Last Friday three Climate Guardians visited Sen. Hagan's Raleigh office to show their support for comprehensive climate and energy legislation. Steven Pires a graduate student at NCSU's Department of Forest Biomaterials Science and Engineering stressed that this legislation will bring tens of thousands of jobs to North Carolina. He brought up some great points, all of which show that an investment in NC's sustainable energy industry could payoff big dividends, below is one of his arguments.
The Renewable Fuels Standard seeks to cap our production of corn-based ethanol at 15 billion gallons a year while requiring the rest of the 36 billion gallons to be represented by second generation biofuels. These second generation biofuels have immense opportunity for economic growth in North Carolina. Major declines in the paper industry are causing existing NC facilities to halt operations, slowing economic activity and biomass utilization.These facilities have the capability and capacity to process this biomass (mostly hardwood and softwood) to a finished biofuel product with little modifications to the existing facilities.
The drop-in was a great success everyone brought something to the table. Steven Harrison a retired paratrooper and a frequent contributor to Blue NC was kind enough to make the trip to Raleigh and Sierra Club member Cecilia Redding also joined us. At every visit, volunteers ask what needs to happen in order for Sen. Hagan to actively support this legislation. Every time the staff tells us that more community support is needed. If you would like to volunteer and become a Climate Guardian please call me at 740-275-6270 or by email at north.carolina.chapter@gmail.com
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