County commissioners OK NEXT Renewables’ Port Westward lease

In Oregon, state-wide public radio reports that the Columbia County Commissioners have approved NEXT Renewables’ lease at Port Westward to develop a $1 billion biofuel project there despite concerns by environmental groups that some of the project’s backers’ pasts have included projects that didn’t come to fruition. The project is meant to produce up to 50,000 barrels per day of renewable diesel from used cooking oil, animal tallow and other waste fats, supplying the fuel along the West Coast where a number of low carbon fuel standards are in place.