Bio-refinery in Lewis County? (NY)

[jpak]

http://news10now.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=85087

Ethanol is becoming a very popular product as we try to develop ways to depend less on foreign oil. In Lewis County, the Lyonsdale Biomass renewable energy plant, a subdivision of the Catalyst Renewables Company, is hoping a visit from Congressman John McHugh and a check for $350,000, can help them develop a way to get on the bandwagon.

"If you sat down and said let’s develop the dumbest energy policy we possibly can, what you'd probably say is let’s take and make ourselves wholly dependent or certainly a vast majority dependency on a source of product that comes from the most unstable, political parts of the world," McHugh said.

The $350,000 dollars will go towards building a biomass bio-refinery. The goal is to create willow plantations across unused farm lands. They'll use wood chips from the plantations and extract the hemicellulose sugars from them to create ethanol. The bio-refinery was designed by the folks at SUNY ESF and could bring 100 jobs to Lewis County.

"You use the resources you have. New York has wood and water and when you can use your natural resources to reduce dependence on foreign oil as well as revitalize your local communities, that's a win for everyone," said Catalyst chief financial officer Carol Thimot.

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