BP starts up celullosic ethanol joint venture with $45m, pays $161m fine for Clean Air Act violations

BP goes on the offensive and plays defense in two news stories yesterday. First, we learn that BP Products North America Inc. has agreed to pay $161 million for "pollution controls, enhanced maintenance and monitoring, and improved internal management practices" because of Clean Air Act violations committed at a Texas refinery. The EPA's Catherine McCabe said that, "BP failed to fulfill its obligations under the law, putting air quality and public health at risk."

Maybe the $45 million that BP (along with another $45 million from partner Verenium Corp.) is putting into a new cellulosic ethanol commercializaion project will result in better headlines. The new joint venture company will seek to create the biofuel from non-food feedstocks at a commercial-scale plant coming to HIighlands County, Florida. Construction there should start in 2010 and cost somewhere between $250 million and $300 million. If all goes well, the ethanol should start flowing in 2012. These dates are slightly later than previously indicated.

[Source: EPA, Boston Globe]

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