Oil prices tumble as Libya declares cease-fire

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices plunged Friday after Libya’s foreign minister declared a cease-fire and said the government would stop military operations against rebels.

Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa announced the cease-fire Friday, shortly after the U.N. voted to authorize a no-fly zone and “all necessary measures,” including airstrikes, to protect Libyan citizens from forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi.

Koussa said the cease-fire “will take the country back to safety” and ensure security for all Libyans.

Benchmark crude swiftly dropped afterward on the New York Mercantile Exchange, with the price plunging about $3 in 15 minutes, or nearly 3 percent. West Texas Intermediate oil for April delivery fell 57 cents to $101.85 in morning trading on the Nymex.

Oil prices surged as much as 27 percent in the past month as pro-reform uprisings swept through North Africa and the Middle East, ousting leaders in Tunisia and Egypt. The region is home to OPEC leaders Saudi Arabia and Iran, and it produces 27 percent of the world’s oil. Prices rose on concerns unrest could disrupt global oil supplies.

The rise in oil prices was felt at gasoline stations across the U.S., where pump prices jumped and remain at the highest levels ever for this time of year at $3.54 per gallon.

CL: Lawmakers push for more drilling permits

WASHINGTON — The administration's "slow-walking'' of drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico is costing thousands of jobs and crippling the Gulf region's economy, Gulf Coast officials told Congress Wednesday.

"We continue to feel the burden of regulatory uncertainty, which has led to the freezing of investment and expenditures and consequently a drag on our economy,'' Scott Angelle, secretary of Louisiana's Department of Natural Resources, told members of the House Natural Resources Committee.

Wednesday's hearing focused on the impact of last year's moratorium on deepwater drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico.

Gulf Coast lawmakers and officials from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama say, even though the temporary ban was lifted late last year, federal officials have been slow to issue permits. They say that's created a "de facto'' ban on drilling in deep and shallow waters.

Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., chairman of the committee, vowed Wednesday to introduce legislation later this month that would speed the permit process and reverse the administration's plan to ban offshore drilling outside the Gulf of Mexico.

"The Obama administration seems unmoved by thousands of lost jobs, rapidly rising gasoline prices and the threat these high prices pose to our economy,'' Hastings said.

Later Wednesday, Gulf Coast lawmakers, including Republican members from Mississippi, warned again that the administration's inaction in issuing new drilling permits will decimate the region's economy.

Fourth District Rep. Steve Palazzo said last year's moratorium has cost the region as many as 12,000 jobs and has made residents in the Gulf feel "powerless.''

"We just keep getting hit on every front,'' Palazzo said. '"Please, we need these jobs.''

Third District Rep. Gregg Harper also urged the administration to issue more permits and expand energy production in the Gulf.

"Instead of slowing the approval process for new offshore drilling permits, the president should be promoting increased domestic energy production from oil, renewables, natural gas, clean coal technology and nuclear power - ultimately leading to an energy-independent America,'' Harper said in a statement.

Read More

Assault on the EPA

No agency is in GOP crosshairs quite like it. Under siege on many fronts, the Environmental Protection Agency is in for a long haul and destined to be a hot button in the presidential campaign.


On Monday the House Energy and Commerce committee began work on blocking EPA regulation of greenhouse gas, a proposal that could also gain traction in the Senate because many Democrats, such as Nebraska's Ben Nelson, are expected to back it. The current 3-week extension of stop-gap funding to avoid a federal shutdown includes EPA funding cuts.

Read More

Congressman Harper denounces administrations move to tap fuel reserves.

Congressman Gregg Harper (center)

U.S. Representative Gregg Harper (R–Miss.), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, released the following statement after the White House hinted at tapping into the Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR):

“The White House would be ill-advised to reach into our nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserves. While the escalating price of oil creates hardship and threatens economic recovery, there can be no denial that the President’s energy policies are short-sighted and restrict the advancement of domestic oil production. The same President who is proposing to release government owned petroleum stocks, which are held for national emergencies, has essentially halted offshore drilling by investor owned companies in the Gulf of Mexico. Instead of slowing the approval process for new offshore drilling permits, the President should be promoting increased domestic energy production from oil, renewables, natural gas, clean coal technology and nuclear power – ultimately leading to an energy independent America. Expanding our supply of domestic energy would lower costs, reduce our dependence on foreign oil from nations like Libya and create American jobs. This misstep by the White House is yet another example of the Obama Administration’s failure to enact an effective energy policy.”

House GOP readies bill to prohibit EPA from regulating carbon emissions

Acting on a vow to fight the Obama administration on climate issues, Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, unveiled draft legislation Wednesday to try to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its power to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

Sen. James M. Inhofe (Okla.), ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), chairman of the subcommittee on energy and power, joined Upton in issuing what they called the Energy Tax Prevention Act.

In a statement, the congressmen said the legislation's intent is to show that the Clean Air Act was not meant to address climate change, stop the EPA "from imposing a backdoor cap-and-trade tax" on industries identified as polluters, and protect American jobs.

"We firmly believe federal bureaucrats should not be unilaterally setting national climate change policy," the statement said.

The EPA issued a finding in late 2009 that said greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming endanger the public's health and welfare. Last month, the agency told industrial facilities such as power plants, oil refineries and paper mills that require permits to emit sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxide to also account for greenhouse gas emissions if they expand or add construction that significantly increases greenhouse gas pollution.

Republicans, many of whom doubt climate-change science, say the regulations hurt the ability of U.S. manufacturers to compete against companies in countries with relaxed standards.

The EPA has its foot "squarely on the neck of business," Upton has said. Republicans say the Obama administration is trying to use tougher EPA regulations on energy to overcome the president's failure to pass climate-change legislation.

Read More: House GOP readies bill to prohibit EPA from regulating carbon emissions

Profit-sharing agreement signed for biomass plant

National Clean Fuels announced today that the company signed a profit participation agreement with the Center for Environment, Commerce & Energy (The Center). The two organizations are working together closely to build a biomass-to-electricity (BTE) plant in Port Gibson, Miss.

According to the agreement, National Clean Fuels will provide the Center with monthly project support payments in exchange for a percentage of the net profits generated by the Port Gibson BTE plant once it becomes operational. The Center and National Clean Fuels signed a term sheet earlier this month.

Plans call for the new Port Gibson BTE plant to generate electricity by gasifying sawdust and woodchips to power a massive turbine. NACF inked a letter of intent with the City of Port Gibson in September to devise plans for biomass and solar-energy production in and around the municipality as well as other potential means of green energy production. The Center will assist with the planning and implementation of the project.


MBJ

10:10 Climate Change Campaign creator's actions proves the campaign's uselessness (Video)

Franny "Super Carbon" Armstrong

Franny Armstrong, the creator of the self described climate change "blockbuster" movie,  admits that the only way she could make it was to increase her carbon footprint 10 fold. Begin watching the video below at around 1:10.

Fran has been quoted as saying, "If you're not fighting climate change or improving the world, you're wasting your life."

Funny that the only way she could "improve" the world was by burning enough carbon to fuel a small village.

The audacity of these people is stunning. They can rationalize almost any behaviour as long as it gets them to their end result. Does it make sense to increase your carbon footprint by 10 fold, in order create a movie to encourage people to reduce their carbon footprint?

Makes no sense. Unless your making money.

This idiot logic is so outside the realm of sanity that it might need a referral for medication.

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/

Sierra Club, others sue to stop Miss. Power plant

The Sierra Club filed a lawsuit Thursday trying to stop Mississippi Power Co. from developing a coal-fired, electric-generating plant in the east central part of the state.

The lawsuit was filed in coastal Harrison County Chancery Court.

In May, the state Public Service Commission voted 2-1 to ease restrictions it had put on the Kemper County plant.

Sierra Club state director Louie Miller described that decision as a "flip flop." He said it would allow Mississippi Power to charge rate payers for the costs of the plant before it's even built.

Miller said the PSC refused to order Mississippi Power to disclose how much customers will pay in rates for the new plant.

"Agreeing to unknown increased electric rates for Kemper is like buying a car when the salesman won't tell you what it costs," Miller said in a statement. "This is an outrage and betrayal of the public trust."

Mississippi Power officials had no immediate comment. The lawsuit represents only one side of a legal argument.

Mississippi Power, a subsidiary of the Atlanta-based Southern Co., has said the plant would use a new technology that converts lignite into a gas that would fuel turbines to create electricity. Company officials said the lignite would be locally mined and would be cheaper than natural gas.

The utility said more than 4 billion tons of lignite are underground near the plant site, and it has options on 30,000 acres.

