New Job-Creating Biomass Crop Project Areas Announced

On July 26, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced “the creation of four additional Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) project areas in six states to expand the availability of non-food crops to be used in the manufacturing of liquid biofuels... According to industry estimates, these projects will create more than 3,400 jobs in the biorefinery, agriculture and supporting sectors, and provide the feedstocks to produce more than 2 million gallons of biofuels annually when full production levels are achieved.”

The states with project areas are California, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon and Washington. For more details about the specific projects, see the U.S. Department of Agriculture press release .

BCAP is a critical element in the nation’s strategy to reduce its dependence on petroleum and other fossil fuels. It is designed to address the “chicken or the egg” dilemma in which biomass producers will not plant energy crops if there is no biomass conversion facility to buy the crop, but no one will build a biomass conversion facility unless there is a sufficient local supply of biomass. The program addresses this by matching biomass and bioenergy producers in promising project areas and by providing critical financial assistance to biomass producers to establish and develop new crops.

By substituting low-carbon, renewable biofuels and bio-based products for petroleum-based fuels and products, the program can help increase rural employment, reduce the trade deficit, increase energy security, and dramatically reduce the carbon intensity of transportation fuels.