10/03/06 Renewable energy

It's a 25 by 25 campaign. The Senate has unanimously passed a resolution that says this country by the year 2025 should meet no less than 25 percent of its energy needs with renewable resources. Senator Mike Crapo and others on the Senate Agriculture Committee see the agricultural benefit to renewable energy, but they say it's the consumers who will benefit too with a reduction in our dependence on foreign and non-renewable resources. An agricultural cooperative kicks off the sale of biodiesel fuel today in Lewiston. Primeland Cooperatives says its goal is to bring biodiesel to its Camas Prairie fueling stations. Most US biodiesel is produced from virgin soybean oil but there's hope that Idaho growers will be able to raise mustard and rapeseed crops to join that growing industry. The former director of Idaho's Department of Environmental Quality is joining his former boss at the Department of Interior. Steve Allred was confirmed by the Senate just before it broke for the election recess. Allred will serve under Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne as Assistant Secretary of Lands and Minerals. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott