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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

UI gets biodiesel grants

USDA providing funds to promote use of fuel

Shanon Quinn Moscow-Pullman Daily News

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has presented grants in the amounts of $768,000 and $192,000 to the National Biodiesel Board and Regents of the University of Idaho, respectively, through the Biodiesel Fuel Education Program, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Tuesday.

The funds will go to further a cooperative project by the entities as well as to fund education and outreach activities in order to raise awareness of biodiesel fuel use among government and private entities, Vilsack said.

During a phone interview with the Daily News, Vilsack said the university’s three-year Biodiesel Fuel Education Program addresses the need to expand knowledge of renewable fuel sources in order to enhance commercialization.

“This is an opportunity to get the word out in the state of Idaho about that source,” Vilsack said.

The source, in this case, is cows.

The project consists of taking manure – 187 million gallons of it – from dairy operations and converting it into electricity that will help fuel and care for properties in Idaho, Vilsack said.

“It’s a renewable energy project,” he said. “It reduces the country’s reliance on foreign oil and provides a renewable resource from livestock waste.”

But the money granted to the university, its partners and other biofuel producing companies isn’t funding research for research’s sake.

“This is about expanding the rural economy, using a number of different strategies to create jobs and to create stable markets for producers,” Vilsack said. “It’s important to know that this is part of an overall strategy to rebuild rural economies, we continue to focus on agriculture and the important role our farmers and ranchers play in producing a product that not only meets our needs but also can be exported around the world.”

Vilsack said the USDA is focused on giving small and midsize producers new market opportunities.

“Certainly conservation is important, as well as an economic driver, but the bioeconomy, the ability to use agricultural waste and crop residue to create new products, new fuel sources, new energy sources is very important,” he said.

In this area, Vilsack said Idaho is excelling.

“Idaho is at the forefront of production agriculture, very much involved in local and regional food systems, doing a lot of conservation and is now among the leaders of bioeconomy as well,” he said.