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Agri panel endorses biodiesel incentives, state butterfly bill Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 By Rob Moritz Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - A House committee Friday endorsed legislation that would create financial incentives for the production and distribution of biodiesel fuel in Arkansas. The House Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development Committee also advanced a bill that would designate the Diana Fritillary butterfly as the state butterfly. Both measures now go to the House for consideration. Known as the Arkansas Alternative Fuels Development Act, House Bill 1379 by House Speaker Benny Petrus, D-Stuttgart, would provide, through a grant program, up to $2 million in incentives to produce biodiesel fuel and up to $2 million in incentives for infrastructure - plants and crushers - needed for production. Also, distributors of biodiesel fuel would be eligible to receive up to $50,000 per station to install the necessary heating equipment. Biodiesel turns to jelly in cold weather, Petrus told the committee Friday. The measure is supported by Gov. Mike Beebe, Petrus said. "Arkansas will be the leading state in the Southeast, if not the country, in alternative fuel production," Petrus said. Cal McCastlain with Patriot Biodiesel Fuel in Stuttgart spoke for the measure, saying the bill "ensures that Arkansas agriculture has a place in the future where biofuels are concerned." McCastlain said legislatures in several states, including Tennessee, Georgia and Missouri, have tried to implement similar legislation in recent years. "This places Arkansas in a strategic position for the future," he said. Jerry Lee Bogard, a Stuttgart farmer and member of the Arkansas Agriculture Department's advisory board, also spoke for the proposal. The butterfly bill, HB 1005 by Rep. John Paul Wells, D-Paris, was endorsed by the committee earlier in the session, but the sponsor added an amendment to address concerns made by lawmakers. The amended bill specifies that the butterfly would not be granted protection status and that the state would not have to publish a brochure in honor of the butterfly. The butterfly is found atop Mount Magazine, were a butterfly festival is held annually, Wells said. |
