Obama Administration Pledges $510 Million for Biofuels

(S. Pope, eFlying, 8/18/11) The Obama Administration this week announced a plan to invest up to $510 million over three years in advanced drop-in aviation and marine biofuels as part of an initiative to cut America's dependency on foreign oil. President Obama announced Tuesday that the Departments of Agriculture, Energy and Navy will be investing in partnerships with the private sector to produce biofuels for commercial and military transportation. With the announcement, the federal government becomes a major investor in aviation biofuels, which are alternative aviation fuels that can be mixed with existing jet fuels to provide the same or more efficient performance, and marine biofuels, both of which can be used effectively for commercial and military purposes. The investment will also require a one-to-one match of cost sharing from the private sector...

Cantwell touts camelina crop to farmers

(8/24/11, AP) — Farmers are being urged to join a federal program that pays them to grow camelina, a crop that some researchers consider a potential alternative to overseas oil. U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said the new U.S. Department of Agriculture effort is intended to jump-start the creation of a camelina-to-fuel industry. But The Spokesman-Review reported Wednesday that unless many more Western U.S. farmers grow camelina, few companies will invest money in production facilities to turn camelina oil into biodiesel or "green" aviation fuel...

U.S. Moves To Kick-Start Biofuels Industry

(8/23/11, G. Warwick, AviationWeek) The aerospace industry will be asked shortly for ideas on how $510 million in government money should be spent over the next three years to build an aviation and marine biofuels supply chain in the U.S. It also will be asked how much money it is willing to put into what the government intends to be a public/private partnership. The pending release of a request for proposals (RFP) follows last week’s signing of a memorandum of understanding between the U.S. Navy and the Energy and Agriculture departments to begin a cooperative effort to support development of a commercial biofuels industry. Each of three agencies is putting $170 million in existing funding into the initiative to help pay for the construction or conversion of refineries for the production of biofuels that are drop-in replacements for petroleum-based aviation and marine fuels. “The joint plan will require substantial cost-share from private industry of at least a one-to-one match,” the White House said in a statement announcing the agreement last week. The government will not specify what fuels or feedstocks should be funded. “We are neutral on what the fuel is,” says Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. “We will see what industry comes back with.” The key requirements are that the biofuels be drop-in replacements, domestically produced and geographically distributed, priced competitively with petroleum, with a lower carbon footprint, and do not take land out of food production, he says...