MATL Transmission Line Permit Approved

MONTANA, Oct 29 2008 (Neo Natura) -Tonbridge Power Inc., 100% controlling shareholder of the Montana Alberta Tie Ltd. transmission line project to interconnect the electricity markets of Alberta and the US through a 300 MW transmission line announced that the Montana Department of Environmental Quality issued a Record of Decision authorizing the construction of MATL's 230kV merchant transmission line in Montana.

The specific authorization granted in the ROD is a Certificate of Compliance as required under the Montana Major Facilities Siting Act and is the state permit required to proceed with the project.

The ROD was issued 20 days after the DEQ and the Department of Energy, jointly
issued the environmental impact statement, for the MATL line on October 1, 2008.
The Governor of Montana, Brian Schweitzer, presented the permit to Johan van t Hof, Chief Executive Officer of Tonbridge Power at a press conference in Helena Montana this morning.

The Certificate of Compliance authorizes the construction of a transmission line along the preferred alternative that was selected by the DEQ and the US Department of Energy and was described in the Final Environmental Impact Statement. The preferred alternative is a combination of MATL's proposed alternative and an alternative developed by the agencies with some local routing
options.

The only outstanding permit required before construction can begin is the Presidential Permit. This permit allows the Company to construct, operate, maintain and connect the MATL line across the US-Canadian border and its issuance is the responsibility of the DOE. Legislation requires that the
DOE wait at least 30 days post issuance of the EIS before their ROD and Presidential Permit can be issued, which period expires in early November 2008.

MATL received all the Canadian permits required to build the line earlier this year.

"We are truly appreciative of the great effort that has gone into this permitting process from all stakeholders," remarked Johan van't Hof, CEO, Tonbridge Power Inc. "The affected land owners, the regulatory professionals and the responsible officials worked very hard to ensure this project would be properly vetted. Special recognition goes out to the Governor's office which, under Governor Brian Schweitzer's guidance, gave us tremendous support in guiding a project to benefit the citizens of Montana."

MONTANA, Oct 08 2008 (Neo Natura) - NorthWestern Energy has submitted two new filings to authorities regarding its proposed Mill Creek generating station.

The company submitted its application for an air quality permit with the State of Montana, and filed its request for advanced approval with the Montana Public Service Commission.

The Mill Creek generating station is expected to provide regulating resources to balance the company's transmission system in Montana to maintain reliability, and enable additional wind power to be integrated into the network to meet its future renewable energy portfolio needs.

The facility is designed to enable increasing or decreasing energy production within seconds to follow load fluctuations across the transmission system.

Bob Rowe, president and CEO of NorthWestern Energy, said: "This application moves us another step toward the price stability and operational benefits that utility-owned, rate-based supply can provide over the long-term."

DoE Releases New Powerline Report

MONTANA, Oct 01 2008 (Neo Natura) - Government regulators have chosen a preferred route for a high voltage transmission line from Great Falls to Lethbridge, Alta., in an effort to balance the developer's cost with the disruption caused to farmers.

Montana's Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Department of Energy on Monday released a summary of a long-awaited final environmental impact statement for the 327-kilometre Montana Alberta Tie Line. The statement outlines the preferred alternative and several others.

The line would travel about 210 kilometres and cross six counties in Montana. The carrying capacity of 300 megawatts of electricity in each direction has been sold to prospective wind farm developers.

Federal and provincial authorities in Canada have already approved the line and a final decision by the U.S. and Montana departments could come within a month, regulators said.

The plan preferred by the federal and state authorities differs from the tie line group's preferred plan but doesn't go as far as some farmers had hoped, said Greg Hallsten, the environmental impact statement co-ordinator for the Montana authority.

"We basically sat down with the director and went through this segment by segment, trying to pick which would best serve MATL's needs as well as the landowners," Hallsten said. "It's turned out to be a balancing act."

Bob Williams, vice-president of regulatory affairs for the tie line group, said Monday afternoon he couldn't comment because he had not received the summary of the impact statement.

The 215-kilometre preferred alternative has 134 kilometres of single poles and 79 kilometres of wider H-frames.

The addition of single poles and reduction in lines running diagonally across cropland is a nod to farmers, who have complained about having to manoeuvre machinery around the double poles.

"One of the comments we heard loud and clear was to use monopoles on cultivated ground," the Montana department's Tom Ring said.

By comparison, the tie line group's favoured route is 207 kilometres long, slightly shorter than the government's, and has single poles planned on 43 fewer kilometres of land.

The single poles are taller and cost $359,429 per 1.6 kilometres while the H-frames cost $323,092, according to the environmental study.

The tie line needs a presidential permit from the Department of Energy because it crosses an international boundary and a certificate of compliance from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, said Ellen Russell, project manager for the U.S. Department of Energy's Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability in Washington, D.C.

Camelina Passes Second Feedstock Hurdle

MONTANA, Oct 01 2008 (Neo Natura) - Sustainable Oils has reached a key milestone in its efforts to build camelina production and marketing opportunities for Montana farmers. The company received approval from the Center for Veterinary Medicine, a department of the Federal Drug Administration, for the use of camelina meal in the diets of feedlot beef cattle and growing swine up to 2 percent of the weight of the total ration. Camelina meal is a by-product of camelina oil extraction.

Sustainable Oils was launched in late 2007 and is focused on the research, development and commercialization of camelina for biodiesel production. Camelina, a distant relative to canola, requires minimal water and can be harvested with traditional equipment. Because of these properties, it can be grown on fallow ground or as a rotation crop. Therefore, it is not competitive with traditional food crops, but instead creates a food plus fuels scenario.

"This is an important step in the process of developing a strong, sustainable market for camelina production," said Steve Sandroni, production and logistics manager, Sustainable Oils. "Opening up the livestock feed opportunities for camelina meal provides a market for the most significant by-product of camelina oil production."

"Especially at a time when livestock feeders are battling high input prices, camelina meal can be a very attractive option," he continued. "The meal is an excellent source of protein. With protein levels of 40 percent or more, it is similar to soybean meal but offers the added benefit of being high in Omega-3 fatty acids."

Sustainable Oils is leading the formation of an industry coalition working to obtain "Generally Recognized As Safe" certification from the Food and Drug Administration so all producers can sell camelina meal. Sustainable Oils is now one of only two companies who have approval to sell camelina meal. A nutritionist knowledgeable about the use of camelina must be consulted in developing rations using the product.

Billings Refineries and Canadian Shale

MONTANA, Sep 23 2008 (Neo Natura) - Billings petroleum geologist Bob Fisher is saying that the United States would be wise to rely on a friendly country like Canada for more of its imported oil. Canada is one of our closest allies, is the leading exporter of oil to the United States and is the only major oil-producing country, besides the United States, that allows Western countries to freely explore and develop its oil resources, he said.

Fisher, with Augustus Energy Partners, wrote a guest editorial in The Gazette in late June, calling on Congress to repeal legislation that prohibits the U.S. government from using gasoline and other oil products refined from oil sands. The U.S. Air Force has also asked Congress to rescind the ban.

Fisher said he is against the congressional ban for many reasons, not least because it is nearly impossible to trace fuels back to their source when so many different crude oils are blended before being shipped to American refineries.

Regional oil producers may feel another effect of Canadian developments, he said, because there might be a lack of skilled workers, which could dampen oil exploration and development. It is also possible that Montana businesses will be able to cash in on helping build Canadian infrastructure.

All three refineries in the Billings area will have a finger in the oil-sands pie. Pat Kimmet, manager of the CHS refinery in Laurel, said 90 percent of the crude oil entering the Laurel refinery is already heavy crude, with high sulfur and asphalt content, from conventional wells.

Part of refinery's feedstock is "western Canadian select," or WCS, a blend of various crude oils including some processed from the oil sands of northern Alberta.

As the supply of oil from conventional fields declines, Kimmet said, western Canadian select "is really the future of our refinery here in Laurel." Oil derived from the sands, he said, "is a huge reserve."

In anticipation of handling heavier crude oil, the CHS refinery completed a $400 million upgrade this spring that will squeeze more gasoline and diesel out of each barrel of crude. CHS has its own crude pipeline from the Canadian border to its refinery in Laurel.

Kimmet said the supply of crude from Canada is particularly welcome nowadays, when people are "concerned about the stability of other oil-producing regions of the world."

"We are just very fortunate to have it available to us from a stable country, from a country that's friendly and close to us," he said.

And even though the refinery is using heavier, dirtier feedstock, Kimmet said, upgrades over the years have cut down substantially on sulfur dioxide emissions from the plant. In the early 1990s, when emissions were at their highest levels, he said, the CHS refinery emitted about 9,000 tons of sulfur dioxide a year. That number is now down to 400 to 500 tons a year, he said.

"We've been very progressive in dealing with the environmental issues," Kimmet said. "We have the equipment in place to deal with this kind of crude."

The ConocoPhillips refinery in Billings also plans upgrades that will make it possible to handle some Canadian crude. Charlie Rowton, a company spokesman in Houston, said construction of new crude and vacuum units, which has not begun, is scheduled for completion in 2011.

