PennFuture Releases Report Showing State's Biofuels Initiative Will Mean More than 25,000 Jobs and Replace $6.8 Billion in Imports

    SHIREMANSTOWN, Pa., June 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Citizens for Pennsylvania's
 Future (PennFuture) today released a new report on the impact of
 Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell's PennSecurity Fuels Initiative on the
 Commonwealth's economy, showing that the plan will create 25,775 new jobs
 in all sectors of the Pennsylvania economy by 2017, add $1.5 billion
 annually to the Pennsylvania economy and create $900 million in new tax
 revenue for the Commonwealth over the next decade. In addition, the
 proposal will mean that the 900 million gallons of Pennsylvania biofuels
 made over a decade will replace imports, much from abroad, worth $6.8
 billion.
     Thomas Tuffey, PhD, director of PennFuture's Center for Energy,
 Enterprise and the Environment, made the announcement at an event at
 Keystone Biofuels in Shiremanstown attended by Pennsylvania Agriculture
 Secretary Dennis Wolff and business leaders and farmers involved in the
 biofuels market.
     "Governor Rendell's initiative will provide significant contributions
 to Pennsylvania's economy through the construction of new refining plants,
 infrastructure and annual operations," said Tuffey. "More than 25,000 jobs
 across the state, as well as the development of new cash crops for farmers,
 will mean Pennsylvanians in rural communities will reap the benefits of
 this new high-tech biofuels economy. And this initiative will also make our
 nation and our state more secure by replacing 900 million gallons of oil
 products imported from the Middle East and other hotspots.
     "This report proves that the PennSecurity Fuels Initiative will be a
 total victory -- good for the environment, by combating global warming and
 air pollution through using substitutes for oil; good for the economy, by
 creating a whole new sector of the economy, complete with new jobs and new
 markets; and good for our security," said Tuffey. "Quite simply, this
 report shows that the PennSecurity Fuels Initiative is good public policy."
     The report by LECG LLC was designed to investigate the possible risks
 and benefits of investing in the new infrastructure necessary to move
 Pennsylvania strongly into the biofuels markets. The 22-page report is
 available on PennFuture's website at
 http://www.pennfuture.org/docs/EconomicImpactofPSFI.pdf.
     PennFuture is a statewide public interest membership organization with
 offices in Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and the newly opened
 Center for Energy, Enterprise and the Environment in West Chester.
 PennFuture has been called "Pennsylvania's leading environmental
 organization" by the Philadelphia Inquirer.
 
 

SOURCE Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future (PennFuture)