EVENT continued from page 43
he said. He added, however, “I’m very, very concerned with genetically modifying something that we have thousands and thousands of strains of and don’t know much about many of them; certainly not thousands of them. They produce half of the oxygen on this earth and we want to genetically modify them. I’m very worried about that.”
Change is Necessary U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., addressed Biomass ’09 attendees via video. Since 2001, Dorgan has provided nearly $9 million to the EERC for biomass utilization projects, and has included another $7 million in legislation this year, which would be the largest annual federal investment ever made in the program. Dorgan pointed out that some things have to change so the U.S. can have a stable, reliable energy source in the future. “My father spotted an old Model T in a grainery that had been parked there for decades, I bought it for $25 and restored it,” said Dorgan, who grew up in a small town in southwestern North Dakota. Although the car dated back to 1924, he said he filled the tank with gasoline the same way that we still put gasoline in vehicles today. “Nothing has changed at all,” he said. “But it must.” Dorgan said the U.S. faces many energy challenges. “We want to be able to expand our capabilities to produce homegrown energy right here from a range of feedstocks,” he said. “We’ll migrate from corn to other cellulosic feedstocks and we’ll use biomass from landfills. These ideas have been ignored for decades, but not any longer. Congress, and I, believe that it’s long past the time to get busy and create a different energy future.” North Dakota Commissioner of Agriculture Doug Goehring reminded the audience about the influence agriculture has on job creation, statewide and on a national level. Agriculture is responsible for directly and indirectly employing 25 percent of North Dakota’s population, he said, adding that 90 percent of the
state’s total acreage is utilized for agricultural purposes. Nationally, agriculture accounts for 12 percent of the U.S. economy, or about 19 percent of the indirect and direct jobs, according to Goehring. “One of every five people [in the U.S.] is employed by agriculture,” he said. Doug Goehring Goehring, who op- North Dakota erates a 2,000-acre, no- agriculture commissioner till farm near Menoken, N.D., strongly supports increased research into cereal grains and biofuel crops. He said farmers are interested, yet skeptical, when it comes to learning more about the next generation of energy production, primarily biomass. “What will those feedstocks be? Can I grow them on my farm? If it’s a perennial crop, how can I incorporate that?
If it’s annual, how does it fit within my crop rotation? I don’t have those answers,” he said. “Research is being done, and much more has to be done.” One of the biggest hurdles/challenges that remains in advancing the bioenergy crop industry is attitudes, according to Goehring. “Attitudes in general toward renewable energy and biocrops have taken a turn for the worst in the past year or so,” he said. “We need more communication with the public and quite frankly, when we talk about biomass, we need more communication with the farmers. We can educate the public, but we really have to engage farmers, because otherwise all they see are limited benefits and more questions.” BIO Anna Austin and Lisa Gibson are Biomass Magazine associate editors. Reach them at aaustin@bbiinternational.com or (701) 7384968 and lgibson@bbiinternational.com or (701) 738-4952.
9|2009 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 45