Biobased Jobs & Possible Biofuels Center At WSU Tri-Cities

Biobased Jobs & Possible Biofuels Center At WSU Tri-Cities


During her tour Saturday at the Washington State University Tri-Cities campus Senator Maria Cantwell spoke about the recently passed Federal Aviation Administration bill and how it calls for the creation of a Center of Excellence in the area of biofuel. She also highlighted the Tri-Cities’ leading role in the state’s biofuel industry.With the Richland campus already touting the Bioproducts, Sciences and Engineering Laboratory there’s a good possibility a new aviation biofuel research hub could be in the Tri-Cities. WSU researchers and graduate students, along with scientists from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory work together in the joint facility finding efficient ways to turn plants into biofuels and plant based products.

In his weekly address Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack talked about the potential for the bioproducts industry to grow and generate jobs by taking advantage of American farmers’ and ranchers’ productivity.

VILSACK:Today there are more than 3,000 companies producing more than 20,000 so called bioproducts made from grasses, grains, oil seeds, and agricultural waste rather than petroleum. They employ about 100,000 Americans, many of them in rural communities, by marrying together two important economic engines, agriculture and manufacturing. As we lay the foundation for an economy that is built to last this effort will create jobs, drive innovation, reduce our dependance on oil, and support incomes for farmers and ranchers.

Washington state excels not only in the field of biofuels research and development, it also has some of the nation’s most productive growers and businesses in the biofuels supply chain.

I’m Lacy Gray and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network. 

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