The new units will be used to perform the initial separation of the crude oil into various products, which would then be further refined in other units at the plant. When the new units are in place, the capacity of the Billings refinery will go from 58,000 barrels of oil a day to 70,000 barrels.

Rowton said it is difficult to say what impact oil-sands developments will have on the Montana economy.

He also states, "Having access to more secure Canadian crude oil and upgrading our U.S. refineries ... will help maintain the economic vitality of all our refineries, including the one at Billings."

The ExxonMobil refinery in Billings was designed to handle heavy crude and has been processing oil from the oil-sands industry in Alberta for many years, according to spokeswoman Pam Malek.

Malek said ExxonMobil, which processes 55,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil a day at its Billings refinery, isn't planning upgrades related to the oil sands.

Update: Cellulosic Ethanol Demo Plant

MONTANA, Sep 16 2008 (Neo Natura) - AE Biofuels Inc. brought its pilot-scale ethanol plant in Butte, Mont., on line in August and since then has begun work to prove out its two individual cold-cook enzyme platforms. See a previous article on the plant here.

“We’re trying to differentiate ourselves from our competitors, so by having two enzymes—one for starch and one for cellulose—we can run an integrated facility where you use both feedstocks,” said Todd Casper, vice president of the company’s project development division.

Clifford Bradley, coinventor of the AE Biofuels pilot process, said the company’s first task is to perfect the simultaneous integration of starch and cellulose hydrolysis.

“We’re talking corn and corn stover,” he told EPM. “We designed the cellulose pretreatment system to use a conventional jet cooker to keep capital costs down. We can do an alkaline pretreatment or an acid, but we like alkaline. It’s milder and less messy.” He said the company’s technology can obtain cellulases capable of hydrolyzing both cellulose and hemicellulose from a single culture.

For corn stover, the gallons-per-ton conversion ratio is still unknown, but it will be the subject of ongoing work in the Butte plant. Bradley said the company achieved 84 gallons of ethanol per ton of wheat straw, which included 62 gallons from the cellulose fraction and up to 22 gallons from the pentose sugars. The plant is scaled to produce up to 150,000 gallons of ethanol per year. Later this year, the company will test sugarcane bagasse.

“Our idea is that by using both enzyme systems and converting a plant to no-cook, we can integrate corn- and cellulose-derived ethanol and actually put them in the same fermentor,” Bradley said. Work to optimize pentose fermentation is also moving forward.

Ethanol is a renewable and octane-boosting fuel additive used to reduce toxic emissions from gasoline engines. Ethanol is made from corn and other renewable sources grown in abundance across the United States. The demand for ethanol has soared because of a strong push to reduce America’s reliance on foreign energy sources.

Camelina: A Biodiesel Feedstock

MONTANA, Aug 29 2008 (Neo Natura) - The National Biodiesel Board has a feedstock development program in place to help diversify feedstocks available to make biodiesel through geographic diversity, using non-edible product and increasing oil yield in current feedstocks. One up-and-coming feedstock of interest, camelina, is a newcomer to the United States, but has worked well in Europe.

Camelina may look and act like a weed, but those characteristics help make it a viable oil crop for biodiesel. It can be grown in arid conditions and does not require significant amounts of fertilizer. The best part is the oil content. Some varieties are 38 percent to 40 percent oil. The leftover meal could be used in animal feed or human consumption, but neither usage has yet been approved in the United States. However, a camelina production guide published by Montana State University suggests that camelina meal has the potential to enhance the food quality of fish, meat, poultry and dairy products.

Camelina is a member of the mustard family and is also known as false flax, gold of pleasure and leindotter in Germany. According to Montana State University, camelina is a short season (85 to 100 days) annual or winter annual crop. It performs well under drought stress and can yield up to 2,200 pounds per acre in areas with less than 16 inches of annual rainfall. It can be planted on marginally productive cropland from eastern Washington to North Dakota. Camelina production increased nearly 200 percent in Montana to 20,400 acres in 2007.

Fed Picks MT For School Wind Program

MONTANA, Aug 29 2008 (Neo Natura) - The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has selected Montana as one of six states to participate in the inaugural year of the Wind for Schools Program.

“This important program will not only provide wind energy for rural Montana schools, but will also educate tomorrow’s leaders on the value and importance of this renewable energy source," said Governor Brian Schweitzer. "In addition, wind energy is American energy, produced by American workers. It decreases our dependence on foreign energy supplies and provides jobs here at home."

The goal of Wind for Schools is to engage rural communities in a discussion of wind energy while encouraging a knowledge and skill base for the industry. The program will serve as a platform for teaching renewable energy principles and opportunities by providing schools with educational curriculum and access to state-of-the-art technology. Other states selected to participate in the program are Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

DOE also funded the recent creation of the Wind Applications Center (WAC) at MSU-Bozeman to support Wind for Schools activities and to develop related coursework for engineering students considering a wind industry career. The MSU-WAC is expected to become a regional center for wind energy training, expertise, and outreach.

“I’m proud that our state is one of only six to be chosen for this program," commented Governor Brian Schweitzer. "It just goes to show that Montana is leading the nation in all types of wind energy development from community projects like this to industrial generation facilities.”

To supplement limited federal funding, NorthWestern Energy recently awarded a substantial grant to enable program activities in Cascade, Fairfield, Livingston, and Stanford school districts. The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has allotted funds from Montana-Dakota Utilities Co.’ Universal Systems Benefits Fund to help support the new Wind Applications Center at MSU-Bozeman.

Public support is now being actively sought to allow additional school districts to participate in the Wind for Schools program. Broadview, Joliet, and Glasgow have already been selected to become Host Schools, and other school districts will be able to join as funding allows. Besides financial contributions, in-kind support including electricians' labor, excavator time, concrete, and materials such as electrical wire and equipment are also needed. All donations are tax-deductible, and will earn recognition in regional media and on a permanent plaque to be placed at each Host School.

With consistent 25-30% annual growth over the last five years, wind energy may provide 20% of the country’s electricity by 2030. The DOE predicts Montana’s wind industry alone could grow from its current 166 MW to 10,000 MW of installed capacity in the next 25 years. Among its benefits, increasing use of wind energy is widely regarded as a way to create jobs and economic growth in rural communities.

Western Community Energy (WCE) of Bozeman has been contracted by the DOE to serve as State Facilitator for Wind for Schools Montana. "Montana is rich with virtually untapped wind and human resources," comments Sean Micken, WCE's Host School Coordinator. "The DOE selected our state to participate in Wind for Schools because it sees the need and opportunity for Montana to become one of the nation's wind energy leaders. Only by directly engaging rural communities and young people can we hope to meet this challenge."

DOE Investing $90m in Geothermal Research

MONTANA, Aug 28 2008 (Neo Natura) - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for up to $90 million over four years to advance the research, development and demonstration of next-generation geothermal energy technology which will harness the earth's interior heat extracted from hot water or rocks. Currently, DOE has up to $10.5 million available for immediate award under this FOA, with the remainder subject to change and to Congressional appropriations. The FOA addresses the need for additional technical understanding of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) to accelerate the technology to a state of commercial readiness.

"Geothermal energy is a clean, reliable, scalable, renewable energy source and these geothermal projects will help the U.S. tap domestic heat sources that were previously out of reach," Assistant Secretary of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Andy Karsner said. "Increasing the use of traditional hydrothermal and geothermal base load resources is an important component of the Administration's efforts to diversify our nation's energy sources in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance our energy security."

EGS are systems of engineered reservoirs created by drilling deep wells into hot rock, fracturing the rock, and circulating a fluid through the wells to extract heat. According to a recent study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) entitled, The Future of Geothermal Energy, EGS represents a large, indigenous resource that, with a reasonable investment in research and development (R&D), could provide the U.S. with 100,000 megawatts of cost-competitive electricity, generating capacity by 2050, or 20 percent of current electricity generation.

While EGS reservoirs have been designed, built, and tested in various locations throughout the world, a number of technical hurdles remain before EGS production facilities will reach commercial production rates and life spans. Through this FOA, DOE will concentrate on issues related to EGS reservoir creation, operation, and management. In the long-term, the work aims to create, sustain, replicate and commercialize EGS technologies, while in the short-term these projects will develop and demonstrate technologies that are useful to both hydrothermal and EGS geothermal projects.

Recycling Carbon-Dioxide From Coal

MONTANA, Aug 27 2008 (Neo Natura) - With oil prices seemingly entrenched above long-term averages, Perth businessman Allan Blood has struck a deal with Montana's Crow tribe to look at building a $US7 billion ($8 billion) plant to turn their stranded coal reserves into diesel and jet fuel.

In a twist to local greenhouse gas capture schemes, Mr Blood plans to limit emissions from the project by selling carbon dioxide to Montana oil projects to inject into their fields and improve oil recovery.

If all goes to plan, the project will be profitable at oil prices above $US60 a barrel and could be producing 50,000 barrels daily by 2016.

Mr Blood also has plans to develop a coal-to-urea plant in Victoria's La Trobe Valley.

The deal inked last week, calls for the Crow Nation to provide coal and water, and Mr Blood's unlisted Australian American Energy Co will provide funding and project management.

The coal will be mined above ground and converted to diesel using processes similar to those of South African synthetic fuels company Sasol.

Sasol's process produces more than twice the greenhouse emissions of a normal oil refinery, but the Montana project, known as Many Stars, will minimise these by either storing CO2 or selling it to nearby oil producers.

"We're hoping to sell all the CO2 that gets trapped, as a by-product," he said. There were more than 8000km of dedicated CO2 pipeline in the US, he said.

Both the Crow Nation and Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer gave the project a glowing appraisal.

"The Many Stars project will be a significant contributor to our nation's need for energy security and has the potential for providing superior military fuels to nearby bases," said Mr Schweitzer, who introduced Mr Blood to Crow Nation members after meeting him at a New York conference in 2007.

Crow chairman Carl Venne said the project would help his tribe become self-sufficient and would provide employment opportunities. Mr Blood sold a coal-to-liquids project in Victoria to miner Anglo American for an undisclosed sum earlier this decade.

The project, known as Monash Energy, is being jointly developed with Shell and could cost $6 billion. It is expected to be atleast 10 years before the operation will be in production.

New Cellulosic Ethanol Demo Plant

MONTANA, Aug 18 2008 (Neo Natura) - Last year AE Biofuels Inc. acquired enzyme technology from Renewable Technology Corporation and formed its ethanol technology subsidiary, Energy Enzymes. The company's enzyme technology is designed to reduce operating and capital costs for both cellulosic ethanol and starch ethanol plants and provides a platform to integrate the two processes. AE Biofuels utilizes patent-pending ambient temperature enzymes to eliminate the up-front "cooking" process that occurs in traditional starch ethanol production. Eliminating the initial cooking and cooling process significantly reduces energy and water consumption.

In addition, the cellulose enzyme technology has proven successful in converting multiple lignocellulosic feedstocks, such as switch grass, wheat grass, corn, and corn stover, the remaining corn "stalks" that are not currently being utilized as biomass, to ethanol. These low-cost, multi-activity enzymes are expected to reduce capital and operating expenditures for cellulose ethanol production. The company has three patents pending covering the enzymes and process for integrating cellulose and starch.

The company celebrated the grand opening of its integrated cellulosic ethanol commercial demonstration facility in Butte, Montana on August 11th. One of the first such cellulosic demonstration plants in the United States, and the first to integrate the use of both cellulose and starch based feedstocks, the 9,000 square foot demonstration facility is now operational. The $1.5 million facility is capable of producing 150,000 gallons of ethanol per year and will be used to perfect the company’s integrated cellulosic ethanol production process.

The plant uses proven, patent-pending Ambient Temperature Enzymes for converting cellulose and starch to fermentable sugars to optimize process conditions for multiple feedstocks. Non-food ethanol feedstocks used at the facility include switch grass, grass seed straw, small grain straw, sugarcane bagasse, and corn stalks either alone or in combination with a variety of traditional starch and sugar sources such as corn, wheat, barley, and sugarcane. By utilizing multiple feedstocks, AE Biofuels can produce ethanol through a cellulose only or cellulose / starch combination, thus reducing the risk of commodity availability and pricing uncertainty.

U.S. Senator Max Baucus of Montana attended the opening ceremony and noted, "One of my top priorities is to help boost domestic energy production here in Montana so we can lessen our dependence on foreign oil and energy sources. This cellulosic biofuels plant is a step in the right direction toward energy independence and will also help create good-paying jobs. I'm especially proud that Montana can help pave the way and be a leader in boosting domestic energy production."

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, who also attended the opening ceremony said, "Montana is a true leader for new energy solutions. We're proud that AE Biofuels' groundbreaking technology was developed here in Montana. It is exciting to see this company working on a way to reduce our dependence on foreign energy supplies - American energy produced by Montana workers."

"The Department of Energy is committed to developing clean, renewable, and sustainable biofuels that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase America's energy security. We must have a broad range of technologies, including cellulosic biofuels that use non-food based feedstocks, to address our energy challenges," said Paul Dickerson, Chief Operating Officer of the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy who attended the opening.

"If the agricultural community can sell their stock, corn stalk and other cellulose fiber materials and get some money that's an additional cash flow onto them," said Jim Smitham, Butte Local Development Corporation Executive.

The company said the technology was invented in Montana and Smitham adds the new plant is an example of the cutting-edge research that is being done in the Mining City.

"It brings new recognition of the types of technology that Butte's involved with. It puts us on the map in a whole different industry sector, a whole different area as far as research and development in agricultural areas and energy areas," Smitham said.

Solar Hydrogen Production

MONTANA, Aug 18 2008 (Neo Natura) - Normally I try to keep all posts in some relation to Montana, but the following article from the Monash University in Australia gives an interesting enough introduction to synthetic hydrolysis (also known as "Solar Thermochemical" hydrogen production). Currently the most economical method for creating hydrogen is eletrolysis and methane steam reforming.

An international team of researchers led by Monash University has used chemicals found in plants to replicate a key process in photosynthesis paving the way to a new approach that uses sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.

The breakthrough could revolutionise the renewable energy industry by making hydrogen – touted as the clean, green fuel of the future – cheaper and easier to produce on a commercial scale.

Professor Leone Spiccia, Mr Robin Brimblecombe and Dr Annette Koo from Monash University teamed with Dr Gerhard Swiegers at the CSIRO and Professor Charles Dismukes at Princeton University to develop a system comprising a coating that can be impregnated with a form of manganese, a chemical essential to sustaining photosynthesis in plant life.

"We have copied nature, taking the elements and mechanisms found in plant life that have evolved over 3 billion years and recreated one of those processes in the laboratory," Professor Spiccia said.

"A manganese cluster is central to a plant's ability to use water, carbon dioxide and sunlight to make carbohydrates and oxygen. Man-made mimics of this cluster were developed by Professor Charles Dismukes some time ago, and we've taken it a step further, harnessing the ability of these molecules to convert water into its component elements, oxygen and hydrogen," Professor Spiccia said.

"The breakthrough came when we coated a proton conductor, called Nafion, onto an anode to form a polymer membrane just a few micrometres thick, which acts as a host for the manganese clusters."

"Normally insoluble in water, when we bound the catalyst within the pores of the Nafion membrane, it was stabilised against decomposition and, importantly, water could reach the catalyst where it was oxidised on exposure to light."

This process of "oxidizing" water generates protons and electrons, which can be converted into hydrogen gas instead of carbohydrates as in plants.

"Whilst man has been able to split water into hydrogen and oxygen for years, we have been able to do the same thing for the first time using just sunlight, an electrical potential of 1.2 volts and the very chemical that nature has selected for this purpose," Professor Spiccia said

Testing revealed the catalyst assembly was still active after three days of continuous use, producing oxygen and hydrogen gas in the presence of water, an electrical potential and visible light.

Professor Spiccia said the efficiency of the system needed to be improved, but this breakthrough had huge potential. "We need to continue to learn from nature so that we can better master this process."

"Hydrogen has long been considered the ideal clean green fuel, energy-rich and carbon-neutral. The production of hydrogen using nothing but water and sunlight offers the possibility of an abundant, renewable, green source of energy for the future for communities across the world."

Liquid Coal - An Oil Solution?

MONTANA, Aug 11 2008 (Neo Natura) - The liquefaction of oil, process transforming coal from a solid state into a liquid fuel, goes back to the beginning of the 20th century. However, low prices and abundance of crude oil and natural gas reserves marginalized its application. Only some countries, among which Germany during the Second World War and South Africa since the Sixties, have massively liquefied coal.

Theoretically, hydrogenating coal is the only requirement to get oil products. Two processes coming from Germany exist: addition of hydrogen can either be made directly on coal (direct liquefaction) or on the gases issued from gasification (indirect liquefaction). The products obtained thanks to the first method are of very great quality - in particular the diesel from which sulfur and aromatic compounds are eliminated - and energy efficiency is nearly equal to 50%, against more than 60% for the indirect but with a much lower quality.

Today, 96% of the energy consumed in transport comes from oil products. Its substitution by different alternative energies is justified by the reduction of the dependency with respect to oil.

Until 2003, with a price of the barrel of crude oil around $25, the CTL at $45 did not present any economical advantage. Today, coal is becoming the best option in order to guarantee the energy security of a country and to get away from high oil prices.

Being the two biggest oil consumers in the word, the United States and China are particularly vulnerable to the big rises of the crude and invest thus massively in this technology.

With oil prices at historic highs, Pike County, where coal trucks rumble at all hours and miners blast away at black seams, is moving ahead with a controversial project to turn its vast coal reserves into barrels of liquid fuel. Indeed, the county plans to develop a $4 billion coal-to-liquid plant that would produce 50,000 barrels of liquid coal a day. Pike County joins a growing number of communities across the United States considering such facilities (Alaska, Montana, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Louisiana, Kentucky, Whitley, McCracken). Such efforts could help wean the nation from its reliance on foreign oil for transportation. The technology would strengthen national security and be cheaper than petroleum.

