Tennessee Legislators Approve Changes to Switchgrass Project
(Tennessean) A panel of state lawmakers approved plans to amend a $70 million research effort to produce ethanol in East Tennessee, blaming a lack of communication for a hearing two weeks ago in which some members suggested pulling the plug on the project.
The legislature’s Fiscal Review Committee voted 11-1 Wednesday to release $11 million for a joint effort between DuPont and the University of Tennessee to produce ethanol from switchgrass, a prairie grass common in the state.
Committee members said university officials had allayed some of their qualms over changes to the project since it was approved two years ago. Those changes include switching partners to DuPont, slashing the amount of ethanol that would be produced by an experimental refinery and using corncobs, not switchgrass, to produce the fuel at the outset. READ MORE
