U.S. assists two crop-for-aviation-fuel projects.

* Two companies will use camelina to make bio jet fuel
* Fuel is biggest cost for U.S. airlines
* Camelina is little-grown crop, seeds are high in oil
* Two other second-generation biofuel projects get aid

(7/26, Reuters) Farmers in four states in the U.S. West can qualify for a federal cost-sharing payment if they grow camelina, an oilseed, for conversion into jet fuel, the government said on Tuesday. The assistance would encourage large-scale production -- up to 51,000 acres (21,000 hectares) -- of camelina for sale to aviation biofuel makers AltAir Fuels LLC, of Seattle, and Beaver Biodiesel LLC, of Portland, Oregon. It would be the first time the Agriculture Department subsidized an aviation bio-crop. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the announcement coincided with the one-year anniversary of an initiative by the U.S. Agriculture Department, Boeing Co (BA.N) and the Air Transport Association, an airline trade group, to bring bio jet fuels to market. AltAir aims for a drop-in substitute for traditional jet fuels with production beginning in late 2012 in Bakersfield, California, and in 2014 at Tacoma, Washington...

Companies Testify On Plans To Build Jet Biofuel Plants.

(Seattle Times, 7/29, Bernton) reports, "Leaders of two Seattle-based companies testified Thursday before a US Senate subcommittee about plans to build plants in Washington state to produce jet biofuel that can be blended in equal parts with traditional jet fuels." The testimony Wednesday by AltAir Fuels and Imperium Renewables "underscored the recent progress in moving from a test phase for aviation biofuel to a new phase focused on how to spur production." Billy Golver, a Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice president, "said an important milestone for biofuels use in commercial jet aircraft was reached on July 1 as the 50 percent blend gained international certification by ASTM International, a global standards-setting organization."