$59.5 million trash-to-ethanol project in Benton County secures funding

A commercial-scale plant to make biofuels from Benton and Linn County trash  is poised to become reality with a $25 million USDA loan guarantee announced Friday.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced  that the agency has approved the $25 million conditional loan commitment to Maryland-based Fiberight LLC and Fiberight Blairstown Operating LLC for their plant in Blairstown.

"It's important for us to continue to invest in these technologies for a multitude of reasons," Vilsack said. " It is about national security. We become more reliant on our domestic resources. Number two, it's a job creator."

Fiberight's president, Craig Stuart-Paul, said the company has "seven years of bumps and bruises" from its pilot cellulosic ethanol plant in Virginia. He said Fiberight hopes to be in position to draw on the USDA-backed  financing from Cedar Rapids Bank & Trust Co. in the spring or summer, and begin construction.

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