10/10/08 Biofuels strategic plan

The secretaries of Agriculture and Energy unveiled the national biofuels action plan this week, a plan that's supposed to lessen American dependence on foreign oil, increase renewable energy and meaningful biofuel production by the year 2022. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman says that's doable. BODMAN "With alternative fuels like corn based ethanol and biodiesel. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer says its time that we look beyond corn-based ethanol. SCHAFER "We must move forward with the next generation of biofuels made waste materials like crop residues and biomass, dedicated energy crops like switchgrass, poplar trees and algae and maybe even orange peels." Schafer says the federal government is willing to back 250 million dollars in loan guarantees to bio-refineries that an pioneer new cellulosic ethanol production technology. SCHAFER "How we are going to grow and produce the feedstocks of the future? How to get those feedstocks that we need from the farm and the forest to the refinery. How to convert them into fuel." The biofuel action plan calls for all of this to be done in an economic and environmentally sustainable manner. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott