IRVINE, CA (February 23, 2010) - BlueFire Ethanol Fuels, Inc. (OTC
BB:BFRE.OB), a company focused on changing the world's
transportation fuel paradigm through the production of ethanol from
non-food cellulosic wastes, has submitted an application for a $250
million dollar loan guarantee for the company’s planned cellulosic
ethanol bioferinery in Fulton, MS. The application, filed under the
Department of Energy (DOE) Program DE-FOA-0000140 which provides
federal loan guarantees for projects that employ innovative energy
efficiency, renewable energy, and advanced transmission and
distribution technologies, was submitted 12th of February, 2010 and
serves as a phase one application in a two phase approval
process.
The Fulton plant is already a recipient of an award of up to $88
million from the U.S. Department of Energy under the Energy Policy
Act of 2005 and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
If approved, the loan guarantee will secure the financing for the
remainder of the costs to construct the facility, which will
produce 19 million gallons of ethanol per year from woody biomass,
mill residue, and other cellulosic waste.
“We are very optimistic that the DOE will consider the enormous
benefits of BlueFire Ethanol’s technology to convert cellulosic
waste products into useable biofuels during this selection
process,” said Arnold Klann, CEO of BlueFire Ethanol. “Programs
like the DOE loan guarantee enable first-of-its-kind technologies
to come to fruiting and ultimately help ease the United States’
dependence on fossil fuels like petroleum, which is oftentimes
imported from hostile nations.”
Currently, BlueFire Ethanol is focused on the development of two
cellulosic ethanol facilities in Lancaster, CA and Fulton,
MS.
The fully-permitted and shovel-ready Lancaster, CA facility,
BlueFire’s first U.S. commercial plant, will use post-sorted
cellulosic wastes diverted from Southern California's landfills to
produce approximately 3.9 million gallons of fuel-grade ethanol per
year. BlueFire is in the detailed engineering phase and expects to
have all necessary permits for its second commercial plant in
Fulton, MS by this summer, putting the company on a path to
commence construction by the end of 2010. These two planned
facilities will create more than 2,000 construction/manufacturing
jobs and, once in operation more than 300 new operations and
maintenance jobs.
“We are looking forward to a very busy and productive year in 2010,
we have all of the pieces in place to respond to President Obama’s
call to boost biofuels production and reduce our dangerous
dependence on foreign oil ,” added Klann. “We at BlueFire are
committed to bringing new fuel sources to Americans and agree with
the current administration that projects such as ours are the right
approach for creating new jobs, equity for shareholders and wealth
for the nation, while also developing new export technologies to
offset capital flight and give the nation energy security by
offsetting oil imports.”
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