The proposed 582-megawatt plant is expected to begin generating power by 2014, according to the utility.

Mississippi Power officials say the plant will create 260 permanent jobs and 1,000 jobs during the construction phase.

Associated Press

Mississippi Power seeks rehearing

The Meridian Star

MERIDIAN — Mississippi Power Co. will ask state regulators to reconsider conditions they placed on the utility building a coal-fired generating plant in Kemper County.

The Public Service Commission last week approved the plant application but with a lengthy set of conditions — conditions that Mississippi Power said after the decision would make it impossible to finance or construct the plant.

The three-member Mississippi Public Service Commission voted 2-1 in favor of the proposal, detailing its decision in a 50-page document.

Mississippi Power spokeswoman Cindy Duvall said Tuesday that the company's request for a rehearing will include a brief on why the conditions in the PSC's order would not allow the company to act in a fiscally responsible manner.

The motion will also include an update on the parameters of the project, as well as alternatives for the commission to consider.

“We respect the work of the commission on a very complicated matter in difficult economic times. We hope they will reconsider these issues and work with us to find a solution to build the Kemper Project and keep rates for our customers as low as possible,” Duvall said.

The motion will be filed this week.

$3M federal grant to help center for river power

A $3 million federal economic stimulus grant will be used to establish a center for commercial development for turbines that can be placed in the Mississippi River and other powerful rivers to generate electricity.

Officials with Tulane University, which is guiding the River Sphere project, said the center could mark a big step forward in the science of hydrokinetics - using flowing water without a dam for generating electricity.

Calling the river one of Louisiana's best potential assets in alternative forms of power, Douglas Meffert, executive director of the project, said hydrokinetic power "is the sleeping giant of energy."

Using the river to generate power is well beyond the thinking stage.

Several companies have received preliminary permits from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to place turbines in the Mississippi and other rivers that would be turned by flowing water. Several different technologies are emerging to do that, such as totally underwater generation and turbines connected to barges on the surface that would do the generation.

Plans call for the turbines to be mounted on pylons below shipping lanes and attached to bridge abutments.

Forbes

The Foundry: Don’t Be Fooled by Obama’s Offshore Drilling Announcement

The increased economic activity from heavily-populated developing nations like India and China indicates that the demand for oil is likely to increase well into the future. The least we can do is step aside and let companies determine whether these projects are economically feasible.


President Obama said in his announcement today that “This is not a decision that I’ve made lightly.” It should have been. Offshore drilling will create jobs and increase energy supplies without cost to the taxpayer. It will create revenues for financially strapped state governments and increase revenues for federal governments. Unfortunately, we won’t realize many of these benefits because this decision was more about getting “drilling” in the headlines than in our nation’s waters.

The Foundry

Drill Here? Study, plan, authorize . . . maybe.

The New York Times led with a story this morning that the Prez would open offshore areas to oil drilling. Which is odd since it was barely a year ago that he rescinded the drilling permits ordered by his predecessor. But this is different, because now he may be able to entice some "Drill Baby Drill" Republicans into support of a Cap and Trade type proposal with offshore drilling playing the part of the carrot.

Obama to Open Offshore Areas to Oil Drilling for First Time

The Obama administration is proposing to open vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling, much of it for the first time, officials said Tuesday.

The proposal---a compromise that will please oil companies and domestic drilling advocates but anger some residents of affected states and many environmental organizations — would end a longstanding moratorium on oil exploration along the East Coast from the northern tip of Delaware to the central coast of Florida, covering 167 million acres of ocean.

Under the plan, the coastline from New Jersey northward would remain closed to all oil and gas activity. So would the Pacific Coast, from Mexico to the Canadian border.

The environmentally sensitive Bristol Bay in southwestern Alaska would be protected and no drilling would be allowed under the plan, officials said. But large tracts in the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean north of Alaska — nearly 130 million acres — would be eligible for exploration and drilling after extensive studies.

But the devil is always in the details. The report says that:

"the administration plans to adopt some drilling proposals floated by President George W. Bush."

Note: that the administration plans to adopt some not all. The report goes on to say that officials say:

"The first lease sale off the coast of Virginia could occur as early as next year in a triangular tract 50 miles off the coast."

Or it could occur as let as never. Why? Because the Interior Department

"will spend several years conducting geologic and environmental studies along the rest of the southern and central Atlantic Seaboard. If a tract is deemed suitable for development, it is listed for sale in a competitive bidding system. The next lease sales — if any are authorized by the Interior Department — would not be held before 2012."

