(Washington D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty
Murray (D-WA), a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee,
announced that she included $2,000,000 for clean energy algae biofuel research
at Washington State University in the Fiscal Year 2011 Energy and Water
Development Appropriations Bill that was approved today by the Energy and Water
Appropriations Subcommittee.
“I’m proud to continue to support funding
for cutting-edge research at WSU that will create jobs and ensure our state’s
position as a leader in clean energy technology,” said Senator Murray. “The research being done at WSU will boost our local economy and
bring our nation closer to cleaner sources of energy.”
“Washington State University is very
committed to working with our partners Targeted Growth and Inventure to develop
a viable integrated system to grow, harvest and process energy and high value
products using algae as a feedstock. We very much appreciate Senator Murray’s
leadership and support of this effort,” said Dr. Elson S. Floyd, President, WSU.
The WSU
Algae Biofuels project is a partnership between WSU and the Seattle-based
Targeted Growth Inc. It will create high-skill jobs in both Pullman
and the Puget Sound area and provide researchers with the resources they need
to develop new, energy-efficient fuel sources. Blue-green algae are a
particularly promising candidate for fuel, as their highly-concentrated
absorption of solar energy makes them more energy-efficient than traditional
biofuel.
Having
passed the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee today, the bill will
now go to the full Appropriations Subcommittee before going to the full Senate
for consideration.
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