$105 Million loan guarantee provided through the Biorefinery Assistance Program LAS VEGAS, Sept. 4, 2014 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that USDA has closed on a loan guarantee to Fulcrum Sierra Biofuels, LLC to build a biorefinery to produce jet fuel from municipal solid waste.

Project LIBERTY, the nation’s first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant to use corn waste as a feedstock, announced the start of production today. Once operating at full, commercial-scale, the biorefinery in Emmetsburg, Iowa will produce 25 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol per year – enough to avoid approximately 210,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually.