Neo Natura

Camelina Biodiesel Fed Approved

2009-11-11T14:14:00.003-07:00

MONTANA, Nov 11 2009 (Neo Natura) - Camelina companies say federal officials have approved the use of meal from the biofuels crop as a 10 percent supplement in cattle feed — a development that could boost the prospects for Montana's fledgling camelina industry.

Two companies, Great Plains Oil & Exploration and Sustainable Oils, have been working in recent years to develop a market for camelina for use as a replacement for jet fuel or diesel.

The crop grows well in Montana's arid soils, but farmers have been reluctant to switch over from wheat and other traditional crops.

Now the Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of meal from the plant's crushed seeds for use in cattle feed. That could make biofuels production more profitable, by creating a potential market for one of the crop's byproducts.

Great Plains Oil and Exploration has also leased a Montola plant in Culbertson for seed storage after its owners failed to pay farmers for crops grown under contract.

The plant was owned by Sustainable Systems, a Missoula renewable-fuels company that contracted for oilseed in 2008 at premium prices. The company didn't obtain bank loans to pay for seed and remain operational, according to the annual report of Sustainable Systems' parent company, Greenshift Corp.

Sustainable later forfeited its surety bond and agreed to let state agriculture officials liquidate company assets to satisfy debts to growers. Through the process, growers received nearly $1.2 million in payment.

"The Culbertson facility immediately provides Great Plains with storage and handling capabilities that are much needed after yet another record Camelina crop," said Sam Huttenbauer III, Great Plains CEO. "We remain committed to operating a Montana crushing facility, and this agreement allows us to continue to explore our options at Culbertson."

Equipment modifications are needed at the Culbertson plant before it can efficiently extract seed oil while still complying with federal environmental law. The facility is now owned by Carbonics Capital Corp.

Turning irrigation into power

2009-11-11T09:36:00.003-07:00

MONTANA, Nov 11 2009 (Neo Natura) - An $11 million hydroelectric facility that will harness flows from an irrigation canal in the same way power is tapped from rivers is planned west of Fairfield, with NorthWestern Energy lined up to buy the electricity.

The Turnbull Hydroelectric Project, which will produce 13 megawatts of electricity, will be constructed 4 miles west of Fairfield on the Spring Valley Canal in the Greenfields Irrigation District. That district distributes water from the Sun River to farmers and ranchers, said hydroelectric engineer Ted Sorenson of Idaho Falls.

Turnbull Hydro LLC, which is building the facility, is a joint venture of Sorenson, rancher Wade Jacobsen and the Greenfields Irrigation District.

The 13 megawatts is enough electricity to power 8,000 to 10,000 homes. Most of the power probably will be used in the immediate vicinity, he said.

"All of Fairfield will be energized from this power," Sorenson said.

When the project is finished, Turnbull will be considered a "summer peaker" because it will provide power when water and air conditioner use is high. The system will operate during irrigation season from May to September. Construction is scheduled to begin in fall 2010.

Using irrigation canals to generate electricity at times of peak demand is common in Idaho and California, but the Greenfield's project is the first Sorenson knows of in Montana.

"It's a new application of old technology," said Sorenson, who was the project engineer on a 7.5-megawatt hydroelectric project completed at Tiber Dam in 2004.

Separate generating facilities will be placed at two concrete canal "drops," or flumes, known as Upper Turnbull and Lower Turnbull, along the Spring Valley Canal.

Upper Turnbull is 1,100 feet long and drops 100 feet, while the 2,600-foot Lower Turnbull descends 140 feet. The flumes carry water from Pishkun Reservoir across steep declines.

"They're kind of like a big waterslide," Sorenson said.

Pipelines parallel to each flume will divert the water. As the water descends through the contained pipelines, the resulting pressure will be captured at the bottom of the flumes with turbines, which will convert it into electricity.

It's the same concept as having a tank of water in the attic of a home that produces good faucet pressure on the main floor, Sorenson said. Energy from the flumes, which were constructed in 1928, is going to waste right now, Sorenson said.

The diverted water will be returned to the canal system without disrupting delivery to producers, Sorenson said.

NorthWestern Energy, which provides electricity and natural gas to 656,000 customers in Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska, announced Tuesday that it had signed a 20-year contract with Turnbull to purchase the power.

NorthWestern spokeswoman Claudia Rapkoch said the company requested bids for renewable energy supply agreements a year ago, then reached a deal with Turnbull after a lengthy negotiation.

"This particular project is very cost effective, very favorable to customers," she said.

The green power will help NorthWestern meet the state's renewable energy standards, which require public utilities to procure a minimum of 10 percent of their retail sales of electricity from renewable resources by 2010, and 15 percent by 2015, Rapkoch said.

The Tester Wilderness Bill

2009-08-18T10:55:00.002-06:00

MONTANA, Aug 18 2009 (Neo Natura) - By George Wuerthner, 8-17-09



	Photo by U.S. Forest Service

I’ve been holding off writing anything about Senator John Tester’s Forest Jobs bill for a while. I’ve talked to many people, both supporters of Tester’s bill and those who have many questions about its implications. As most people in Montana know, Senator Tester combined three different logging/wilderness proposals formulated by collaborative efforts affecting all or portions of the Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest, Seeley Lake District of the Lolo National Forest, and Three Rivers Ranger District Kootenai National Forest into one bill that will designate wilderness areas. But the bill also mandates a minimum acreage for logging, new ORV and mountain bike trails, plus some other tax payer supported goodies like the specific subsidy of a biomass plant for Pyramid Lumber in Seeley Lake. He then added some twists of his own.

Unlike some of my friends and associates, I do believe there are some good things in Tester’s legislation and other things that I could live with if there were some modification of the bill’s language.

I get the sense that while the major themes of the bill are not going to be revised, the legislation is not set in stone, and some aspects could be modified.

In general, there are some who feel this bill should not pass because the bad provisions override the good. Others feel this is a train that has left the station, and the best that can be accomplished is to change or modify some of the worst language and terms. Still, those who want to keep this bill from passing might be prudent to at least point out the most troubling language and attempt to modify it in case their worse fears are realized. I wear a seat belt even though I try to drive so as to avoid accidents; likewise, critics might be wise to put together a solid critique of how the bill could be improved. And least we forget, the potential designation of 670,000 acres of new wilderness is nothing to sneer about.

Though some may disagree, I think Senator John Tester should be commended for trying to address some long-standing issues like wilderness designation. He could easily avoid controversy and take the path of least resistance by doing nothing about wilderness issues—as Senator Baucus has done for a long time now. So I commend the Senator for at least trying to get things moving and attempting to resolve long-standing issues like wilderness designation.

But like many others, I have a problem with how the contents of the bill were developed (with limited public input), as well as with the larger philosophical idea behind the bill that “locals” in Montana should have a greater say over management of national assets (like trees) than someone living in Florida or Wisconsin. I hope this collaborative quid pro quo approach does not become a model for future wilderness bills in Montana or anywhere else, though I have no problem with people trying to find common ground on things like wilderness designation if that can be achieved.

THE GOOD STUFF

Despite how it was created, there is some good aspects to this bill, not the least of which is the creation of more than 670,000 acres of new wilderness. Many of these areas—including the Italian Peaks, Lima Peaks, Snowcrest, East Pioneers, Centennial Mountains, Sapphires, and Roderick Mountain (Yaak)—contain some of the finest unprotected landscapes in Montana.

Based on the experience in other states, Congressional designation of wilderness areas today will likely lead to additional wilderness legislation down the road. I personally support the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Preservation Act (NREPA), which is far and away the best alternative for protecting Montana’s wildlands and wildlife. NREPA has been introduced into the House and each year inches closer to enactment. It’s possible that discussion of the Tester bill—whether it is enacted or not—can provide an opportunity for comparison between what NREPA could do compared to Tester’s proposal.

Another positive effect of this legislation—if enacted—is designation of wilderness areas including the Centennials, Lima Peaks, Italian Peaks and two small wilderness areas in the West Big Hole along the Continental Divide that will increase the likelihood that the adjacent Idaho roadless lands will also garner protection. (They definitely would if NREPA is passed).

One positive new twist of the Tester bill is that it also deals with BLM areas. Tester proposes wilderness protection for a number of BLM WSAs including the Centennial Mountains along the Continental Divide, a major corridor linkage between the Greater Yellowstone and other ecosystems to the west and north. Other BLM WSAs proposed for wilderness include the Blacktail Range, Ruby Range, Humbug Spires, and Farlin Creek.

Another positive aspect of the bill is that when any agency computes road density limits, it must include ORV trails as part of its total mileage. In some areas, there are actually more miles of ORV trails than logging roads, and this requirement could significantly reduce overall motorized mileage.

The bill also designates several hundred thousand acres of National Recreation Areas in the West Big Hole, West Pioneers, Northwest Peaks (Yaak), Thunderbolt near Helena and elsewhere. In some cases, there is a core “wilderness” component. For instance, in the West Big Hole, the Tester bill creates two small wilderness areas surrounded by the larger NRA and the same for the West Pioneers. The major reason for establishing NRA instead of wilderness in these areas is to permit snowmobiling, mountain biking, and ORV access.

While most of these areas are proposed for wilderness protection in NREPA, with the exception of the proposed 94,000 acres West Big Hole NRA, the other NRAs in Tester’s bill all specifically have language that bans logging. So if you add up both the proposed wilderness and NRAs with NRA logging bans together, you have nearly 900,000 acres off limits to logging. It must be noted that much of this acreage is high elevation forest and alpine terrain that would never be logged, but wilderness and NRA protection does preclude many other activities that can compromise wildland quality.

There are other parts of the bill that call for restoration of natural fire regimes, removal of roads and culverts, and so forth that will improve the ecological integrity of the areas affected. The bill’s language also directs the Forest Service to prioritize logging projects in areas where road densities exceed 1.5 mile of road per square mile of habitat, where habitat fragmentation is greatest, and so on. This directive, if followed, should focus logging in areas already degraded by past logging practices.

There is certainly more in the bill that one could highlight that are good provisions, but there are plenty of supporters doing exactly that now, including the Montana Wilderness Association, National Wildlife Federation and Trout Unlimited, as well as timber industry supporters. So I will mostly address the bill’s shortcomings and/or worrisome provisions.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

Beyond the issue of how this bill was created, there are aspects of the bill that deserve additional scrutiny. I make no claims that I am expert on the bill, though I have read through in an attempt to understand it. I may be misinterpreting things or overlooking provisions that would mollify some of my concerns.

In the end the parts I have highlighted may not be the problem I envision, or they may be easily rectified by some modest changes in the bill’s language. Still I want to draw attention to some issues to make sure they are not overlooked. These are in no particular priority order.

One of the problems with the bill is that while it establishes new wilderness areas, it releases a lot of currently protected acreage to potential new development. For instance, the bill specifically releases 76,000 acres of BLM WSAs. WSAs are supposed to be managed to protect wildlands values, so their release means they could be logged or leased for oil and gas development. I’ve hiked some of these released areas like Hidden Pasture and Bell/Lime Kiln Canyon WSAs south of Dillon, and they are wonderful open, rolling grasslands with pockets of timber that are not common in our wilderness system. At the very least, I would prefer to see that all the BLM WSA not designated as wilderness remain as WSA instead of released for development.

