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State begins taking applications for alternative fuel grants Thursday, Nov 8, 2007 By Rob Moritz Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The state Agriculture Department on Wednesday began taking applications for more than $16 million in state incentives for producing or distributing alternative fuels. Firms have until Feb. 28 to apply for funding under the Arkansas Alternatives Fuels Development Act approved by the Legislature this year. Currently, the alternative fuels industry in Arkansas consists of two soybean-based biodiesel plants, 54 service stations that sell biodiesel and six more that sell both biodiesel and ethanol. Fifteen of those stations are located in Pulaski County, and most of the rest are in eastern Arkansas. No stations or plants are in southern or southwestern Arkansas. "We hope this grant program will encourage distribution in those other parts of the state," state Agriculture Secretary Richard Bell told the state Agriculture Board on Wednesday. Bell said he did not know who would apply for the funding, but he said the availability of the grant money has generated a great deal of discussion among potential alternative fuel investors, including talk of a 40-million-gallon plant. By early Wednesday, one company had applied for a grant, he said. Board member Ann Cash asked if there was anything the agriculture board could to put pressure on the federal government to provide more incentives for alternative fuel production. "There's no telling how much diesel" will cost farmers next spring, Cash said. Bell said alternative fuels would never completely replace diesel and gasoline use in the United States, but it would help lower fuel costs. He also downplayed comments from critics who expressed concern that 30 percent of the state's corn crop was going to ethanol and less corn was being sold on the market for food and feed. "We have the capacity to grow more corn," he said. Under the alternative fuels program, $16 million is available for grants to companies that make biodiesel fuel from soybeans or wood products, as well as to farmers who grow soybeans. Biodiesel distributors also are eligible for up to $50,000 to install the necessary heating equipment at stations. Biodiesel turns to jelly in cold weather. Under the law, another $2 million went to the University of Arkansas for agricultural research and $2 million to the state's weatherization assistance fund, a Department of Human Services-run program that helps poor people insulate and weatherize their homes. |
