BlueFire Ethanol Fuels, Inc. has submitted an application for a $250 million dollar loan guarantee for the company's planned cellulosic ethanol biorefinery in Fulton, MS. The application, filed under the Department of Energy (DOE) Program DE-FOA-0000140, which provides federal loan guarantees for projects that employ innovative energy efficiency, renewable energy, and advanced transmission and distribution technologies, was submitted 15th of February, 2010 and serves as a phase one application in a two phase approval process.
The Fulton plant is already a recipient of an award of up to $88 million from the U.S. Department of Energy under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. If approved, the loan guarantee will secure the financing for the remainder of the costs to construct the facility, which will produce 19 million gallons of ethanol per year from woody biomass, mill residue, and other cellulosic waste.
"We are very optimistic that the DOE will consider the enormous benefits of BlueFire Ethanol's technology to convert cellulosic waste products into useable biofuels during this selection process," said Arnold Klann, CEO of BlueFire Ethanol. "Programs like the DOE loan guarantee enable first-of-its-kind technologies to come to fruiting and ultimately help ease the United States' dependence on fossil fuels like petroleum, which is oftentimes imported from hostile nations."
Currently, BlueFire Ethanol is focused on the development of two cellulosic ethanol facilities in Lancaster, CA and Fulton, MS.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Bozeman Scholars Announced
Recipients of the 2010 Dudley Bozeman Memorial Scholarships were Allen Smith and Justin Brown.
These $2000 awards were made possible by contributions in memory of Dudley Bozeman to the Mississippi Cattlemen's Foundation Endowment Fund.
These $2000 awards were made possible by contributions in memory of Dudley Bozeman to the Mississippi Cattlemen's Foundation Endowment Fund.
What America Needs: A Bumper Crop of Young Entrepreneurs
By Dr. Craig Columbus
The Center for Vision & Values
Compared to prior recessions, something is definitely different this time. If you’ve lost your job, it is harder than ever to replace it.
The New York Times reports that 6.3 million Americans have been unemployed for six months or longer, more than double the next-worst period, in the early 1980s.
Tighter credit, outsourcing, globalization, and productivity-enhancing technologies have played a role—and each is here to stay. As a result, many older employees are delaying retirement, making it increasingly difficult for recent graduates to enter the workforce.
Voices across the political spectrum agree that America desperately needs private sector job growth, and many are calling for change. In a recent USA Today editorial, Robert Kiyosaki, the best-selling author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, calls for two different public-school programs: one for employees and one for entrepreneurs.
Mr. Kiyosaki writes, “If I were running America's school system, I would create the U.S. Business Academy for Entrepreneurs, modeled after our federal military academies. Admissions would be via congressional appointment along with nominations from community business leaders.”
He envisions a U.S. Academy for Entrepreneurs that would produce leaders focused on sustainable jobs and responsible growth. Finally, Mr. Kiyosaki says that his academy could boost results by having “only real entrepreneurs as teachers.”
In my opinion, Mr. Kiyosaki identifies the root problem of America’s job malaise—the need to produce more entrepreneurs. However, I depart from his solution to create more government-run education programs, regardless of how selective or expertly staffed.
As one tasked with educating future entrepreneurs, I would argue that the state of entrepreneurial education has never been more vibrant. Three decades ago, only a handful of colleges offered courses in entrepreneurship. Through the pioneering work of scholars such as Babson’s Dr. Jeffry Timmons and the advocacy of the Kauffman Foundation and others, the field has subsequently flourished.
Today, over 2,000 academic institutions offer at least one course in entrepreneurship compared with just 16 in 1970. Five hundred colleges and universities currently grant an entrepreneurship degree, up from 175 in 1990. And 200 university-based entrepreneurship centers collaborate as members of The Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC).
As for the notion that the discipline lacks the perspective of “real” entrepreneurs, there has been a concerted effort by top entrepreneurship programs to recruit current or recent entrepreneurs as classroom instructors. Perhaps more than in any department on campuses across America, academic administrations are increasingly receptive to the integration of practitioners.
I am not suggesting that entrepreneurship education cannot be improved. For example, we need a greatly expanded dialogue about ethics, a stronger commitment to service learning, and much more emphasis on how to actually build things.