Don't know about you, but I find that to be a lot of what if's, kinda sorta's, and maybe's in return for a vote for another large tax increase in the form of Cap and Trade.


As Moe Lane puts it:

"the White House is implying the promise of jam tomorrow - in reality, it’s just a study to revisit the denial of jam yesterday - in exchange for jam today. Only the jam today is actually a swarm of angry wasps. Try again, Mr. President. Start with rescinding your interference with the Bush drilling permits, and expect to give up more. A lot more: your opponents are not interested in indulging the Greenies’ quaint, somewhat primitive religious sensibilities."

In other words, an operator’s ability to drill and explore a lease is subject to his ability to secure the requisite approval from the various government agencies that issue permits for that activity. So, theoretically, the Feds could issue a lease, but if one of the regulatory bodies refuses to issue a permit, there’s no drilling.

And, guess what? It already happened last month.

Montana oil leases suspended

BILLINGS – A federal judge has approved a first-of-its-kind settlement requiring the government to suspend 38,000 acres of oil and gas leases in Montana so it can gauge how oil field activities contribute to climate change. …


Under the deal approved Thursday by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula, the Bureau of Land Management will suspend the 61 leases in Montana within 90 days. They will have to go through a new round of environmental reviews before the suspensions can be lifted.


A parallel lawsuit challenging 70,000 acres of federal lands leased in New Mexico remains pending.

Put simply this is a scheme to regain support for a Cap and Trade proposal that as of this moment appears to be dead. To fall for anything this administration proposes at this point is a mistake. Just Say No to everything until November. Then begin the conversation anew.

The Big Wind-Power Cover-Up--Investors Business Daily

Spain exposed the boondoggle of wind power in 2009, discrediting an idea touted by the Obama administration. In response, U.S. officials banded with trade lobbyists to hide the facts.
It was a cold day at the Energy Department when researchers at King Juan Carlos University in Spain released a study showing that every "green job" created by the wind industry killed off 4.27 other jobs elsewhere in the Spanish economy.

Research director Gabriel Calzada Alvarez didn't object to wind power itself, but found that when a government artificially props up this industry with subsidies, higher electrical costs (31%), tax hikes (5%) and government debt follow. Fact is, these subsidies have the same "Cuisinart" effect on jobs as wind-generating propeller blades have on birds. Every green job costs $800,000 to create and 90% of them are temporary, he found.

Alvarez made no bones about the lessons of Spain for the Obama administration, which has big plans for "green jobs." His report warned of "considerable employment consequences" from "self-inflicted economic wounds." It forecast that the U.S. could lose 6.6 million jobs if it followed Spain, and it "should certainly expect its results to follow such a tendency."

Investors Business Daily

Deadline to submit comments on proposed Mississippi Power plant is Friday

Anyone wishing to enter a written comment into the public record concerning the proposed Mississippi Power IGCC plant in Kemper County, should do so with the Public Service Commission no later than 5 p.m. Friday.

Mississippi Power Co. is petitioning the PSC for a certificate of public convenience and necessity authorizing the acquisition, construction and operation of an electric generating plant in Kemper County.

Final public comment concerning the proposed Kemper County IGCC Plant will be officially be accepted in writing through mail or e-mail until Friday.

Comments may be submitted by e-mail to southern.district@psc.state.ms.us or mailed to The Honorable Leonard L. Bentz, Mississippi Public Service Commission, P.O. Box 1174, Jackson, MS 39215-1174

For more information, call Bentz at the PSC at 800-356-6429.

The Hattiesburg American

Oil and Gasoline Prices Begin to Creep Up

By CLIFFORD KRAUSS

Crude oil and gasoline prices are inching up again.

Various factors combined Monday to lift the prices of crude oil and gasoline. Here, fuel is delivered to gas pumps in Lynnfield, Mass.

A combination of reasonably upbeat economic data, new tensions in oil-producing Nigeria and reports that China intends to build up its strategic reserves lifted crude prices to around $82 on Monday, about a $10 increase over the last month.

Prices at the pump have followed suit, with the average national price for a gallon of gasoline rising 5 cents in the last week.

“That’s a drag on the economy,” said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, who estimated that consumers are paying just over $1 billion a day at the pump, about $250 million more than this time a year ago.

