Fresh Loaf

Turns out Gov. Sonny Perdue’s got some pull up in Washington, D.C.

Per the governor’s request, the U.S. Department of Energy says it’ll open the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in the Gulf of Mexico to help ease Georgia’s gas shortage.

“Today the Department approved an additional release of up to 900,000 barrels of crude oil from the SPR for two refiners that have not been able to obtain adequate supplies due to the ongoing disruptions,” Secretary Samuel Bodman wrote to Perdue. “With this additional release, the total amount provided from the SPR to refineries will be approximately 5.7 million barrels since September 3, 2008.”

The state Department of Revenue has also granted waivers to out-of-state haulers without a Georgia motor-fuel licenses to deliver gasoline into the state. Diesel goes first to first responders, school systems experiencing low supplies, and agriculture centers.

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The Department of Energy awarded the University of Georgia and the Georgia Institute of Technology, partnered with other research labs and universities, a cool $125 million over a period of five years for the development of one of three bioenergy research centers.

Says Alan Darvill, head of UGA’s team:

This research, which uses biotechnology approaches to reduce the high cost of processing plants into biofuels, has the potential to make ethanol a significant replacement for fossil fuels for this country’s future energy needs.

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Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman explained the center’s mission to the Associated Press:

These centers will provide the transformational science needed for bioenergy breakthroughs to advance President Bush’s goal of making cellulosic ethanol cost-competitive with gasoline by 2012, and assist in reducing America’s gasoline consumption by 20 percent in 10 years.

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The center will be based at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory at the University of Tennessee.

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