But America’s aspiring entrepreneurs have more educational choices and more intellectual capital resources than at any point in the nation’s history. So where is the bottleneck in entrepreneurial dynamism? In a word: incentives.
Much like the Great Depression, the current recession has left an imprint on many young people. They have seen their parents struggle with mortgage debt, and classmates flounder in their job searches. It’s no wonder that students are increasingly drawn to “safe” endeavors.
In the current environment, that most often corresponds to government or government-backed jobs. According to The Wall Street Journal, federal agencies have been hiring at a pace not seen since the end of the Cold War.
However, the nation’s entrepreneurial framework requires more creative and lasting solutions—and soon. That’s because America’s demographics demand a bumper crop of young entrepreneurs.
Nearly one in three American workers will be over the age of 50 by 2012. The “baby boomers,” those born between 1946 and 1965, started small businesses in record numbers during the 1970s and ‘80s.
Just as with the massively overbuilt stock of residential housing, supply-demand imbalances often create severe economic shocks. During the next 20 years, the outcome of the so-called “silver tsunami” will be, in part, determined by boomers finding willing buyers for their small business ventures to fund their retirement needs.
However, current and aspiring entrepreneurs repeat a consistent refrain. They want government to control its spending for the sake of long-term interest rate stability. They don’t want to feel like they are on the outside looking in on a state capitalism “green zone.” And the entrepreneurial class seeks relief from the burdens of state licensing and regulatory departments.
Entrepreneurs also crave a better business climate with reduced payroll taxes, tax credits for research and development, and more manageable workers’ compensation and healthcare costs. Many are attracted to states with low or no income and capital-gains taxes.
Finally, we need to help entrepreneurs attract seed capital and make it easier to get new business loans without personal guarantees, allowing them to retain larger equity stakes.
There will be no meaningful job growth beyond the administrative state without a national embrace of those entrepreneurs that create them. A generation of skilled young entrepreneurs stands ready. Is their government ready for them?
The Center for Vision & Values
Compared to prior recessions, something is definitely different this time. If you’ve lost your job, it is harder than ever to replace it.
The New York Times reports that 6.3 million Americans have been unemployed for six months or longer, more than double the next-worst period, in the early 1980s.
Tighter credit, outsourcing, globalization, and productivity-enhancing technologies have played a role—and each is here to stay. As a result, many older employees are delaying retirement, making it increasingly difficult for recent graduates to enter the workforce.
Voices across the political spectrum agree that America desperately needs private sector job growth, and many are calling for change. In a recent USA Today editorial, Robert Kiyosaki, the best-selling author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, calls for two different public-school programs: one for employees and one for entrepreneurs.
Mr. Kiyosaki writes, “If I were running America's school system, I would create the U.S. Business Academy for Entrepreneurs, modeled after our federal military academies. Admissions would be via congressional appointment along with nominations from community business leaders.”
He envisions a U.S. Academy for Entrepreneurs that would produce leaders focused on sustainable jobs and responsible growth. Finally, Mr. Kiyosaki says that his academy could boost results by having “only real entrepreneurs as teachers.”
In my opinion, Mr. Kiyosaki identifies the root problem of America’s job malaise—the need to produce more entrepreneurs. However, I depart from his solution to create more government-run education programs, regardless of how selective or expertly staffed.
As one tasked with educating future entrepreneurs, I would argue that the state of entrepreneurial education has never been more vibrant. Three decades ago, only a handful of colleges offered courses in entrepreneurship. Through the pioneering work of scholars such as Babson’s Dr. Jeffry Timmons and the advocacy of the Kauffman Foundation and others, the field has subsequently flourished.
Today, over 2,000 academic institutions offer at least one course in entrepreneurship compared with just 16 in 1970. Five hundred colleges and universities currently grant an entrepreneurship degree, up from 175 in 1990. And 200 university-based entrepreneurship centers collaborate as members of The Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC).
As for the notion that the discipline lacks the perspective of “real” entrepreneurs, there has been a concerted effort by top entrepreneurship programs to recruit current or recent entrepreneurs as classroom instructors. Perhaps more than in any department on campuses across America, academic administrations are increasingly receptive to the integration of practitioners.
