Biofuels get a boost
'Green' energy group grows out of March gathering
Principals from the New Mexico Biodiesel Policy Summit held in March have taken that groundbreaking summit a step further, forming the Southwestern Biofuels Association to promote and guide policy in use of this "green" source of energy.
Those who attended the summit received letters earlier this month about the formation of the association, which includes members of the industry, government and Sandia National Laboratories.
The group made its debut on the opening day of the Legislature's special session and has a Web site touting the Southwest, and New Mexico in particular, as well-suited for biodiesel fuels production:
The potential for New Mexico and the Southwest to become major players in the production of biofuels and biodiesel feedstocks is very promising. While the region's climate is too arid for the production of many agricultural products, some of the most important biodiesel crops are well suited to the region's high altitude, low moisture levels, and high summer heat. Where other crops would fail, crops used for biodiesel production -- such as Camelina and Jatropha -- prosper favorably in the Southwest's climate.
For example, with less than 4 percent of the 121,412 square miles that make up the state of New Mexico under cultivation, the potential for biodiesel feedstock production is substantial in that state alone.
The site includes information about those crops -- camelina and jatropha -- as well as the potential for algae as a fuel source.
The group says its primary objective "is to promote biofuels development through strategic partnership between the biofuels industry, universities, national laboratories, state and federal governmental agencies, educators, business entrepreneurs, agribusiness, environmental and other interested organizations. Educating the public and consumers on the benefits of biofuels will also be an important objective," the Web site states.
“We need a unified voice in the Southwest to advance our interests,” Vaughan Gangwish, an attorney, told The New Mexico Business Weekly. “The association can bring together all the major stakeholders to create favorable policies and programs at the state and federal levels to push the biofuels industry forward.”
Lenny Martinez, the governor's policy advisor for rural economic development and a member of the association's board of directors, told the Weekly the governor is behind the group: “The governor’s office absolutely supports this, and so does our congressional delegation. We need to stand up and take a leadership role to provide impetus for biofuels development.”
Board members of the new association include Green Earth Fuels, LLC, which was a major sponsor of the March summit; American Renewable Fuels, the Dallas-based company that is building a plant near Clovis to convert slaughterhouse-fat into fuel; Sandia National Laboratories, which was another sponsor of the summit; and Symbios Technologies, a biodiesel design, development and research group.
The New Mexico Biofuels Policy Summit was hosted by the New Mexico departments of Agriculture; Economic Development; and Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources.
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