Over the last 20 years, the price of coal remained stable ($35 to $50 / ton) contrary to the price of oil which passed from $10 to more than $120 by barrel. In a world where everything depends on economy and where energy is essential for it, this aspect is far to be negligible and still promises great days for coal. Worldwide liquid coal production should rise from less than 200.000 barrels a day today to reach 1.800.000 Barrels daily in 2030.

Solar Powering Rural Montana

MONTANA, Aug 07 2008 (Neo Natura) - Custer's sagebrush- covered plains is one of the places where modern electricity never caught on in Montana.

George Larsen's rance, a 20,000-acre property, turns to gravel and the power lines do not follow. Larsen's parents, turn-of-the-century-sodbusters, harnessed the wind and power from a secondhand, 32 -volt generator bought from a country school to electrify their place. The power generated from those two sources charged a system so eccentric that headlights served as indoor lighting in some buildings. And that's the way it was right up until recently, when George decided to go solar.

"It costs too much to bring the wire out," said Larsen, who is five months shy of his 90th birthday and lives at least 3 1/2 miles from the nearest power pole. "I'd have to pay for the power line."

That cost of stringing wire several miles to Larsen's place could have easily exceeded $50,000 a mile, which made the often-high cost of solar more attractive to the life-time rancher.

There's no shortage of sun near Custer, where shade is scarce and the sky's bright blue curtain drags uninterrupted along the horizon in every direction. On a day when the forecast is clear and 85 degrees, the sun makes good on its promise and then some.

Larsen wears the uniform of a cowboy working in the sun; long- sleeved shirt with mother of pearl snaps clasped at his wrists and a thin T-shirt underneath. His cowboy hat sports an ever-broadening watermark around its hatband. His sunglass lenses are coal black and wide enough to reach his cheekbones.

Solar experts rate southeast Montana's potential for generating energy to be very good. The number of clear-sky days works in the area's favor, while the amount of the time the sun spends at optimal positions in the sky hurts its rating some. Still, there's ample solar energy to be tapped, said Bruce Burrows, a solar contractor.

"If you can see a shadow on the ground you're good," said Burrows, standing beside a solar-fed stock tank.

Burrows got his start in solar by putting up panels at missile batteries for the U.S. Defense Department. He and partner James Roan have carved out a niche wiring off-the-grid ranches and wells with solar energy systems. The Billings men do business as Ra Solar Inc.

On a hot June day, the rusted windmill blades towering over Larsen's stock tanks were idle, but the solar panels mounted below pulled cool water into the tanks for Larsen's polled Herefords. There's a simple float attached to the tank edge that lowers like the ball in a toilet tank as the thirsty Hereford's drink. After the water level has fallen several inches, the float signals the water pump to fire up again.

The solar conversion - newly drilled well included - costs between $6,000 and $8,000, Roan said. The setup pays for itself in a couple of years, because the stock tanks wired to solar are relatively low maintenance.

Larsen no longer has to send a hired man out to the tank to check on the water supply or refuel the gas generator that used to pump the water whenever the wind died down. He also likes the idea of not having the hot generator running in a dry pasture, potentially causing a fire.

The ranch house solar system will take much longer to pay for itself because of its size and complexity. Twenty-four solar panels mounted to a south-facing frame tilted at 45 degrees gather enough energy not only to do the wash and power the TV but also to electrify a half dozen outbuildings. To keep the juice flowing night and day, Burrows installed a storage bank of 28 batteries, weighing 130 pounds each, in a small outbuilding. The knee-high batteries are made in Billings by Interstate Battery Systems.

"In George's case, he can run off the batteries for about three days," Burrows said.

Batteries have been a key piece of the rural electricity puzzle for a century, Burrows said. Short on power, homesteaders like Larsen's parents used to bring the batteries from their cars inside to power the family radio. That also meant they were using direct current, common in automobiles, rather than alternating current, which is standard in homes.

Unable to convert the current from DC power to AC power, the homesteaders used headlights instead of incandescent bulbs. The power coming from the solar panels has to be converted to AC power as well, which isn't a problem for systems. The conversion is done in the small out-building where the batteries sit.

The upfront cost for a residential system as big as Larsen's can cost $25,000 to $50,000. The sticker shock is enough to give most homeowners pause, but in Larsen's case, the cost of stringing power lines for several miles made going solar seem reasonable.

But for homeowners with utility power at the pole, the cash value of solar can be murky. Using a solar estimator to weigh the average Yellowstone County resident's energy costs against the price of going solar, the break-even point could be 14 to 26 years. That's if the home is a NorthWestern Energy customer with an average monthly energy bill of $73.

There are several solar estimators online to assist home-owners in figuring out whether solar power is right for them. Almost all estimators require the person doing the calculating to name the power provider and give a monthly estimate of power consumption or an average monthly electric bill. The average monthly power consumption for a NorthWestern Energy customer is 750 kilowatt hours a month.

The cost of replacing that NorthWestern Energy service with a solar system turned out to be about $53,000 after rebates and tax incentives.

Majestic Drills New Natural Gas Well

MONTANA, Jul 28 2008 (Neo Natura) - Majestic Oil and Gas, Inc, a United States Public Company whose securities are qualified for quotation on the Over the Counter Bulletin Board today announced that the Company successfully drilled the Boucher #18-1 well located in Pondera County, Montana, bringing the total number of successfully drilled wells to-date to six. The Boucher #18-1 well is the first well of a three-well drilling program, planned by the Company.

This natural gas well is located in Section 18-T29N-R5W, Pondera County, Montana. The initial production test of the Boucher #18-1 well was 3.6 pounds on a 1" orifice, which is 270 MCF per day. With these results, it was determined that the Lake Frances Field extends to the northwest, proving up additional locations for drilling. The production interval on the Boucher #18-1 well is 2324' to 2338', with 14 feet of total pay zone. The Company has plans to complete this well within the next week in addition to constructing the pipeline necessary to connect this well to the gathering system.

Montana Gov. Switching To Electric Trucks

MONTANA, Jul 21 2008 (Neo Natura) - With his dog riding shotgun, Gov. Brian Schweitzer on Tuesday took a spin in a new solar-powered truck the state bought for maintenance work around the Capitol Complex.

The small truck has zero emissions and soon will be fueled by solar energy from batteries in the campus boiler plant. For now, it's being charged by electricity at a cost of 70 cents a day. The Miles ZX40St electric vehicle, purchased from Eco Auto Inc. of Bozeman for $17,695, gets 50 to 60 miles per charge.

The truck wouldn't start right away - but it did immediately once the seatbelt was fastened in the passenger seat to hold in Schweitzer's border collie, Jag.

Schweitzer drove the small white truck around the oval immediately south of the Capitol a couple of times and emerged from the vehicle with a smile.

"The nice thing about this car is it doesn't use gasoline," Schweitzer said. "It is clear we have got to decrease our consumption of oil. The last time I looked, we are not going to run out of solar and wind."

Schweitzer has a 20X10 energy initiative that directs state government agencies to reduce their energy consumption by 20 percent by 2010.

He praised the Department of Administration for buying the vehicle for its General Services Division employees to use for maintenance jobs.

State officials recently saw the truck demonstrated at an energy fair sponsored by the state Labor Department. After a test drive, state officials decided the electric truck would be a suitable replacement for the pick-up trucks now used by state maintenance workers.

Asked if more state purchases of electric trucks might be in the offing, Schweitzer said, "If it works. If this is able to replace a portion of our fleet, why wouldn't be get more of them?"

There's not much under the truck's hood. It is powered by six batteries under the vehicle, with a seventh battery providing electricity for accessories like heating and air conditioning. It has two gears - forward and reverse - and beeps while going in reverse.

The campus boiler plant has some solar panels on its roof from a NorthWestern Energy demonstration project in 2002. Those will be hooked up soon to charge the truck nightly. In the meantime, the truck is being charged by electricity.

New Shelby Wind Turbine

MONTANA, Jul 21 2008 (Neo Natura) - A ceremony attended by Gov. Brian Schweitzer marked the start of work on a wind energy project near Shelby.

The governor joined representatives of NaturEner, a wind-power company, at a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday.

The first phase of the project calls for 71 turbines producing 106.5 megawatts of electricity. Completion of that phase is scheduled for October.

NaturEner owns and operates wind energy ventures in North America and Europe. Since 1999, the company has developed 14 wind farms in Spain.

Clean Renewable Energy Bonds

MONTANA, Jul 14 2008 (Neo Natura) - Under the recently enacted federal Clean Renewable Energy Bond (CREB) program, electric coopoeratives, public power systems, and municipal utilities can issue or benefit from the issuance of clean renewable tax credit bonds to finance renewable energy projects as a less expensive alternative to traditional tax-exampt bonds. To a large extent, the CREB program is modeled after the Qualified Zone Academy Bond (QZAB) program enacted in 1998 to provide tax incentives for the rehabilitation of public school buildings.