In addition, the Tester bill releases a significant acreage of the S.393 areas legislated by Senator Lee Metcalf efforts. For instance, the West Pioneers Wilderness Study Area set aside by the 1977 legislation is one of the largest unprotected roadless areas in Montana. Yet the Tester bill only designates slightly less than 26,000 acres as wilderness. Much of the remainder of this area is a proposed 129,000 acre National Recreation Area that would exclude logging, but losing more than 129,000 of WSA is very significant. The reason given to me for NRA status, as opposed to wilderness designation, has been the gradual incursion of these lands by motorized usage. Nevertheless, there is no reason why ORV trails and routes can’t be closed and wilderness established in this area. Wilderness designation for the entire West Pioneers WSA would be a huge improvement.

It is also disappointing to see 94,000 acres of the West Big Hole designated as an NRA as well instead of wilderness. The area clearly qualifies for wilderness designation. My understanding is that the NRA status is a bone thrown to local ranchers who want to be able to cut trees for fence posts, as well as ORV interests.

I have the same disappointment over NRA status for wildlands in the Yaak. The Northwest Peaks NRA was created again as a concession primarily to snowmobilers. There is so little wilderness in the Yaak and what little unlogged country that remains should be given maximum protection afforded by wilderness.

How much logging and where it can occur will be greatly influenced by the interpretation of one clause in the bill. There is specific language that says that all landscape-scale restoration projects (i.e. logging) must be done “consistent with laws (including regulations) and forest plans and appropriate to the forest type.” Proponents tell me this means that laws like the Endangered Species Act remain in force.

However, others who have reviewed the same language aren’t so sure that language is sufficient to guarantee that all existing environmental laws like the ESA applies to the landscape restoration projects mandated by the Tester bill. This is a key element because if the specific mandate for logging a minimum of a hundred thousand acres can override things like the ESA or other regulations, there is potential for greater long-term harm to our wildlands and wildlife.

If there is room for different interpretations, it is critical to get specific language in the bill that leaves no doubt about the application of the ESA, roadless rule, and so on to the forest lands covered in the Tester bill.

Another part of Tester’s bill bans the construction of any permanent roads in project areas, and requires that all “access roads” (logging roads) be reclaimed in five years and specifically requires restoration of road prism and removal of road crossings like culverts. This is a very good provision—if you are going to have logging at all and I applaud the proponents of the bill for putting in such specific language about road removal standards.

However, the language does allow for roads to be converted into ORV trails. So there is the potential for creation of miles of new ORV trails that would greatly reduce any positive effect from road closure (though road density limits will temper the total mileage allowed to a degree).

One serious and worrisome language is about consultation. The bill says that any dispute and/or appeal be resolved in the project area. This, if I read it correctly, could means that someone protesting a timber sale from eastern Montana might have to travel to the Yaak to settle a dispute, a cumbersome burden on appellants, not to mention someone living across the country. This could thwart public participation in forest management.

Moreover the language says that the parities who were involved in crafting the original proposals—meaning the timber companies and other--can provide input to the Forest Service, but does not guarantee similar input access from other members of the public. Again giving greater control and influence to local interests over the general public.

Another problem is the language for restoration on the BDNF. While any receipts from timber projects in the Blackfoot and Three Rivers areas must be used in that local area, receipts from the BDNF could be used anyplace in the country. This is a serious potential problem because the Forest Service might be tempted to expand logging on the BDNF to pay for improvements on other forests.

Furthermore, the money from these stewardship contracts can be used for things like putting in new toilets in campgrounds and picnic tables, as well as commercial timber harvesting, instead of removing logging roads and culverts as commonly portrayed by proponents. This is not to say that all funds will be used in this way, but the language does permit funds to be used in this manner. Given that closing roads is far more controversial, than say building some toilets or picnic tables in a campground, some district rangers might be tempted to use funds for such non-ecological “restoration” work.

The bill also authorizes a MINIMUM of 7,000 a year must be “mechanically treated” (euphemism for logging) and a MINIMUM of 3,000 acres a year on the Three Rivers Ranger District in the Yaak. Thankfully there is no acreage requirement for the Seeley Lake District on the Lolo NF. That suggests to me there is no upper limit on logging that could occur as now written. Though proponents assure me that it’s unlikely the Forest Service will offer more acres for logging, one can’t predict the future. A huge new housing boom or a decrease in Canadian lumber might prove sufficient motivation for additional logging.

