U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp says bio-energy technology developed at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory will provide a boost to all aspects of Tennessee's economy.
"From the most rural elements of Tennessee, people are either going to be able to grow switch grass or poplar," Wamp says. "Then you have the whole distribution system with bio-refineries and who's going to work there. We're going to have 10 of them in this state. There's going to be people converting automobiles to flex fuels so they can run off ethanol, E-85 or gasoline."
Wamp says the new Department of Energy Bio-Energy Center at Oak Ridge opens a new chapter in alternative fuel technology.
"The lab was selected not just as the research center for bio-fuels, but what they call the home of the industrial complex, meaning it starts at the lab, but makes its way to the pump, and all the business in between are going to benefit," Wamp says.
ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy.