Federal tour highlighted area’s potential

To the editor:

This letter is a follow-up to the visit to our area by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. We would like to thank all of the people and organizations responsible for making this event a tremendous success for our region.

The secretaries’ tour began in Gretna with an explanation of the bioenergy demonstration site and the resulting community benefits that will be realized as the commercial operation is deployed. Secretary Vilsack immediately understood this relationship. They recognized that this is a community-based project that has been developed with the help of many local and state agencies. The various plant material being grown for testing were talked about and Liam Leightley, executive director of the Institute for Advanced Learning & Research, elaborated on the genetic work that they are doing for the project to improve plant quality and yields.

Secretary Chu has done extensive research related to one of the most promising plants, miscanthus, which already yields twice as much as switchgrass.

He commented that miscanthus has the genetic potential for its yield to be doubled from where it is now; this is an area where the Institute has a great opportunity. Leightly further explained that their relationship with the project allowed them to perform field evaluations of material being tested in the lab and this is a great benefit to them.

Comments were made about the work being performed at Virginia Tech relating to specialized biomass handling equipment and other technologies. We talked about the future involvement of Danville Community College and how important it is for the school to be prepared to offer education in specialized training to prepare students for this new green industry and that they are ready to move forward with this initiative.

The group moved inside the building containing the conversion process and a detailed explanation was given of how the process works. The complete conversion of biomass to value added products takes place within the demonstration plant; therefore, the true benefit from field to market is easily discernable.

The tour was completed and summarized with the fact that our region has all of the necessary components needed to see this new green industry develop and prosper, from natural resources to people to technical expertise and research support. Secretary Chu later commented that what he saw in Gretna represented the future and it is something real.

This event was as tremendous positive reflection on our region, and we all should be proud of that fact and do our part to continue to convey this message to our political leaders inside and outside of the immediate areas.

KEN MOSS

Gretna