I am not suggesting that entrepreneurship education cannot be improved. For example, we need a greatly expanded dialogue about ethics, a stronger commitment to service learning, and much more emphasis on how to actually build things.
But America’s aspiring entrepreneurs have more educational choices and more intellectual capital resources than at any point in the nation’s history. So where is the bottleneck in entrepreneurial dynamism? In a word: incentives.
Much like the Great Depression, the current recession has left an imprint on many young people. They have seen their parents struggle with mortgage debt, and classmates flounder in their job searches. It’s no wonder that students are increasingly drawn to “safe” endeavors.
In the current environment, that most often corresponds to government or government-backed jobs. According to The Wall Street Journal, federal agencies have been hiring at a pace not seen since the end of the Cold War.
However, the nation’s entrepreneurial framework requires more creative and lasting solutions—and soon. That’s because America’s demographics demand a bumper crop of young entrepreneurs.
Nearly one in three American workers will be over the age of 50 by 2012. The “baby boomers,” those born between 1946 and 1965, started small businesses in record numbers during the 1970s and ‘80s.
Just as with the massively overbuilt stock of residential housing, supply-demand imbalances often create severe economic shocks. During the next 20 years, the outcome of the so-called “silver tsunami” will be, in part, determined by boomers finding willing buyers for their small business ventures to fund their retirement needs.
However, current and aspiring entrepreneurs repeat a consistent refrain. They want government to control its spending for the sake of long-term interest rate stability. They don’t want to feel like they are on the outside looking in on a state capitalism “green zone.” And the entrepreneurial class seeks relief from the burdens of state licensing and regulatory departments.
Entrepreneurs also crave a better business climate with reduced payroll taxes, tax credits for research and development, and more manageable workers’ compensation and healthcare costs. Many are attracted to states with low or no income and capital-gains taxes.
Finally, we need to help entrepreneurs attract seed capital and make it easier to get new business loans without personal guarantees, allowing them to retain larger equity stakes.
There will be no meaningful job growth beyond the administrative state without a national embrace of those entrepreneurs that create them. A generation of skilled young entrepreneurs stands ready. Is their government ready for them?
Look out Farmers! The U.N. is calling for a Tax on Cow Farts
Livestock should be taxed to reduce the contribution made by their flatulence to greenhouse gas emissions, the United Nations said on Thursday in a report that will give fresh ammunition to campaigners against the preponderance of meat in the foodchain.
The novel suggestion by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation to use taxation comes as campaigners focus on the impact on climate change of emissions of methane from cattle, sheep and pigs.
“Market-based policies, such as taxes and fees for natural resource use, should cause [livestock] producers to internalise the costs of environmental damages,” the FAO said in its annual report, The State of Food and Agriculture .
“The sector is consuming a large share of the world’s resources and is contributing a significant portion of global greenhouse gases emissions,” the report adds.
The proposal, if supported by governments, could hit companies such as JBS of Brazil, the world’s largest meat producer, and large US-based businesses such as Tyson Foods, Cargill or Smithfield. Governments do not necessarily follow the FAO’s recommendations, but its views carry some weight, particularly among European policymakers.
Financial Times
The novel suggestion by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation to use taxation comes as campaigners focus on the impact on climate change of emissions of methane from cattle, sheep and pigs.
“Market-based policies, such as taxes and fees for natural resource use, should cause [livestock] producers to internalise the costs of environmental damages,” the FAO said in its annual report, The State of Food and Agriculture .
“The sector is consuming a large share of the world’s resources and is contributing a significant portion of global greenhouse gases emissions,” the report adds.
The proposal, if supported by governments, could hit companies such as JBS of Brazil, the world’s largest meat producer, and large US-based businesses such as Tyson Foods, Cargill or Smithfield. Governments do not necessarily follow the FAO’s recommendations, but its views carry some weight, particularly among European policymakers.
Financial Times
President's Yucca Policy Inconsistent with Nuclear Rhetoric
President Barack Obama's proposals on nuclear energy do little to back up his pro-nuclear rhetoric. Most worrisome is his effort to terminate the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository project.
His budget provides no funding for Yucca construction activities, and the Department of Energy (DOE) has filed a motion to permanently withdraw its application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to construct the repository. Such action not only flouts existing statute but threatens to end America's nuclear renaissance before it even begins.
