The Department of Agriculture has made grants to 21 states – for a total of $100 million – in its Biofuels Infrastructure Program, according to Biomass Magazine.
The monies are matched by state and private entities. Therefore, the total investment will be $210 million. The goal is to almost double the number of fueling pumps nationally that supply renewable fuel. The expectation is that the 1,486 stations will install 4,880 pumps and 515 tanks under the Biofuel Infrastructure Partnership.
The announcement was made a Citgo station in Kissimmee Florida by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Texas and Florida, at $17 million and almost $16 million, respectively, will be the biggest beneficiaries of the grants.
Another part of the government -- the U.S. Department of Energy -- also made news on the biofuel grant front this week with a grant to Jeremy Schmutz, a faculty investigator for the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Birmingham, AL. Schmutz was awarded $1.2 million over five years to investigate and identify genes in switchgrass, a potential biofuel source, according to the Birmingham Business Journal.