An additional troubling clause says the authorization for the legislation terminates in either 15 years from enactment OR when 70,000 acres of land on the BDNF has been mechanically treated. The same clause applies to the 30,000 acres in the Yaak. This suggests that there is no real time limit on logging. If timber prices remain low for a decade, logging companies may wish to delay logging for years until prices improve.

And while the legislation mandates a specific amount of logging, there is no similar mandate for restoration. If the past is any indication, logging will occur, but much of the restoration will be not take place. This is particularly true for the BDNF. The BDNF is one of the least productive forests in Montana, and has consistently lost money on its timber program. How timber sales on the BDNF will generate enough money to pay for both the administrative costs as well as restoration efforts is not clear.

A minor issue is a provision specific to the proposed Snowcrest Wilderness that says that ranchers can use motorized access to preserve “historic access” ranching activities. I presume cowboys no longer ride horses, so must now be able to ride ATVs or pickups.

While the bill authorizes wilderness protection for a Quigg Peak and Sapphires, it only addresses lands on the BDNF portion of these roadless areas. It would seem to make sense to designate wilderness for the entire roadless portion of these areas now, irrespective of national forest administrative boundaries.

With regards to motorized use, the bill specifically directs the Forest Service to create new trails, particularly loop trails. How much this will expand motorized use in these areas is difficult to predict, but almost for sure, we will see more officially sanctioned ORV use. There is, however, specific language that limits ORV use in National Recreation Areas to designated trails and routes. And unlike language in the Boulder White Cloud proposed wilderness legislation for Idaho which forbids closure of routes without providing a similar mileage elsewhere, the bill specifically allows the Sec of Agriculture (i.e. the Forest Service) to close any motorized trail or route for resource protection or other reasons.

UNCHARACTERISTIC FIRE AND INSECT INFECTATIONS?

Another big problem I have with the bill’s language is that it suggests that most of the forests in the northern Rockies are ecologically degraded. Tester’s bill says that logging should be done to reduce “uncharacteristic wildland fire and insect infestations.” For the most part, except for areas that have been previously logged, I do not believe that the bulk of the forests in any of the forests addressed in this bill are seriously out of whack.

Some 99% of the BDNF, for instance, consists of higher elevation forests of lodgepole pine and other forest types that have not been significantly compromised by fire suppression. Lodgepole pine forests naturally burn at long intervals and often in intense large fires and/or are periodically attacked by bark beetles. Similarly much of the Yaak drainage on the Kootenai NF and the Seeley Lake District of the Lolo National Forest consists of lodgepole pine, subalpine fir, western larch and even western red cedar forests—all of which are not seriously affected by fire suppression.

Plus large fires and beetle outbreaks are critical to the long-term health of these forest ecosystems. They are adapted and depended upon periodic large infusions of dead wood. So I have serious reservations about the ecological assumptions and justifications guiding these projects. In other words, how can you “restore” something that is not seriously degraded? Thus the entire ecological justification for active management in these forests is suspect.

Another part of the Tester bill that I have a philosophical problem with is the direct subsidy of private companies. For instance, the public subsidy of a biomass burner for the Pyramid Lumber Company in Seeley Lake is one example. The justification for this biomass burner is partially due to the previous assumptions—that somehow the Pyramid Lumber Company will be doing us a favor by cutting all those trees that they suggest have grown due to fire suppression. But as I have previously suggested, most of the forests in the Seeley Lake area are likely not out of whack. But even if they were, setting a demand for biomass is risky and can lead to additional demands for logging well above the levels envisioned by proponents.We would be better off spending that money—if taxpayer money be spent-on closing roads and other actions that improves the forest ecosystem.

WHY DO TIMBER COMPANIES SUPPORT THIS BILL?

I have often wondered why the timber companies involved in these collaborative efforts are supporting the Tester bill. After all these timber companies are not necessarily wilderness advocates. There are several reasons why they support the Tester bill. One is the fact that most of the areas proposed for wilderness designation are not available for logging anyway--they are on lands too steep, there is not enough timber to warrant construction of logging roads, or they are off limits to protect wildlife, and so forth. So support of wilderness is no skin off their backs.

But there are other less obvious reasons why they support the Tester bill. The old saying, follow the money applies here. Not only are there direct subsidies to private business like the biomass burner for Pyramid Lumber, but passage of the Tester bill will create a strategic economic benefit to the participating companies.

One is that stewardship contracts as provided in the bill are typically not sought out by larger timber companies like Plum Creek. This means there is less competition for access to public timber and potentially even a reduction in price for trees cut under stewardship provisions.

Since the bill specifically calls for more logging of public trees within the sphere of only a few specific mills, it is not unlike a grazing allotment for ranchers who have a guaranteed supply of public grass for their livestock. It gives these mills a competitive advantage in the market place.

Guaranteed access to federal trees not only increases the value of these mills if the owners were interested in selling them (just as a ranch is worth more with a federal grazing permit), but it also means these companies can more easily borrow money from banks.

ADDITIONAL WILDERNESS THAT COULD BE ADDED

Senator John Tester is going to take some heat from all corners no matter how much wilderness he includes in his bill. As long as he is modifying some of the proposals, he might as well add in some additional areas with strong local support such as wilderness designation for the proposed Great Burn west of Missoula, the Rocky Mountain Front by Choteau, and the Scotchman’s Peak proposed wilderness near Trout Creek. Depending on the exact specifics of a wilderness proposal, none of these areas are likely to generate any more political heat than what is out there now.

There are good things in Senator Tester’s bill worthy of support. But there is much that needs to be altered or at least modified to improve this legislation by the bill’s supporters as well as critics alike if indeed this bill moves forward.

Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act

2009-02-18T14:21:00.003-07:00

MONTANA, Feb 18 2009 (Neo Natura) - Undaunted by many years of failure, backers of the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA) have had it introduced once more into the 111th Congress.

And once more, the massive legislation is being billed as a jobs program, which should get more traction in the face of the current economic meltdown and rapidly rising unemployment.

“NREPA creates 2300 badly needed jobs now by employing people to restore over a million acres of old clearcuts and remove old logging roads, Michael Garrity, Executive Director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and one of the primary ball-carriers for the bill, said in today’s press release. “NREPA also would formally designate as wilderness all 24 million acres of inventoried roadless areas in the Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, eastern Oregon and eastern Washington.”

"Many of America’s most precious natural resources and wildlife are found in the Northern Rockies,” said Maloney. “NREPA would help protect those resources by drawing wilderness boundaries according to science, not politics. NREPA would also help reduce global warming by protecting the corridors through which vulnerable wildlife can migrate to cooler areas.”

“I am proud to cosponsor this legislation to protect the Northern Rocky Mountains, one of America’s great natural areas,” added Grijalva, who recently lost out to Colorado’s Ken Salazar to be Secretary of the Interior. “A bold plan is needed to preserve and protect what remains of the Lewis and Clark legacy, and this bill would do just that.”

One of the points of criticism of the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA) is confusion over what lands are really covered by the massive proposal. The Alliance for the Wild Rockies, one of the main architects and ball carriers of NREPA, has addressed that point by posting a detailed list of roadless lands affected by the bill.

Specifically, NREPA would:

Designate as wilderness 24 million acres of ecosystems and watersheds in the Northern Rockies;
Connect natural, biological corridors, ensuring the continued existence of native plants and animals and mitigating the effects of global warming;
Restore habitat that has been severely damaged from roads that were built, creating more than 2,300 jobs and leading to a more sustainable economic base in the region;
Keep water available for ranchers and farmers downstream until it is most needed; and
Eliminate subsidized development in the designated wilderness areas, saving taxpayers $245 million over a 10-year period.

