[CPEO-BIF] Rose Township Project (MI) and renewable fuels

[Lenny Siegel]

Press Release
PRNewswire
October 19, 2006

DaimlerChrysler, Michigan State University and NextEnergy Turn Former 
Dump Site Into Research Lab for Bio-fuels

* Oakland County brownfield fuels green vehicles of the future
* MSU Researcher harvests soybeans, sunflowers, corn and canola from 
Rose Township site
* Testing of the crop from the site may lead to "greening" of additional
brownfield sites

     AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- A 
Detroit-area brownfield site was anything but brown this year due to a 
unique experiment by a Michigan State University researcher. Sunflowers, 
corn, soybeans and other crops lent their colors to a section of the 
former dump site under the watchful eye of Professor Kurt Thelen, Ph.D.

Thelen has partnered with DaimlerChrysler, the State of Michigan, the 
United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and NextEnergy of 
Detroit in a project to reuse the former dump site to research and 
develop better renewable fuels. He is leading the investigation into the 
possibility that crops can be grown on former industrial sites for use 
in ethanol or biodiesel fuel production. His first crops of soybeans, 
corn, sunflower, canola and switchgrass -- harvested this fall -- will 
be tested for their potential to be refined into renewable fuels.

The Rose Township Project will serve as a model for potential reuse of 
hundreds of Superfund and brownfield sites nationwide. The EPA has 
endorsed the research under the agency's Return to Use initiative, 
designed to encourage the reuse of Superfund sites. Approximately two 
acres of the 110-acre site are being used for research.

...

For the entire news release and links, see
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/10-19-2006/0004455260&EDATE=

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel at cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org