Lawmakers OK $75M biofuel plan

One-day special session also outlaws synthetic marijuana
Elizabeth Crisp • elizabeth.crisp@clarionledger.com • August 28, 2010

A Texas-based biofuel venture will get a $75 million state-backed loan to start up in Mississippi after receiving nearly unanimous support from Mississippi lawmakers Friday.

Also, during their one-day special session , lawmakers approved a statewide ban on a synthetic marijuana substance commonly referred to as K2 or "spice," and acted on several other items.
Gov. Haley Barbour, who summoned the Legislature back to the Capitol to consider the bills, pledged to sign them into law.
"The decision by the Legislature to approve the incentive package to bring the first three of KiOR Corp.'s full-scale production facilities to Mississippi is not only an economic development boon for our state, but also a key step toward energy self-reliance for our country," Barbour said in a statement.
The Legislature swiftly pushed through House Bill 8 - the incentive package, to lure Houston-based biofuel start-up KiOR, which will locate the three plants in timber-rich areas over the next five years.
KiOR plans to take biomass - in this case wood chips from local timber that can be made into energy - and add a catalyst to chemically turn the chips into a near-perfect match to crude oil in a matter of seconds.
The product, the company says, can go through existing crude refineries and be used to make standard gasoline or diesel fuel.
"It's an unbelievable process," said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Dean Kirby, R-Pearl. "This might be the most exciting piece of legislation that I've ever handled."
The company will get no subsidies or state support until it has formed a partnership with a major oil company to refine it.
The first site will be built in Columbus and could open by the end of 2011.
"This will be the only plant of its kind in the world," said House Ways and Means Chairman Percy Watson, D-Hattiesburg.
Other KiOR facilities will be built in Newton County and in southwest Mississippi near Franklin County by 2015.
Officials estimate 1,000 jobs will be created directly or indirectly.
Several members of Jackson's delegation voted against the project in protest of the state Bond Commission's refusal to issue $6 million in bonds to the city of Jackson for water upgrades around the Capitol.
"I have tried my best to analyze what it is that Jackson will get as a result of me coming to the Capitol and voting for this particular legislation," said Sen. Alice Harden, D-Jackson. "Is it fair for my constituents to have to pay the debt on these bonds when we won't see any jobs, we won't see any benefits from the $75 million? I think not."




Some lawmakers also said they were leery of the technology but ended up voting for the bill.
Sen. David Jordan, D-Greenwood, said he remembers the state's beef plant fiasco and doesn't want a repeat.
"I don't want to get burned again. I want to be absolutely sure," he said.
The state-backed Mississippi Beef Processors Inc. plant operated a short time before closing in November 2004, leaving 400 people without jobs. The beef plant's failure cost taxpayers at least $55 million and led to criminal convictions of private developers.
"That albatross still hangs around our necks," Jordan said, before eventually voting for the KiOR bill.
Senate Bill 2004 - the "spice" ban, also passed with nearly unanimous support.
The product, sold in smoke shops and convenience stores as an incense, will be illegal to sell or possess once the governor signs the bill into law.
Holding up several bright envelopes and small vials filled with green, leafy substances, Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics director Marshall Fisher told lawmakers that officers had bought the K2 at a Jackson convenience store Friday morning.
"You can see where it would be attractive to young folks," Fisher said.
Although the substance is marked "not for human consumption," law enforcement officers say it has become popular among teens and young adults who smoke it to get high.
"It's not the same as marijuana," said House Judiciary A Committee Chairman Ed Blackmon, D-Canton. "It has the same effect, but it does many bad things to the body."