As with past introduction of NREPA no U.S. Senator or Representative from Idaho, Montana or Wyoming has offiically supported the bill.

The Costs of Clean Coal

2009-02-06T09:03:00.003-07:00

MONTANA, Feb 06 (Neo Natura) - Steve Running, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient and University of Montana professor, isn’t a big fan of what’s termed “clean coal,” which is touted as being environmentally friendly by Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer.

While it’s technically possible to capture the carbon dioxide emitted by coal-fired plants and sequester the gas underground, the cost and energy involved to do so is “so overwhelming it doesn’t end up as being logical,” Running said on Tuesday. He came to the Queen City this week to lecture on the effects of climate change to Montana.

Running knows that not everyone believes the Earth’s climate is warming, and people point to blizzards on the East Coast and record cold temperatures as proof. But as a scientist, he’s studied the data and firmly believes that humans are significantly contributing to global warming.

“I think there are some well-funded professional deniers who are following the tobacco and cancer lobbies’ model, in a broad sense,” Running said. “They continue to say that in the broad sense, all the data isn’t in. But in reality it is in and no climate scientist comes to any different conclusion. The world is warming up.”

Climate scientists spent 40 years developing models and theorizing whether shorter, warmer winters were due to different earth orbits, sun spots or even a wobbling axis, Running said.

“But no model can recreate the acceleration of global temperatures without including greenhouse gases,” such as carbon dioxide, Running said. “We’re using our atmosphere as a free garbage can.”

Capturing those greenhouse gases and injecting them underground just moves the problem around, he added. Montana’s Legislature is looking at creating rules on carbon sequestration, and during Schweitzer’s State of the State address last week, the governor said sequestration is vital for coal development in Montana.

“I think we’ll end up ultimately with a better solution,” Running said.

But whether the world does that before it reaches the tipping point is the big question.

“We won’t know that we’ve hit the tipping point until we look backward,” Running said.

He does note that it took 100 million years for plants to decompose underground into fossil fuels like gas and coal, but we’re digging it up in only 100 years n an acceleration speed of about 1 million.

“That simple statement says that can’t work for very long,” Running said. “We haven’t moved very far in coming up with solutions in the past 10 years, but I’m hopeful that will change soon. It has to.”

The easiest first step, he added, is to embrace a variety of energy efficient opportunities, like electric cars or simply walking or riding bikes to work.

“In Europe, everything they do reduces their energy consumption,” Running said. “Wouldn’t it be great to be able to ride a train around town?”

Montanans are getting a front-row seat to the impacts of a warmer world, with shorter winters, hotter summers and a beetle epidemic that’s killing all of the lodgepole pines in the forests. Running theorized that in the future, the lodgepoles could be replaced by cactus and sagebrush, and Montana could start to look like Utah.

“Not that there’s anything bad about Utah,” he said, laughing.

MATL Transmission Line Permit Approved

2008-10-29T15:24:00.002-06:00

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."

2008-10-08T14:15:00.003-06:00

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

2008-10-01T11:19:00.003-06:00

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

2008-10-01T11:14:00.002-06:00

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

2008-09-23T12:31:00.004-06:00

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

2008-09-16T15:11:00.003-06:00

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

2008-08-29T11:46:00.004-06:00

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

2008-08-29T11:38:00.003-06:00

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

2008-08-28T15:32:00.003-06:00

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

2008-08-27T15:13:00.003-06:00

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

2008-08-18T15:31:00.005-06:00

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

2008-08-18T12:39:00.004-06:00

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?

2008-08-11T13:44:00.003-06:00

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

2008-08-07T11:40:00.004-06:00

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

2008-07-28T10:21:00.002-06:00

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

2008-07-21T12:27:00.003-06:00

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

2008-07-21T10:58:00.001-06:00

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

2008-07-14T13:02:00.004-06:00

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

2008-07-09T15:26:00.000-06:00

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

2008-06-27T17:11:00.001-06:00

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.