Never would have predicted this..nope..never in a million years.
Bad year for biofuel ends on a dour note
By SEAN MURPHY, Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY – An alternative fuel for diesel engines is off to a shaky start this year though it emits fewer pollutants and cuts down on petroleum use because it's made from environmentally friendly waste and vegetable oil.
A federal tax credit that provided makers of biodiesel $1 for every gallon expired Friday. As a result, some U.S. producers say they will shut down without the government subsidy.
..This summer a federal jury found that Cello Energy, a next-generation biofuel company that specialized in plants-to-fuel technology, had defrauded investors. That is expected to leave the Environmental Protection Agency far short of the millions of gallons of biofuel it had planned to blend into traditional fuel this year.
VeraSun, the country's second largest ethanol producer, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October and its assets sold. Other ethanol refineries were swept up for pennies on the dollar.
..And the Department of Energy announced last month that next-generation biofuels would get more than $600 million in federal funding.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100101/ap_on_bi_ge/us_biodiesel_woes/print