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Beyond corn, the new frontier in ethanol is nonfood biofuel
Posted by Star Tribune: David Shaffer on October 12th, 2014
Star Tribune: The first large ethanol plants to produce biofuel from nonfood sources like corn cobs are starting operations in the Midwest amid industry worries that they might also be the last -- at least in the United States.
After a decade of research and development, ethanol maker Poet Inc. and its Dutch partner Royal DSM recently produced the first cellulosic ethanol at a $275 million plant next to a cornfield in this northern Iowa town.
Two other companies are completing new cellulosic ethanol plants...
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Regulators Asked to Consider Changes in Sandpiper Pipeline Path
Posted by Star Tribune: David Shaffer on July 18th, 2014
Star-Tribune: Minnesota regulators will study shifting some segments of a proposed northern Minnesota crude oil pipeline in the face of public concern about the risk to lakes, wetlands and the Mississippi River headwaters. But the state Commerce Department, which is overseeing an environmental review of Enbridge Energy’s proposed Sandpiper pipeline, on Thursday said it doesn’t endorse studying a wholesale reroute of the proposed $2.6 billion project to carry North Dakota crude oil. State officials recommended...
Another utility cuts back on coal
Posted by Star Tribune: David Shaffer on January 31st, 2013
Star Tribune: The state's most coal-dependant power company said Wednesday that it will stop burning the fuel at three of its oldest electrical generators in 2015.
The announcement by Minnesota Power is the latest sign of coal's decline in the electric power industry. Seven other power generators owned by three other Minnesota utilities also are turning away from coal to avoid adding expensive controls for mercury emissions by 2016.
Minnesota Power, the electric utility serving the Iron Range and central...