Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced his second bio-fuels loan guarantee in a week, revealing that the Agriculture Department (USDA) is slated to loan an Oregon biorefinery $232.5 million for a project expected to create 65 jobs and support 38 others.
"This project and others like it will help to establish a domestic advanced biofuels industry that will create jobs here at home and open new markets in the Pacific Northwest and across America," Vilsack said in a statement.
ZeaChem Boardman Biorefinery, LLC (ZBB), "must meet specific conditions before the 60 percent loan guarantee can be completed." Located in Boardman, Oregon, ZBB will devote 51 percent of its resources to producing "advanced biofuel, and the remainder will be high-value biobased chemicals, such as acetic acid and ethyl acetate."
USDA offered the loan guarantee as an example of President Obama fighting global warming while increasing energy security and helping the rural economy.
Last week, USDA appoved a conditional $25 million loan guarantee for an Iowa project expected to create 38 jobs. Combined, the two projects create 103 new jobs at a cost of $257.5 million -- or, $2.5 million per job.