A 135 acre Flathead County landfill located near Kalispell is one of the latest entities to take the goverment up on the offer. The landfill has been collecting methane gas produced by decaying garbage and then burning it, to prevent the greenhouse gas from escaping into the atmosphere.

Flathead Electric co-op's Ross Holter says next year a $3.5 million project will be financed by federal clean renewable energy bonds, and should pay for itself in about 15 years. The project will burn the methane gas that is currently being collected from the landfill, and drive a 1.6 megawatt generator hooked up to the Flathead Electric Co-op's distribution system. The generator will be capable of producing enough power for 900 homes.

PSC Approves NW Power Rate Increase

MONTANA, Jul 09 2008 (Neo Natura) - The Montana Public Service Commission has given final approval to a $15 million annual rate increase for NorthWestern Energy's electric and natural gas customers in Montana.

Tuesday's vote was 3-2 to approve the increase.

In effect on a temporary basis since January, it raised rates about 2 percent for both electric and gas customers.

It's the first time in eight years that NorthWestern or its predecessor, Montana Power Co., has raised its rates on the cost of delivering electricity and natural gas.

However, the utility's 320,000 customers in Montana have seen several price increases since 2002 for the gas and electricity commodity, which NorthWestern must buy on the open, unregulated market.

NorthWestern customers now pay among the highest total electric rates in the region, when compared to other major utilities.

Copper And Silver Mine Under Lawsuit

MONTANA, Jun 27 2008 (Neo Natura) - A lawsuit seeks to block development of a copper and silver mine beneath the federal Cabinet Mountains Wilderness in northwestern Montana.

Conservation groups claiming the Rock Creek Mine would jeopardize sensitive bull trout filed a case this week charging the tentative state permit for the project is the wrong kind and imposes only run-of-the-mill requirements. The suit in state court seeks an order demanding a comparatively stringent permit for the mine proposed by Washington-based Revett Minerals Inc., which has said mining would not disturb the surface of the wilderness area. State work preceding that permit would include a study to assess the potential for water degradation from mining.

Plaintiffs Trout Unlimited, Earthworks, the Rock Creek Alliance and the Clark Fork Coalition also say the state's present plan for issuing a permit does not include sufficient public involvement.

The suit filed in Helena names Revett and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. Other cases against the mine are pending in federal court.

Revett Vice President Carson Rife said Tuesday that he had not seen the suit, but based on a summary, the case appears "baseless." DEQ lawyer John North said he also had not seen the suit. North declined to comment.

The suit says that DEQ and Revett expect mine development to move forward with a general permit, rather than with a water-quality permit. The latter would require consideration of conditions surrounding the mine project, which stands to harm fish by increasing sediment in Rock Creek, according to the complaint. It says the steps for issuing a water-quality permit would trigger public involvement requirements, as well.

The general permit never was intended for projects where "unique ecological resources are at stake," said Trout Unlimited's Loren Albright. "If Rock Creek doesn't meet that definition, I don't know what does."

Native fish in Rock Creek cannot tolerate sediment beyond the existing level, the conservation groups say.

Rife said Revett plans sediment control, and expects to remove many tons before and after mining begins.

"The plan is to reduce existing sediment loads, not increase them," he said.

On the issue of the permit classification and public involvement Rife said, "We feel Montana DEQ knows the law, knows the process and is following the law."

Revett has for years sought approval for the mine and recently began constructing warehouse and office buildings at the site.

Ongoing federal cases against the mine include allegations that reviews by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not satisfy requirements of the Endangered Species Act. Besides bull trout, federally classified as a threatened species, mine critics have expressed concern about effects on grizzly bears.

Northwestern Energy Price Hike

MONTANA, Jun 26 2008 (Neo Natura) - As regulators decide soon whether to grant NorthWestern Energy a $15 million annual rate increase, they may look at another aspect of company finances: NorthWestern’s unusually high payouts to stockholders.

For the past two years, NorthWestern paid dividends to its shareholder-owners in an amount more than the company’s entire net earnings, according to its financial statements.

In 2006 and 2007, NorthWestern reported $91 million of net income, but paid out $91.3 million in dividends to owners of company stock.

A critic of the rate increase says if the company needs more operating cash, it should reduce these dividends, instead of raising rates on customers.

NorthWestern is “paying out way more dividends to its shareholders and creditors than anyone should allow,” says Owen Orndorff, a Boise attorney and independent power-plant owner.

NorthWestern says Orndorff’s arguments on the dividends are irrelevant and have nothing to do with whether the $15 million rate increase is “just and reasonable” or necessary.

The dividend-to-income ratio also looks abnormally high, company officials say, because NorthWestern had to reduce its income by $19 million in 2006 because of a court judgment that is on appeal.

NorthWestern says restricting its dividend payouts could harm the company and drive up its cost of capital, by making the company less attractive for investors.

Public Service Commission Chairman Greg Jergeson, D-Chinook, says the five-member PSC may consider the dividend issue when it rules on the rate increase in early July.

“I’m sure we can have something to say about that,” he says. “The concern is if they pay dividends beyond what net earnings can reasonably support, they are reducing their equity, and that can’t go on indefinitely.”

The $15 million annual rate increase would be a 2 percent hike in electric and natural gas rates for NorthWestern’s 320,000 Montana customers.

It’s part of a proposed deal negotiated by NorthWestern and the Montana Consumer Counsel, a state office that represents utility consumers in rate cases before the PSC.

As part of the deal, NorthWestern also agreed to provide to consumers some electricity that is slightly discounted from market prices for the next 6½ years, and to reduce rates or rate increases in the future.

Orndorff, who owns two independent power plants in Montana that sell electricity to NorthWestern, has been the deal’s most vocal critic.

His power plants in Billings and Colstrip also buy power from NorthWestern, and he says the rate increase isn’t needed. He also says by paying out abnormally high dividends to shareholders, NorthWestern is putting the company at financial risk.

Since coming out of bankruptcy reorganization in late 2004, NorthWestern has paid out 85 percent of its net income in dividends to shareholders — the bulk of which are large investment funds.

As in most publicly held companies, NorthWestern executives and board members also hold significant amounts of stock, thus benefiting from the dividends. For example, President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Hanson owns nearly 32,000 shares and has received $83,000 in dividends since the company emerged from bankruptcy.

The industry average for dividend payouts is 60 percent to 70 percent of net earnings, according to NorthWestern and industry financial analysts.

Hanson says the 100 percent dividend payout of the past two years is an aberration, skewed by the $19 million income write-down stemming from the court judgment. The company hasn’t paid that money and has appealed the award, he said.

“When we normalize our income, we’ll be within the (standard) range for dividend payout,” he says.

The ability to pay dividends also is related more to the company’s cash flow, rather than net income, Hanson says.

An attorney representing NorthWestern says the company’s credit ratings have been improving and that Orndorff has offered no proof that the dividend payouts have negatively affected company finances.

Without that showing, the issue is irrelevant, John Alke of Helena wrote in documents filed with the Montana Public Service Commission last month.

“NorthWestern Energy’s cost of providing electric and natural gas service is not determined by the dividends paid by the corporation to its stockholders,” Alke wrote. “The payment of dividends by an investor-owned utility to its stockholders is a matter committed to the soundly exercised discretion of its management.”

Orndorff says dividend payouts at 100 percent of net earnings can’t be sustained, and that the Montana Public Service Commission should restrict the practice.

“There has to be a policeman on the beat, and that policeman is the PSC,” he says. “They’ve got to lay down the rules. They may not like it, but that’s the way it is.”

Judith Gap Bat Deaths

MONTANA, Jun 23 2008 (Neo Natura) -As wind power gears up in Montana, the effects of large-scale wind projects on wildlife remain a concern: Birds may be in the clear, but bats are running into trouble.

Turbine-related fatalities at Judith Gap Wind Energy Center near Harlowton were 1,206 bats and 406 birds, according to a 2007 preliminary study prepared by TRC Solutions’ Laramie, Wyo. office.

Roger Schoumacher, a biologist and consultant for TRC, said the bat fatality count is higher than what generally occurs in the West.

For more than a year, TRC has been preparing the first post-construction avian and bat fatality monitoring and grassland bird displacement surveys—at a cost of more than $200,000—for Judith Gap Energy, LLC, which is owned by Chicago-based Invenergy. The wind farm is the largest in Montana, spanning 14,300 acres of public land in Wheatland County.

Now, Invenergy has decided to go ahead with another year of study, said Judith Gap operations manager John Bacon, to get a “better feel” for the reasons behind the high bat mortality rate.

“The bats were a surprise for us,” he said.

Janet Ellis, a wind policy specialist with the Montana Audubon in Helena, said the bats found at Judith Gap were all forest bats from Alberta, Canada, coming through in August and September during fall migration.

“It wasn’t expected at all,” she said. “But we know so little about bats.”

According to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Biologist Allison Begley, many bird groups advocate for better-sited wind farms in order to lessen the impact on wildlife.

“Nobody’s opposed to green energy,” said Begley, who sits on the technical advisory committee for Judith Gap. “As far as wind energy and bird interactions, it seems that, using some preconstruction surveys, a well-sited wind farm has much fewer impacts on birds.”

In the late ‘80s, thousands of dead birds were collected at Altamont Pass and Solano County Wind Resource Areas near Livermore, Calif. The farm’s 7,000 turbines make up the largest wind farm in North America, and unfortunately for birds, the most dangerous. The death count sparked cries from the National Audubon Society and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and inspired a slew of follow-up studies on large-scale wind developments across the U.S., which has led to better turbine designs—employed at Judith Gap—to mitigate the effects on birds.

Paul Williamson, director of hydrogen and alternative energy research and development at the University of Montana, said the reason for so many bird kills in California had partly to do with siting and turbine construction.

“When the wind turbines were first starting to be put in, California leaders didn’t know a couple things. They put some turbines in the flyways,” he said. “They didn’t know at what height to put wind turbines—some birds fly at one height and others [at] another.” And so birds were sliced and diced while attempting to pass through the rotor planes or when landing on top of the towers.

At ten to 20 rpm, the three propellers of the 90-some turbines at Judith Gap rotate slower than the original towers constructed for the California farm, and they do not consist of the lattice construction that can be less bird-friendly.

Bacon said at this point, the bird death count itself is not significant enough to hinder growth at Judith Gap, but if the results of the extended survey indicate an extremely large impact on bats, the cut-in speed of the turbines might have to be set higher.

“Turbines start at 6 mph. There’s been some work done where they know when bats are flying through the area, they’re flying through in lower winds,” he said. “If the winds are higher, they don’t fly. So what we could do is change our cut-in speed to 10 mph.”

Audubon would like the Montana Department of Environmental Quality to work with stakeholders to ensure new wind projects minimize impacts on wildlife.

“In general, in Montana wind farms are going to have more of a habitat fragmentation,” Ellis said. “The bat issue raises some concerns about the impacts of wind turbines on bats in specific areas.”

One of the positive things about the Judith Gap wind farm, she added, is that it doesn’t have a vast amount of water, which means no shore birds and fewer waterfowl frequenting the area.

“[Wind farms] all kill some birds,” Ellis said, “What we’re trying to do is figure out a way to make them have the least impact.” One way to do this, she said, is by coming up with criteria companies can follow.

“Hopefully the Judith Gap stuff is going to come out, and hopefully it’s still going to be a good site,” she said. “It’s the best site you could find in a place like Montana.”

Montana Renewables Company

MONTANA, Jun 20 2008 (Neo Natura) -Missoula’s Don Kiely and his son, Jason, have spent their lives in different settings - one in the chemistry lab and one in the forest - but they are teaming up in a new business venture that combines their passions.

Seeking a clean alternative to fossil fuels, the Kielys are part of a new Missoula-based company, Montana Renewables, that will start producing green “carbochemicals” this fall.

The biomass chemicals, which are derived from plant material, are designed to be used instead of petroleum-based chemicals in an array of industrial and consumer products. Montana Renewables will use a refining process patented at the University of Montana to make glucaric acid, a biodegradable compound, from raw sugars in corn syrup.

Officials at the technology startup envision a day when carbochemicals replace fossil fuels and Missoula is a hub of the nation’s burgeoning biomass industry.

Montana Renewables’ refining process generates no pollution or waste, takes a small amount of energy and can be produced on a large scale at a relatively low cost, said Jason Kiely.

“This is a sustainable idea with huge social and environmental benefits,” he said.

Petrochemicals are used in many everyday goods - from concrete and fabrics to pharmaceuticals and inks - but a growing number of companies nationwide are switching to biomass materials.

About 5 percent of global chemical sales currently are made up of green products, but the market share could rise to 20 percent by 2010 and may reach 66 percent of the total global economy, according to a North Carolina State University study.

The U.S. Department of Energy has identified glucaric acid as one of the top 12 building-block chemicals that can be converted to bio-based materials. Glucaric acid has been certified as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Montana Renewables, which incorporated earlier this year, was founded by Don Kiely, a University of Montana chemistry professor whose research team invented and patented the new refining process.

Kiely, 70, who is retiring this summer, is the director of the Shafizadeh Center for Wood and Carbohydrate Chemistry at UM, where he has taught since 1997.

He didn’t plan to become an entrepreneur, he said, but the refining process and polymers he had worked on for years needed to move from the laboratory to the marketplace.

Kiely said he expected his firm’s technology to benefit other western Montana manufacturers, generating jobs and profits, and helping to clean up the environment.

“I didn’t want to retire and see this technology just evaporate,” he said. “Our products will be competitively priced with existing products but without the toxic footprints. We want to make Missoula the center of the carbochemical industry.”

Montana Renewables has seven employees, including Mike Kadas, a former mayor of Missoula, and Jason Kiely, a former spokesman for Wildlands CPR, a Missoula conservation group.

The company has an exclusive license to develop its patents into products for the marketplace. Jason Kiely said the refining process will result in more high-value glucaric acid being produced for a lower cost than other carbochemical manufacturers.

Montana Renewables’ first products will be a nutritional supplement marketed for cancer prevention and detoxification, and a corrosion inhibitor used in road deicing salts.

Next year, the company plans to start making specialty chemicals and polymers derived from glucaric acid.

Other potential uses include building, industrial, environmental remediation, health and recreation products, such as paint, detergents, cosmetics and camping gear.

Montana Renewables also has developed an absorbent gel that could be used in biodegradable diapers and time-release fertilizers.

The company has raised $700,000 in startup capital and expects to attract $500,000 more by fall. It projects a financial loss during its first two years, but a net income of $5.6 million by 2010.

The Montana Community Development Corp. helped to create a business strategy for Montana Renewables, whose lab and offices will be housed at the Montana Technology Enterprise Center.

Steve Grover, MCDC’s business development manager, said Montana Renewables has high potential.

“It’s great to see technology coming out of the university with really nice marketing potential,” he said. “It’s a model that reflects MCDC’s own growth and the exciting growth of firms starting up in our area.”

Windfall Oil Tax

MONTANA, Jun 13 2008 (Neo Natura) - Montana Senator Jon Tester lashed out at Republicans on Tuesday, after the Consumer First Energy Act received only 51 votes, which was nine short of that needed to pass the legislation. The act was designed to roll back tax cuts for oil companies, impose a permanent windfall tax on those companies, and to help protect consumers from high gas prices caused by oil speculation.

"I remember when gas was a buck-46. It wasn't that long ago. It was before the Bush Administration took over. That was before the War in Iraq. Before speculators and market manipulators spiraled out of control. Before that $17 billion Bush tax cut for our nation's biggest oil companies." Tester said in a prepared statement.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ken.) said, "Hitting the gas companies might make for good campaign literature or evening news clips, but it won't address the problem. This bill isn't a serious response to gas prices. It is just a gimmick."

The purpose of the gas tax is simple: to raise revenue for building and maintaining roads and related infrastructure. This approach conforms to what economists call the "benefit principle" of taxation, which stipulates that consumers of government services should pay in proportion to the benefit they obtain from those services. It follows that the revenue raised from a tax that adheres to the benefit principle should be used solely to provide the good or service on which the tax is levied. Therefore, if gas taxes are paid by the individuals who benefit most from roads (drivers) and if the revenue is used solely for road building and maintenance, then the tax is a good one.

However, there is also the question of whether gas taxes should be used to decrease fuel consumption in order to protect the environment and reduce pollution. Pigouvian taxes, named after Arthur C. Pigou, a renowned English economist from the early 20th century, are taxes that attempt to make up for undesirable side effects of certain industries—what economists call "negative externalities." Pigouvian taxes are controversial and often difficult to calculate; they complicate the gas tax debate considerably.

Tax Foundation President Scott Hodge's Tax Gouging at the Pump and Record Taxes Paid before Record Oil Profits explain that oil companies actually pay more in taxes than they earn in profits, contrary to some people's notion that "greedy" oil companies are raking in huge profits without paying their fair share of taxes. The Tax Foundation Background Paper Paying at the Pump: Gasoline Taxes in America provides an in-depth look at the history and use of gas taxes. The Fiscal Fact Questions to Ask before Raising the Federal Gas Tax presents a concise discussion of the role of fuel taxes. The Distributional Impact of Windfall Profits Taxes and a Gas Tax Holiday shows how much money taxpayers in each income group stand to gain or lose under the gas tax proposals put forth by the presidential candidates.

The Democratic energy package would have imposed a 25 percent tax on any "unreasonable" profits of the five largest U.S. oil companies, which together made $36 billion during the first three months of the year. It also would have given the government more power to address oil market speculation, opened the way for antitrust actions against countries belonging to the OPEC oil cartel, and made energy price gouging a federal crime.

"Americans are furious about what's going on," declared Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D. He said they want Congress to do something about oil company profits and the "orgy of speculation" on oil markets.

