From the Rapid City Journal:
A proposal in the Senate farm bill to promote cellulosic ethanol could open up more ethanol opportunities for the West River area, according to a spokesman for Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.
Thune announced this week that the farm bill being taken up by the Senate Agriculture Committee includes his provision for incentives to grow switchgrass and other grasses and to promote biomass material such as wood chips for the production of ethanol. Thune is a member of the Senate Ag Committee.
So far, most ethanol production has come from corn, which has benefited farmers primarily in the eastern part of South Dakota, Thune spokesman Kyle Downey said. "The whole cellulosic thing could open it up to the entire state," Downey said.
A planned ethanol plant in Belle Fourche will begin using corn, but company executives are also looking at developing ways to produce cellulosic ethanol in the future.
A Rapid City company, KL Process Design Group, has built a new plant on the outskirts of Upton, Wyo., that produces ethanol from wood chips, sawdust and logging refuse. The plant has been operating for about 30 days now, KL president Randy Kramer said Tuesday.
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