Des Moines Register
02-06-07
Regents ask lawmakers for ISU biofuels building
ERIN JORDAN
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
The Iowa Board of Regents this morning unanimously approved a plan to ask the
Iowa Legislature for $28 million to build a biorenewable fuels facility at Iowa State
University.
The proposal also includes $1 million annually and $4 million in one-time money
to hire 10 new faculty members and equip their laboratories in the biorenewables
building, ISU President Gregory Geoffroy told the regents at a meeting today in
Ames.
“All of us in the room know how important the topic of biorenewables and
renewable fuels is to the state of Iowa,” Geoffroy said. “If Iowa is to seize the
opportunity that is here, we need to strengthen our programs even further.”
The regents were enthusiastic about the plan, which builds on ISU’s Office of
Biorenewables, formed five years ago.
“Look what we built before there was any attention to this issue,” Regents
President Michael Gartner told Geoffroy. States across the country are now
pushing for more study of alternative fuels.
Regents Teresa Wahlert asked whether the proposal breaks the regents’
promise to avoid asking the state to pay for new construction projects for three
years after a $200-per-year student surcharge was approved last year.
Regents Executive Director Gary Steinke said economic development proposals
are excluded from the new-construction moratorium.
Iowa State also plans to ask the federal government for $14 million in one-time
funds and $2.5 million a year for a New Century Farm, which would be a model
of what farming will be like in 25 years, Geoffroy said.
The farm will include corn, beans and biomass crops, as well as facilities to
demonstrate how these crops are grown and harvested. ISU already owns the
1,000 acres on which this farm would be created, Geoffroy said.