Mr. Kloza predicted that gasoline prices would top $3 a gallon between April and June as warm weather encourages more driving, before dropping to as low as $2.50 after the summer driving season. “We’re in the fourth or fifth inning of the typical end of winter, early spring rise in gasoline prices,” he added.

The New York Times

Sen. Kerry lobbies for climate compromise; actual bill to come

By Jim Snyder

The three senators writing compromise climate legislation are lobbying business groups in hopes of winning their support for the effort. One obstacle: the absence of an actual bill.

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) briefed a group of electric utility executives this week on a broad outline of the plan. Kerry and his cohorts, Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), have also reached out to Tom Donohue, the president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who has been among the harshest critics of a climate bill stalled in the Senate.

Kerry, Graham and Lieberman have worked for weeks to break the impasse and craft a measure to reduce heat-trapping gases that could win centrist support. A key to their effort will be reducing the level of angst among business, given high unemployment levels and the effects that capping carbon dioxide could have on the economy. Supporters say climate legislation could create jobs by spurring growth of a clean energy industry in the United States.

As he tries to sell the legislation, Kerry is de-emphasizing its relation to climate change.

“What we are talking about is a jobs bill. It is not a climate bill. It is a jobs bill, and it is a clean air bill. It is a national security, energy independence bill,” he told reporters in the Capitol this week.

The Hill

Congress should do the right thing—nothing

The same ethical advice for doctors also makes sense for Congress as it considers several pending global warming bills – first do no harm. Given serious questions about global warming science as well as the efficacy of costly proposals to address it, the best choice for Washington is none of the above.
With economy-wide cap and trade stalled in the Senate, a number of slightly scaled back variants have been proposed, including measures targeting selected industries or a carbon tax. All threaten to do more harm than good.

Before considering these measures, Congress should first get to the bottom of Climategate, Glaciergate, Hurricanegate, Amazongate, and other scandals that raise troubling questions about scientific credibility. Virtually every scary claim used to justify precipitous action—unprecedented temperatures, rapidly melting glaciers, increasing hurricanes, plummeting crop yields, disappearing rainforests—is under genuine suspicion. The fact that temperatures have been statistically flat since 1995 is another reason not to treat global warming as a dire crisis.

Haste in light of these scientific doubts is all the more troublesome given the cost of cracking down on fossil fuels, no matter how imposed. All of the legislative proposals have one thing in common—they reduce carbon dioxide emissions by driving up the cost of energy so that individuals and businesses are forced to use less. Inflicting significant economic pain (likely trillions of dollars and millions of jobs for cap and trade, somewhat less for watered down measures) is how this all works.

These measures have another thing in common—their uselessness. Even if one still believes the worst case scenarios of global warming, unilateral action against the American people and American economy would hardly dent the upward trajectory of emissions. China alone out emits the U.S. and its emissions growth is projected to be nine times higher than ours. And it is hard to ignore Chinese government officials’ frequent and unambiguous statements that they will never impose similar restrictions on themselves, though some global warming activists still try.

Washington cracking down on fossil fuels in the name of addressing global warming would result in much economic pain for little if any environmental gain. First do no harm.

The Heritage Foundation

Scientists Taking Steps to Defend Work on Climate

WASHINGTON — For months, climate scientists have taken a vicious beating in the media and on the Internet, accused of hiding data, covering up errors and suppressing alternate views. Their response until now has been largely to assert the legitimacy of the vast body of climate science and to mock their critics as cranks and know-nothings.

But the volume of criticism and the depth of doubt have only grown, and many scientists now realize they are facing a crisis of public confidence and have to fight back. Tentatively and grudgingly, they are beginning to engage their critics, admit mistakes, open up their data and reshape the way they conduct their work.

“I’ll let you in on a very dark, ugly secret — I don’t want trust in climate science to be restored,” Willis Eschenbach, an engineer and climate contrarian who posts frequently on climate skeptic blogs, wrote in response to one climate scientist’s proposal to share more research. “I don’t want you learning better ways to propagandize for shoddy science. I don’t want you to figure out how to inspire trust by camouflaging your unethical practices in new and innovative ways.”


“The solution,” he concluded, “is for you to stop trying to pass off garbage as science.”

The New York Times

BlueFire Ethanol Applies for DOE Loan Guarantee; Company Seeks to Secure Complete Funding for Fulton, MS Biorefinery

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.