Flora Man Elected President of Mississippi Biomass and Renewable Energy Council

Pete Weisenberger among newly elected board members and officers of Mississippi Biomass and Renewable Energy Council

The Mississippi Biomass and Renewable Energy Council, Inc. (MBREC) recently elected new members of the Board of Directors and a new President at its annual conference, held this year in Tunica. New board members are: Brent Brasher, Kengro Corporation, Charleston; Tamme Bufkin, The Bufkin Company, LLC, Hattiesburg; Terry Dunlap, Piney Woods Pellets, Wiggins; Caroline Randolph, Mississippi Green Energy Initiative, Hattiesburg; Keith Williams, Molpus Woodlands Group, Jackson; Chad Winter, Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, Jackson. Returning board members are: Alan Kitchens, Kitchens Brothers Manufacturing Company, Hazlehurst; Dr. Randy Rousseau, MSU College of Forest Resources, Mississippi State; and Robert Thompson, Mississippi Polymer Institute, Hattiesburg.

Pete Weisenberger, T. P. Weisenberger & Company, LLC, of Flora was elected President of the group, joining Dr. Joe Jordan, Mississippi State University, Vice President; Kevin Mitchell, Strata-G, Oxford, Secretary; and Lydia Allison, Bagley College of Engineering, Mississippi State University, Treasurer.

Its signature event each year, in April, is the Southern BioProducts and Renewable Energy Conference, which this year was attended by more than 150 people from across the U. S. and Great Britain. April 2011 will mark the 10th anniversary of the event.

Biomass is Mississippi and the Mid-South’s distinctive competence in the realm of renewable energy. Forbes Magazine ranks Mississippi 5th in the nation in biomass resources. The Council offers a forum to share information for the purpose of assessing and communicating the available biomass and renewable energy resources within the state. It supports technology development and utilization to actively produce products and methods which encourage biomass and renewable energy related economic development. Council members include representatives from agriculture, forestry, recycling, energy production, state and local government, credit and finance, higher education, research, manufacturing, and individuals interested in developing economic opportunities for biomass and renewable energy, increasing energy security, and reducing biomass waste streams. MBREC was created in 1998 and incorporated in 2000 as a 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization.

For more information about MBREC, visit the website at http://www.ms-biomass.org/