$91 Million Taxpayer Dollars to Fund Louisiana Biofuel Plant

- Cole Avery, October 3, 2014, The Times-Picayune

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"296","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"346","style":"width: 347px; height: 346px; margin: 3px 10px; float: left;","width":"347"}}]]Tom Vilsack, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, announced a $91 million loan guarantee from the federal government to help build a biomass fuel plant in Louisiana.

Vilsack traveled to Baton Rouge on Friday to make the announcement. He said the plant could have a "profound impact" on agriculture in America.

The plant is being built by Cool Energy in Alexandria. It under construction and is expected to be complete in 2015 with production to begin in 2016. The plant will produce an expected 150-175 direct or indirect jobs.

"This is going to provide a new market opportunity for pine chips and other renewable forest material, which will help the forestry industry in the state," Vilsack said. "This biochar soil nutrient they're able to produce is really remarkable opportunity for us not only to learn from your experience but to take this and extend the notion of biochar."

Biomass Incinerators Sue Feds for $22 Million

- by Maeusz Perkoswki, September 16, 2014, Capital Press

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"263","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"225","style":"line-height: 20.6719989776611px; width: 225px; height: 225px; margin: 3px 10px; float: left;","width":"225"}}]]Two biomass facilities in California that use agricultural waste to generate electricity claim the federal government owes them about $22 million.

The plaintiffs — Ampersand Chowchilla Biomass and Merced Power — claim the U.S. Treasury Department is wrongly withholding funds from an economic stimulus program that helps pay for renewable energy projects.

Each company invested more than $40 million to build facilities in Chowchilla and Merced that rely on boilers and turbines to produce energy from agricultural byproducts, such as orchard trimmings and nut shells, as well as other sources of waste.

The facilities became operational in 2011 and applied to the Treasury Department for reimbursements of 30 percent of the project costs, which were available through the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Instead of providing each company with the full amount, roughly $12 million apiece, the government only reimbursed each of them for about $1 million, the complaint said.