According to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) of 1982, as amended, the federal government was obliged to begin collecting nuclear waste by 1998. According to the Yucca Mountain Development Act of 2002, Yucca Mountain was to be the waste repository. Despite having collected over $30 billion in waste disposal fees from electricity ratepayers and spending $10 billion on Yucca development, no waste has been collected.
This has put the federal government in partial breach of contract even before the President decided to ignore existing statute and terminate the Yucca program. With over 60 suits already filed, the federal government has paid out $214 million in settlements. Without Yucca Mountain or any backup plan, this taxpayer liability will amount to over $12.3 billion through 2020 and $500 million annually thereafter.Terminating the program without regard to existing statute exacerbates these problems, and communities are already beginning to investigate the feasibility of pursuing additional legal actions.
The Heritage Foundation
His budget provides no funding for Yucca construction activities, and the Department of Energy (DOE) has filed a motion to permanently withdraw its application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to construct the repository. Such action not only flouts existing statute but threatens to end America's nuclear renaissance before it even begins.
According to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) of 1982, as amended, the federal government was obliged to begin collecting nuclear waste by 1998. According to the Yucca Mountain Development Act of 2002, Yucca Mountain was to be the waste repository. Despite having collected over $30 billion in waste disposal fees from electricity ratepayers and spending $10 billion on Yucca development, no waste has been collected.
This has put the federal government in partial breach of contract even before the President decided to ignore existing statute and terminate the Yucca program. With over 60 suits already filed, the federal government has paid out $214 million in settlements. Without Yucca Mountain or any backup plan, this taxpayer liability will amount to over $12.3 billion through 2020 and $500 million annually thereafter.Terminating the program without regard to existing statute exacerbates these problems, and communities are already beginning to investigate the feasibility of pursuing additional legal actions.
The Heritage Foundation
Natural gas lobby challenging coal
Natural gas lobbyists, who felt their industry got the short shrift in climate legislation, are pushing new incentives to encourage utilities to switch from coal to natural gas.
In doing so, the sector is starting a lobbying fight with the coal industry, which has long and deep ties on Capitol Hill and is determined to hold onto its role as the dominant source of electricity in the United States.
Lobbyists for natural gas companies were heartened by reports that President Barack Obama would announce during a speech on the economy last Wednesday a program to encourage utilities to displace coal with natural gas.
The Hill
In doing so, the sector is starting a lobbying fight with the coal industry, which has long and deep ties on Capitol Hill and is determined to hold onto its role as the dominant source of electricity in the United States.
Lobbyists for natural gas companies were heartened by reports that President Barack Obama would announce during a speech on the economy last Wednesday a program to encourage utilities to displace coal with natural gas.
The Hill
Obama plans to target low-performing schools
President Barack Obama will announce Monday a national effort to reduce the high school dropout rate and better prepare students for successful college careers.
The administration has committed $3.5 billion to fund changes in persistently low-performing schools around the country, with priority given to high schools with graduation rates below 60 percent.
Every day, 7,000 students drop out of school -- a total of 1.2 million students each year. In addition, only 70 percent of entering high school freshmen graduate every year, creating a loss of $319 billion in potential earnings.
The Hill
The administration has committed $3.5 billion to fund changes in persistently low-performing schools around the country, with priority given to high schools with graduation rates below 60 percent.
Every day, 7,000 students drop out of school -- a total of 1.2 million students each year. In addition, only 70 percent of entering high school freshmen graduate every year, creating a loss of $319 billion in potential earnings.
The Hill
American reliance on government at all-time high
The so-called "Great Recession" has left Americans depending on the government dole like never before.
Without record levels of welfare, unemployment and other government benefits as well as tax cuts last year, the income of U.S. households would have plunged by an astonishing $723 billion — more than four times the record $167 billion drop reported last month by the Commerce Department.
Moreover, for the first time since the Great Depression, Americans took more aid from the government than they paid in taxes.
Washington Times
Without record levels of welfare, unemployment and other government benefits as well as tax cuts last year, the income of U.S. households would have plunged by an astonishing $723 billion — more than four times the record $167 billion drop reported last month by the Commerce Department.
Moreover, for the first time since the Great Depression, Americans took more aid from the government than they paid in taxes.
Washington Times
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