UPDATE: Last week we wrote about a visit by Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) to algae producer BioProcess Algae. Turns out Senator Manchin was even more enthusiastic about the synergies between the algae industry and power plants than we thought.
According to the Los Angeles Times:
For Manchin, the coal industry advocate, the highlight of the trip appeared to be BioProcess Algae. The Portsmouth company operates a project in Iowa that takes heat-trapping carbon dioxide from an ethanol plant and uses it to grow algae, which is then used as animal feed. Whitehouse plans to talk to the EPA about including such options in its power plant greenhouse gas rules.
By using carbon dioxide as an algae feedstock, the technology would be a way to keep coal plants alive. An enthusiastic Manchin invited the company’s leaders to West Virginia to meet with power plant operators. Bounding to his car to head to the next stop, Manchin glanced back at the BioProcess building and said with a wide smile, “This is what it’s all about.”
ABO, our member companies and many others in the industry have been, and will continue to, make the case for the need to include carbon capture and utilization technologies as an approved pathway for CO2 emissions reductions under the new EPA rules.
We hope the Senator’s enthusiasm and support will create even more support for common sense, market-driven carbon recycling technologies that will both reduce emissions and create jobs.