| Thursday, May 4, 2006 |  |
| Manila welcomes Asia’s first big biodiesel plant | 1 comment |
| 4 May 2006 @ 16:47 Manila welcomes Asia’s first big biodiesel plant By Roel Landingin in Manila Published: May 4 2006 01:01 The Philippines yesterday inaugurated Asia’s first large-scale biodiesel plant, which can produce up to 60m litres a year of the alternative fuel from coconut oil, a big step for the poor south-east Asian country. Chemrez Inc, a Manila-based oleochemicals maker, built the plant for 650m pesos ($12.6m, €10m, £6.9m) ahead of the passage later this year of legislation requiring petrol refiners and distributors to sell diesel fuel mix with at least 1 per cent coconut oil, and petrol containing at least 5 per cent of sugar ethanol. The company expects initially to export up to 80 per cent of its output to Europe, the world’s biggest biodiesel market, as well as to Japan and Australia, while local petrol distributors set up the infrastructure for pre-blending the biofuel, said Jun Lao, Chemrez president. Across Asia, governments and companies are developing plans to build biofuel plants or expand production of palm oil, sugar, jatropha and other crops that could prove to be cheaper and more sustainable alternatives to fossil fuel-based petroleum products. In Malaysia, palm oil plantation companies, in partnership with the Malaysian Palm Oil Board, are planning to build three 60,000-tonne plants to export biodiesel. Kuala Lumpur is also considering a law requiring petrol stations to sell biodiesel using palm oil from 2007 in an effort to reduce state diesel subsidies. “We expect to hold the distinction of being Asia’s first large-scale biodiesel plant for only six to eight months because bigger projects, especially in Malaysia, are coming on stream later this year and early next year,” said Mr Lao. He said global demand for biodiesel was set to rise as European Union members switched to palm or coconut oil from more expensive rapeseed in producing biofuels. The Philippines, which buys all its crude oil requirements from abroad, saw economic growth fall to 5 per cent last year from a 15-year high of 6.1 per cent in 2004 mainly because of inflationary pressures stemming from soaring crude oil prices. The country’s trade deficit grew by almost a third to $7.5bn as its oil import bill surged. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the Philippine president, welcomed the new biodiesel plant and said it represented a big step forward in the country’s efforts to find a solution to soaring world crude prices. Unable to cut taxes on petroleum, much less subsidise gas prices because of the government’s large budget deficits, Mrs Macapagal is instead promoting private investments in alternative fuels such as biodiesel from coconut oil, ethanol from sugar and compressed natural gas. Her cabinet recently rejected a proposal from an economic adviser to suspend the collection of the 12 per cent value added tax on petroleum products to provide immediate relief to consumers. The move could lower the unleaded gasoline price by about a tenth but would also cost the government about 29bn pesos a year in forgone revenue, equivalent to about a fourth of its 125bn pesos budget deficit target this year. More > |
| State's first hemp farming rules aimed at clearing federal hurdle | 0 comments |
| 4 May 2006 @ 00:40 State's first hemp farming rules aimed at clearing federal hurdle By James MacPherson, Associated Press Grand Forks Herald - Grand Forks, ND May 3, 2006 BISMARCK, N.D. - State Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson is proposing rules that he hopes will make North Dakota the first state to allow commercial hemp cultivation and quell law enforcement fears about the biological cousin of marijuana. Johnson acknowledges it's an uphill battle. The rules would require a criminal background check on farmers who want to grow hemp. The sale of hemp and location of the hemp fields must be documented. And the farmer must get a permit from the Drug Enforcement Administration. Hemp contains trace amounts of tetrahydrocannobinol, or THC, a banned substance, and it falls under federal anti-drug rules, said Steve Robertson, a DEA special agent in Washington. The DEA does not have the authority to change existing federal law, Robertson said. "It's very simple for us: The law is there and we enforce the law," he said Wednesday. "We are law enforcement, not lawmakers." The state rules would be "contingent on the federal government changing its mind," Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said. The likelihood of that is "very small," he said. Johnson and other proponents say hemp is safe because it contains only trace amounts of the mind-altering chemical. Industrial hemp would be an alternative cash crop for North Dakota farmers because it's used to make food, clothing, cosmetics, paper, rope and other products, they say. Johnson said his department crafted the state's industrial hemp rules after he and agriculture commissioners from three other states met in February with DEA officials in Washington. They discussed what would be required to allow industrial hemp production, Johnson said, and he believes North Dakota's proposed rules address those requirements. READ More > |
| T R A N S I T I O N S: Industrial Hemp | 1 comment |
| 4 May 2006 @ 00:39 T R A N S I T I O N S by Steve Sprinkel appearing in ACRES,USA June 2006 2006 should have been the year when industrial hemp was finally produced commercially again in the United States. Though hemp is produced in forty countries, in the United States unfortunately that is still for the future. However, recent developments in various state governments have opened the way so that a new crop can be added to an organic farmer’s rotation in as few as three and probably no more than five years. Lobbying government, rational publicity and dialogues in state legislatures help, but the coming explosion in hemp products worldwide and consequential economic forces will make cultivation irresistible. In a few short years there will be so many organic hemp products on the market that further delay in the US will just be bad business. And its business that steers the Washington, DC leviathan more than any appeal to reason. We may merely wear a bit of cannabis now and nibble on a spoonful of seed, but the inevitable advent of a multitude of viable products, from fuels to packaging and construction materials to a replacement for plastics is upon us. This was the consensus at an impromptu meeting in southern California of five international hemp production experts hosted by John Roulac of Nutiva. Mr. Roulac, the author of Hemp Horizons ( 1997, Chelsea Green Publishing Co.) manufactures a number of hemp food products made from Canadian-grown hempseeds. This season he is offering Hemp Shakes at retail. He has positioned himself as a realist in the campaign to make industrial hemp cultivation in the US possible. Mr. Roulac is careful to choose moderate allies, while at the same time serving as an activist litigant to repel ongoing legal challenges launched by the Department of Justice. Mr. Roulac, who lives a few miles from us in a small community surrounded by the Los Padres National Forest, was a key defendant in the landmark 2004 victory against the US Drug Enforcement Agency that renewed importation of processed hemp foods. US Hemp food sales are growing at a 50% annual clip according to the US industry research group SPINS. Hempseed-based foods are becoming more common in a variety of applications, including bread, cereal, specialty nutritional oils, food bars, nut butters, and protein powders and shakes. The market is always hunting up the new, and hemp delivers good values like omega three in the nutraceutical category filled by flax and fish oils. John Roulac is certain that hemp oil is primed for significance: “ …the product tastes as good ( many say better), provides a wider array of beneficial nutriments ( omega three, plus steridonic and gamma linoleic acids) and is competitively priced. The high-end market for the specialty oils has been built by flax and fish, so we are optimistic.” READ More > |