173. Cellana will work to develop a protein supplement from algae as a byproduct of algal biofuels production, by demonstrating its nutritional and economic value in livestock feeds. The project will characterize types of algae, assess the nutritional values of algal proteins, assess the potential for algal proteins to replace soybean meal, and develop algal protein supplements.
- Domtar Paper Company, LLC, Fort Mill, SC, $7,000,000. This three-year project will work to build a demonstration plant using two technologies to convert low-value byproducts and wastes from paper mills into higher-value sugar, oil, and lignin products.
- Exelus, Inc., Livingston, N.J., $5,185,004. Exelus will work to develop energy crops with improved tolerance to drought and salt stress to enhance yields on marginal lands. The project will also redesign a process to make hydrocarbon fuels using new catalysts and chemistry that avoids the high temperatures and large energy inputs required by current processes.
- Metabolix, Inc., Cambridge, Mass., $6,000,001. Metabolix will enhance the yield of bio-based products, biopower, or fuels made from switchgrass. The project will use high temperature conversion to produce denser biomass and other products that can be further processed to make fuels such as butanol, chemicals such as propylene and other materials to improve the economic competitiveness of future biorefineries.
- University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla., $5,430,439. The purpose of this project is to improve the production and sustainability of sweet sorghum as an energy crop. The University will identify genetic traits in sorghum associated with drought tolerance through genetic mapping and will select strains that produce high biomass yields and can be easily converted to fermentable sugars.
- University of Kansas Center for Research, Lawrence, Kan., $5,635,858. The purpose of this project is to demonstrate a novel, sustainable technology at a pilot scale that produces diverse products, including advanced fuels, industrial chemicals and chemical intermediates.
- University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky., $6,932,786. The purpose of this project is to improve the economics for biorefineries by using on-farm processing to convert biomass to a mixture of butanol, ethanol, acetone and organic acids. The product can then be easily transported to a biorefinery for further processing. The project will integrate input from experts in a variety of disciplines, including plant and soil scientists, horticulturists, chemical engineers, and economists.
- U.S. Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula, Mont., $5,309,320. This project will develop an integrated approach to investigate biomass feedstock production, logistics, conversion, distribution and end use centered on using advanced conversion technologies at existing forest industry facilities.
(See also Taxpayer Subsidized Ethanol Caught in Partisan Budget Battle)
Just a thought – I live in the southeast, and there’s PLENTY of biomass here sitting around in Kudzu and bittersweet, as well as multiflora rose and japanese honeysuckle-and what of marijuana?