Pennsylvania Launches Energy Independence Plan

[jpak]

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/40144/story.htm

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Pennsylvania on Thursday launched an US$850 million program to conserve energy and boost production of non-fossil fuels in a bid to reduce dependence on imports, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and stimulate the state's clean-energy industry.

The state set a target of producing 1 billion gallons of biodiesel and ethanol by 2017, about equal to the amount of fuel Pennsylvanians buy from external sources, costing about US$30 billion a year.

"We need to keep those dollars at home and put our people to work building the state's energy independent future," said Governor Ed Rendell at a news conference.

If approved, the program would establish the Mid-Atlantic state as one of the leading biodiesel producers in the United States, which currently has a total national capacity of 225 million gallons per year, said Kathleen McGinty, Secretary of the state's Department of Environmental Protection.

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