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Rep. Shipley explains newfound support for biofuels plan

Tennessee state Rep. Tony Shipley moved from negative to positive this month over the University of Tennessee Biofuels Initiative.

On Nov. 4, Shipley and other lawmakers on the General Assembly’s Fiscal Review Committee expressed dismay after seeing how the initiative had changed since lawmakers allocated $70 million for the project in 2007.

UT initially had a letter of intent with one private partner to develop a pilot plant that would produce ethanol from switchgrass but began looking for a new partner last year.

Two years ago, the plan for the project was to produce 5 million gallons of ethanol per year using switchgrass. Those plans now call for just 250,000 gallons, and the initial production of ethanol will use corncobs.

“I am absolutely crestfallen by such poor numbers. That’s clearly not good stewardship of the taxpayers’ dollars. ... That’s terrible,” Shipley, R-Kingsport, said during the Nov. 4 meeting.

But at the Fiscal Review Committee’s meeting last Wednesday, Shipley put his vote and support behind the initiative.

Shipley, a retired Air Force veteran, pointed out ethanol development was important to national security at the Capitol Hill meeting.

In an e-mail sent before the meeting, he also noted Kingsport-based Eastman Chemical Co. was interested in the biofuels technology.

Shipley’s e-mail was forwarded to Eastman’s Corporate Communications Office for a response, which was: “If there is an opportunity that fits within the company’s business plan, we will evaluate and pursue if appropriate.”

Shipley also suggested in the e-mail that UT’s new partner in the biofuels initiative — DuPont-Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol (DDCE) — was interested in building a $150 million ethanol production facility in the Kingsport area.

At a GOP luncheon on Friday, Shipley insisted his support for the biofuels initiative was not a 180-degree position shift.

“We had incomplete information from the University of Tennessee,” he explained. “The university made an effort that they should have been making all along to keep the General Assembly informed. ... Now we’ve applied oversight to (the project), and now we can manage it.”

UT’s and DDCE’s pilot plant, located in Vonore, Tenn., is scheduled to begin operation in about 20 days.

DDCE Vice President Vonnie Estes told the Fiscal Review Committee last Wednesday that the company wants to license the technology and sell it, in addition to building two other ethanol plants: One in the Midwest and the other in Tennessee.

Kelly Tiller, director of external operations for UT’s Office of Bioenergy Programs and president and CEO of Genera Energy, said it would take over 760 people to build the ethanol plant.

The plant would also need switchgrass from farmers within a 50-mile radius to produce feedstock. UT officials indicate it takes two to three years for switchgrass farming to take hold and produce maximum yields.

Tiller also noted that over a 10-county area, the ethanol plant would have a $59 million annual economic impact and support more than 180 workers.

On Thursday at Kingsport’s Regional Center for Advanced Manufacturing, Tennessee Economic and Community Development Commissioner Matt Kisber was asked whether Kingsport is among the finalists to land the ethanol plant.

“I don’t talk about projects,” Kisber responded.

Genera Energy was set up as a for-profit limited liability company by the University of Tennessee Research Foundation as the vehicle to carry out the biofuels initiative.

DDCE was formed last year as a joint venture of international chemical company DuPont and Danisco’s Genencor division.

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