Posted on 01/20/2012 3:30:25 PM PST by upchuck
Two days after President Barack Obama blocked construction of a major oil pipeline, his administration is touting its efforts to expand domestic production of renewable energy.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Friday that his agency has approved a $25-million conditional loan guarantee to build a 55,000-square-foot biorefinery plant in Iowa.
The Fiberight facility will produce cellulosic ethanol by converting municipal solid waste and other industrial pulps into "advanced biofuels," the news release said.
The project is expected to create 38 jobs and save 16 jobs. By contrast, expansion of the Canada-Texas Keystone XL pipeline would create thousands of jobs; some estimates say as many as 20,000.
"This project is another step the Obama administration is taking to support production of a new generation of renewable fuels, in order to build an active biofuels and biomass production industry in every region of the country," said Vilsack. "Investments in renewable energy create jobs and reduce America's dependence on foreign oil."
The USDA news release notes that Americans import "just over half (60%) of our transportation fuels," and it says the U.S. "can do more to meet the President's goal of reducing our net fuel imports by one-third by 2025."
Proponents of the Keystone XL pipeline agree that the U.S. can do more to reduce fuel imports.
“Until this pipeline is constructed, the U.S. will continue to import millions of barrels of conflict oil from the Middle East and Venezuela and other foreign countries who do not share democratic values Canadians and Americans are privileged to have,” said Russ Girling, TransCanada’s president and chief executive officer, in a statement on Wednesday announcing that his company will reapply for a Keystone XL permit.
At Secretary Vilsack's direction, USDA says it is working to develop the national biofuels industry, producing energy from non-food sources in every region of the country.
USDA says it is “conducting and encouraging research into innovative new energy technologies and processes, helping companies build biorefineries, and supporting farmers, ranchers, and businesses taking risks to pursue new opportunities in biofuels.”
USDA's Biorefinery Assistance Program was authorized by Congress under the 2008 Farm Bill.
Under the conditional commitment, Fiberight must meet specified conditions before the loan guarantee can be completed.
The last paragraph is interesting. Wonder what the conditions are? Maybe, $5Mil must be kicked back to nobama's retirement campaign fund?
More subsidized failure in the works.
Here, I fixed it:
[Former Democratic Iowa Governor and current]Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Friday that his agency has approved a $25-million conditional loan guarantee to build a 55,000-square-foot biorefinery plant in Iowa.
Insane.
Truly, absolutely insane.
If I were better at searching FR I would post links to the SEVERAL very recent articles on similar plants failing!
This approach does not work in commercial quantities, the technology has not been successful, it is premature.
Oil WORKS, we make so many products from it a book would be required to list them.
This has crossed the line from mere obtuse politicizing to outright treason!
“Green” = RED!
Let’s stop this charade, no more “Green” BS.
Put our money and jobs into proven technologies, let the private sector dabble in these wild experiments if they want to.
But cease forcing the rest of us to subsidize them, stop the theft.
they could have brought an entire plant for pennies on the dollar.
Obama is the biggest idiot of planet earth.
And another twenty million to Obama’s Presidential Library and the Barack and Michelle Obama Global Climate Change Fighting and Peace Mongering Initiative.
Ah ,let guess , the biofuel people are, oh , Obama’s friends
“Ah ,let guess , the biofuel people are, oh , Obama’s friends.”
Yep. And they all live down in Brazil. Not only we’ll we be dependent on foreign oil, we’ll be dependent on foreign biofuel.
They have been subsidizing these cellulosic biofuel refineries for 6 years now and not one has come on line and actually produced the fuel.
I think it’s up to $1.2 billion dollars in loans and grants and every one of them has failed to produce so far.
He is a man absolutely vacant of real life experience. A man who has zero understanding of the free market and zero understanding of the simple value of a dollar. 95% of human beings could not relate to him if they actually sat down to have real conversation.
He can be both.
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