As with all tax initiatives instituted by governments, there is always a divide between those who are for and those who are against the tax. The benefits of a windfall tax include proceeds being directly used by governments to bolster funding for social programs. However, those against windfall taxes claim that they reduce companies' initiatives to seek out profits. They also believe that profits should be reinvested to promote innovation that will in turn benefit society as a whole.

There were arguments in the early 1980's about whether it made economic sense to tax away much of the gain from higher oil prices. But there was no question that the windfall tax was needed to ease the political sting of allowing the domestic price to rise to the level set by OPEC.

Congress hammered out a complicated formula for determining the revenue base liable for taxation and the tax rate. The criteria vary according to the date that oil was discovered, the difficulty of extraction and the size of the company. For some categories of oil, taxes phase out early in the 1990's. In all categories, the taxable base price is adjusted each year for inflation.

The tax raised a whopping $26 billion in 1981, 27 percent of domestic oil revenues. Thereafter, revenues sagged with the price of oil, running just $5.6 billion in 1985 and nothing in 1986. If the price inches above $20 a barrel, Washington may collect a few hundred million dollars this year from the owners of oil discovered before 1978. New discoveries won't be taxed again unless the price soars to $29.

Despite a number of government studies and congressional hearings, no evidence has been presented showing that the oil industry has colluded to keep retail gasoline prices high. For instance, the Energy Information Agency (EIA) in the U.S. Department of Energy found that approximately 85 percent of the changes in gasoline prices in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina were due to changes in the market price of crude oil.

Global energy markets determine the price at which oil is bought and sold by even the largest oil corporations. For instance, ExxonMobil, the world's largest private oil company, accounts for only 3 percent of the market and the prices it pays for crude oil are set by trading on commodities exchanges in London, Hong Kong and Chicago.

What they won't get, however, is nearly as much money out of such a tax as they probably think. A windfall profits tax targeted at earnings far beyond the U.S. industrial average would return zero revenue to the Treasury because windfall profits in the oil sector are figments of the imagination.

While the raw earnings figures sound big, they are unexceptional when we take into account the size of those companies. Divide profits by sales, for instance, and you'll find that in the fourth quarter of 2005 (the last quarter for which data are available), profit margins were 6.8 percent at British Petroleum, 7 percent at ConocoPhilips, 7.1 percent at Shell, 7.7 percent at Chevron, and 10.7 percent at ExxonMobil. The 20 largest investor-owned oil companies earned a collective 8.8 cents on every dollar of sales for that quarter.

While tariffs provide an incentive to increase supply, taxes will decrease demand and therefore prices. With a sufficiently low price expensive domestic production may be crowded out. In the extreme, a halving of demand from 20 to 10 mbd would not eliminate imports, but instead raise their share to 100% with all domestic production becoming uneconomic.

Glacier Wind Energy: New Wind Turbines

MONTANA, Jun 09 2008 (Neo Natura) - San Diego Gas & Electric said yesterday it has signed power-purchase agreements with a renewable energy company for electricity generated from two soon-to-be-constructed wind farms in Montana.

Under two 15-year contracts, Glacier Wind Energy will add 210 megawatts from wind energy facilities under development near Glacier National Park to SDG&E's total power-generating capacity. The wind facility is owned by a U.S. subsidiary of Naturener SA, a renewable energy company based in Madrid, Spain.

The wind farms are expected to increase the amount of electricity produced by renewable energy sources for San Diego's power grid by almost 4 percent by 2010, the utility said. Under a statewide mandate, 20 percent of SDG&E's power must be generated by renewable energy sources by 2010.

To meet that goal, state utility regulators allow California's major utilities to tap renewable energy sources throughout the western United States and Canada.

Yesterday, SDG&E said renewable energy sources now account for 6 percent of SDG&E's total energy mix, an upward adjustment from the 5.2 percent the utility used as recently as last month.

SDG&E said the contribution from the wind farms will bring its renewable energy total to 10 percent. But the company says meeting the 20-percent goal depends on completing its Sunrise Powerlink transmission line. That point is heatedly disputed by environmental opponents of the $1.5 billion, 150-mile power line from El Centro to Rancho Peñasquitos.

Turning Algae Into Energy

MONTANA, Jun 05 2008 (Neo Natura) - Algae, that green stuff in your pond, is being used to make biodiesel in New Zealand. Algae can grow almost anywhere, even in deserts. And some species grow so fast that they double in size three or four times a day. According to Fred Krupp, author of the excellent Earth: The Sequel, it would take only 47 million acres of algae to produce fuel for half of America's cars, compared with 1.5 billion acres of soy beans. I never knew pondlife was so exciting.

Algae also eat carbon dioxide at a similarly prolific rate. That makes them multitasking miracle-workers: both a fuel and a way to clean up power-plant emissions. Not surprisingly, several companies are now trying to move from relatively small algae beds to industrial scale.

Green Star Products, Inc. algae facility in Montana is one of the world’s largest demonstration facilities and has served as a scientific and engineering milestone towards the commercial production of algae for energy and food.

The algae industry is in such an embryonic state that very few people even understand the real algae production problems, much less claim solutions for the production of algae.

The company's latest report delineates the real problems and engineering solutions provided by the demo project without revealing the patent pending intellectual property provided by the program.

A new algae production industry offers the potential to simultaneously solve three major world problems: energy crisis, global warming and food production crisis.

Here are a few factors that make algae competitive with other agricultural products:

• Algae produce 100 times more oil per acre than traditional food oilseed crops such as soy, etc. (Note: Algae produces 4,000 gallons of oil per acre per year versus 50 gallons per acre for soy.)
• Algae eat CO2, the major Global Warming Gas, and produce oxygen.
• Algae require only sunshine and non-drinkable (salt or brackish) water.
• Algae do not compete with food crops for either agricultural land or fresh water.
• Algae can reproduce themselves and their oil every 6 hours, while it takes Mother Nature millions of years to produce crude oil in the ground.
• Algae oil byproduct is a highly nutritious protein-rich food (30-50%), which will someday help feed the world
• Algae can produce high protein food at the rate of over 50 times (5,000%) faster than traditional food crops such as corn, soybeans and wheat.

Environment Permit Regulations

MONTANA, Jun 04 2008 (Neo Natura) - With gas prices breaking records, the national average at about $4 a gallon, energy and energy development is on the tip of everyone’s tongues. From politicians advocating ethanol to windfarms to more national drilling, it seems that any ideas to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil are being heard as election season heats up.

Around the Bakken Formation, discussions of new oil refineries being built both in Montana and North Dakota have been heard.

A document released by the North Dakota Pipeline Authority on April 22 states the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold Indian Reservation are considering building a 15,000 barrel a day refinery. In Williston, a group is considering building a refinery adjacent to the ethanol facility; the document states, “The North Dakota Industrial Commission, through Oil and Gas Research Council, has provided funding to study the viability of the project.”

On the Montana side of the Bakken, these discussions are much less advanced. No grant has been gained to study the viability of a refinery in the area, and talks of building an oil refinery are only talks amongst local persons and politicians. The question of why North Dakota has moved along at a quicker pace of developing their oil has been raised, however, the question must extend to all energy development. In addition to the possible refineries in North Dakota, currently American Lignite Energy is exploring building a coal-to-liquids plant. Great Northern Power Development, L.P. [GNPD] and Allied Syngas are working toward building a coal gasification plant in South Heart, N.D., with an expected starting construction date around the end of 2009.

GNPD owns the largest collection of coal reserves in Northern America beside the U.S. federal government. The company had to decide between two project sites, which one they would move forward with first - the one in South Heart or the one in Circle.

“The question of which site to develop first came up,” GNPD consultant Bill Pascoe said. The company decided to first focus on the site in North Dakota for various reasons - better pipeline infrastructure, better power line, gas pipeline on site, to name a few.

“If all the factors were the same, though, we would have still chosen North Dakota,” Pascoe said. “The reason for this is that business and regulations are more hospitable in North Dakota and this has primarily to do with the permitting process.”

To build almost anything affecting land, a permit is required. The larger the facility with the more effects it will have on a place, the more rigorous and lengthy the process can be. Even so, for most states, this process is regulated by the laws of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In this regard, the process in both Montana and North Dakota would be quite similar. To build a power or energy developing plant, the two main permits a company would have to go through would be water and air quality permits.

“The process is regulated by the state health department…and is long and cumbering to achieve the permits,” director of North Dakota’s Oil and Gas Board Ron Ness said.

“Permit issuance is a long procedure that may take several years, depending on the complexity of proposed management process, quality of the initial application and degree of public participation,” said Moriah Peck, environmental engineering specialist with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.

A few of the permits set by the National Environmental Protection Agency required for building a large power/energy facility or oil refinery are New Source Review - Prevention of Significant Deterioration, Ground Water Pollution Permit, Title V Operating Permit and more.

However, Montana’s process is rigorous because of the need to prove it complies with all the standards and regulations set out by the EPA.

“There are two things that make getting a permit tougher in Montana: Montana Environmental Protection Act [MEPA] and the constitution which states that everyone is entitled to a clean and healthful environment,” Rep. Walt McNutt, R-Sidney, said.

