Today in Biofuels Opinion: “Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s single largest alternative energy project is a long way from proving itself.”

From The Telegraph of India (Calicut): “Falling sugar output is taking a toll on the country’s bio-fuel programme. The heat is on the mandatory blending of petrol with 5 per cent ethanol — obtained from sugar — with the petroleum ministry urging a rethink given a 39 per cent slump in sugar output….The petroleum ministry has sought the views of other ministries on the possibility of making the 5-per-cent rule optional. A cabinet decision to raise the blending limit to 10 per cent from October has not been implemented. “Even the 5 per cent programme has not yet stabilised. If blending is to be raised to 10 per cent across the country, the availability of sufficient ethanol has to be ensured,” Dinsha Patel, minister of state for petroleum and natural gas, said.”

Patrick Egan, in MichiganMessenger.com: “Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s single largest alternative energy project is a long way from proving itself. There is much uncertainty surrounding the plan to burn 375,000 cords of Michigan hardwood every year to create 40 million gallons of bio-diesel fuel annually, raising concerns that it could do more financial and environmental harm than good. More than $100 million of private investment and another $125 million in public funds have been committed to what is now called the Mascoma project…But examining the costs and benefits, it is unclear if the plan to extract fuel from Michigan’s trees will work in the long run. Those involved in the project, including high-level state Department of Natural Resources officials, cite a key statistic when they trumpet Mascoma’s promise: Michigan grows about 2.5 times more wood fiber annually than it harvests. But that claim may be misleading.”

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