MEPA requires either an Environmental Assessment [EA] or Environmental Impact Statement [EIS] whenever there is any state action, such as any type of construction requiring issuance of permits from the state.

“If it is determined that the facility will have a significant impact, then an EIS will be needed,” Montana Legislative Environmental Analyst Todd Everts said. “It is a fairly extensive review process.” This MEPA required environmental review is said by Everts and others to go hand-in-hand with the permitting process. Once the draft for the environmental review is completed, then the public is invited to review the draft and give input.

Steve Wade, an attorney for Roundup Power Plant developers Bull Mountain Development, had first-hand experience with some of the delays and complications that can stop or stall energy development projects.

“We were able to go through the permitting process and get a permit,” Wade said. “When we got our permit, we were subjected to an administrative appeal…also the MEPA analysis was challenged in district court.” Wade explained that in the circumstance involving Roundup, the appeals tied the company up in long and tedious litigation.

The company made it through the appeal, but that was appealed. The company also received a favorable judgement in district court, so the environmentalist groups opposing the plant, including Montana Environmental Information Center appealed to the Montana Supreme Court.

“The litigation ties up the move forward under the permit because the outcome of the appeals is uncertain,” Wade said.

“The process ended up taking a couple of years,” Wade said. “After that long of time the project was moot because the time the permit had given the company to commence the project had passed.”

The company had been given 18 months by the permit to commence the project.

“The time given on the permit is too short,” Wade says. “It does not give any time for litigation.”

A similar scenario is happening with the proposed Highwood Generating Station near Great Falls. The Highwood Generating Station would be a coal-fired power plant. In late April, the Montana Board of Environmental Review, a board set up by MEPA, was the first regulatory U.S. body to call for measurement and emissions controls for a tiny-particle pollution PM 2.5.

This decision came after the air quality permit was a result of an appeal made by MEIC, Citizens for Clean Energy and the Sierra Club. In the case of the Highwood Generating Plant, the appeal reached the U.S. Supreme Court. The environmentalist organization argued their case on a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that affirmed, “harms associated with climate change are serious and well recognized,” Massachusetts v. EPA. This ruling makes it possible for the threat of greenhouse gas emissions to be taken as a serious threat to health and the environment, and thus, proper grounds for opposition.

The Highwood Generating Plant has until Nov. 30 of this year to begin construction under the permits issued by Montana’s DEQ. It was announced Saturday that they will begin construction on all parts of the plant except the boiler.

“MEPA alone is not the problem,” Jeff Schaeff, an engineer with Bison Engineering, said. “It often becomes litigation in courts…The judge and court can turn back the EIS, the time and effort and difficulty getting through the litigation.”

Schaeff explained that the MEPA allows organizations who oppose the building of the facility more time and more opportunities to appeal and stall the process through litigation than in other state.

“They [the opposing organizations] know very well how to work with the laws and take advantage of them,” Schaeff said. “Conceptually it’s a good idea, but the process gets exploited by the opposition.”

Brian Schweitzer ran into a permit problem trying to help a CTL plant startup. A Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) hearings examiner ruled that the state had improperly extended the company’s air quality permit after the original permit had expired. Because of the permit slipup the investors backed out since it would of taken more than 18 months to start construction. The CTL plant planned to have all of it's CO2 emmissions sequestered into underground caverns and unused oil fields around Montana.

XTO Purchasing Bakken Land

MONTANA, May 28 2008 (Neo Natura) - XTO Energy Inc. announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire producing properties and undeveloped acreage from privately-held Headington Oil Company for $1.85 billion. Consideration in the transaction includes $1.06 billion of cash and 11,742,391 shares of XTO common stock valued at approximately $790 million, or $67.35 per share. The purchase includes 352,000 net acres of Bakken Shale leasehold in Montana and North Dakota.

XTO Energy's internal engineers estimate proved reserves on the properties to be 68 million barrels of oil equivalent, of which 60% are proved developed. Upon closing, the acquisition will add about 10,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to the Company's growing production base. The acquisition is scheduled to close on or before July 15, 2008.

"Since 2004, XTO has aggressively pursued the best shale basins -- in terms of geology, productivity and economics -- to stake a claim for long-term growth. Our successful development results in these plays have created value for our shareholders and motivated additional investment for our future. With this acquisition in the Bakken Shale, our Company is now established as a leading producer and leasehold owner in this emerging oil shale play," stated Bob R. Simpson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "As in our other producing arenas, the XTO team will bring experience and expertise to this multi-zoned, over-pressured and complex basin. We expect to grow production and reserves from this prolific shale into an environment of strong commodity prices."

"Across the 15,000 square mile Williston Basin, results from new Bakken wells, utilizing progressive horizontal drilling and completion techniques, are revealing the true potential of this extraordinary hydrocarbon target," noted Keith A. Hutton, President. "With over 3 billion barrels of oil held in place within our acreage position, our team expects to more than double the acquired reserve volumes over time. Drilling and operational activities should grow our production in the region by 12% to 15% annually, with about one-third of cash flow. Given the $3 per barrel production cost and high economic margin of these flowing oil wells, this expansive shale acquisition is a superb addition to XTO's portfolio of premier properties."

In a recent report, the U.S. Geological Survey published a new assessment of the Bakken Shale play of North Dakota and Montana. The report cites that 3 billion to 4.3 billion barrels of undiscovered oil are technically recoverable with current technology and industry practices. This estimate by the USGS made the Bakken Shale the largest continuous oil accumulation in the lower 48 states. In addition, the USGS has estimated total oil-in-place at 200 to 400 billion barrels.

The acquired properties are located in the Bar Trend and Nesson Anticline of the Bakken Shale development. At present, the primary producing field is Elm Coulee in Montana. Undeveloped leasehold comprises about 215,000 net acres of the total. Production volumes are 88% oil, but the associated natural gas is Btu rich in composition, realizing a 30% premium to NYMEX pricing.

"They come into a basin and they're very aggressive," Brian Corales, an analyst at Coker & Palmer in Metairie, Louisiana, who rates XTO shares a buy and doesn't own any, said in a telephone interview. The Bakken Shale "is a very hot play."

XTO said drilling and operational activities should increase production in the region by 12 percent to 15 percent annually. The acquisition brings the total of XTO's purchases this year to more than $4 billion.

"With over 3 billion barrels of oil held in place within our acreage position, our team expects to more than double the acquired reserve volumes over time,'' Keith Hutton, XTO's president, said in the statement.

A federal magistrate fined XTO Energy Inc. $10,000 and ordered it to pay another $10,000 in restitution in the deaths of two golden eagles electrocuted in 2006 by power lines leading to energy production sites near Gillette. They were charged on May 22, 2008.

Chief Executive Officer Dominic Domenici, resident agent in charge of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for Wyoming and Montana, said Wednesday that XTO Energy, Inc. pleaded guilty last month to a misdemeanor violation of the federal
Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

Dominic Domenici, the federal magistrate that charged them, said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent Tim Eicher of Cody found the dead eagles during a survey. Domenici said the birds were electrocuted after they touched improperly constructed power lines.

The Fish and Wildlife Service together with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department investigated the case, which was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

In addition to the court fine and restitution, Domenici said the company spent $988,000 on an avian protection plan that involved retrofitting miles of power line to make it safe for birds.

Jackson lawyer Hadassah M. Reimer represents XTO Energy. She said the company examined 95 miles of existing power lines and made improvements as necessary to make sure all of it was safe for birds.

According to a Fish and Wildlife Service statement, electrocution has been identified as one of the leading killers of eagles, hawks and owls since the 1960s. The agency said current standards in the electrical industry require power lines be placed at least 5 feet apart or insulated to make them safe for birds.

The agency statement says the $10,000 restitution that XTO Energy agreed to pay will go to the Murie Audubon Society in Casper, which rehabilitates sick or injured migratory birds.

John R. Barksdale, assistant U.S. Attorney in Casper, prosecuted the case. He said the company was responsive when contacted by his office and had already taken steps to address its power lines.

"We don't like to have any birds killed, but XTO was responsive when we contacted them," Barksdale said.

New Mexico-based Yates Petroleum Corp. last year also agreed to make improvements to its power line facilities in Wyoming and New Mexico to help prevent bird deaths.

A settlement between Yates, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stemmed from the discovery of four dead eagles found near power lines owned by Yates at its coal-bed methane facilities in the Powder River Basin of northwest Wyoming.

Utilities Required To Create Renewable Energy

MONTANA, May 27 2008 (Neo Natura) - Montana code 69-3-2004 requires most energy providers to produce atleast 5% of their energy through renewable resources. In 2010 they are required to produce 10%, and in 2015 they are required to produce 15% from renewables.

The law lists the accepted types of renewables energy sources as wind, solar, geothermal, water power below 10MW, biogas, nontoxic biomass, and hydrogen fuel cells. The law mirrors the federal bill regarding nuclear power in the manner that it is not considered renewable.