Kingston, Bell talk energy independence

By Angie Thompson/senior reporter

TIFTON — U.S. Representative Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), who serves on the House Appropriations Committee and as a member of the Defense Subcommittee, traveled to Tifton Thursday to talk with entrepreneur J.C. Bell. Bell, founder of Bio-Energy, Inc., is working with the Department of Defense to produce and furnish hydrocarbon fuel to seven military bases around the country.

Kingston is participating in a floor protest launched by House Republicans to call on speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal.) to reconvene Congress for a vote on legislation that would lower gas prices.

“We have to encourage and foster entrepreneurship,” Kingston said. “If we want to get our of this energy crunch, we have to support entrepreneurs like Mr. Bell.”

Bell, an agricultural researcher, has submitted patent applications for both the process he uses to produce the fuel and for the bacteria he genetically modified and cloned to convert many natural waste produces — wood shavings, paper, grass clippings, cardboard — into hydrocarbons. Plans are to soon locate flatbed trailers at seven military installations. The trailers have offices built on the front and contain 10 tanks where water and the bacteria will be added to the waste products to produce the fuel.

“We’re hooking electricity up at these demonstration facilities,” Bell said. “We won’t keep any of the fuel. We will send it to the Department of Defense’s Energy Supply Center for testing to ensure consistency in the product.”

The testing at the facilities will go on for approximately one year and will give the military a “drop-in product for diesel,” Bell said.

“After the one year of testing and producing fuel, we will have the certified product for use in cars and trucks,” Bell said.

Bell said he presented his research and plans during a closed-door meeting of the Agriculture Committee of the Senate and House two years go.

Kingston’s district includes Moody AFB, Fort Stewart, Hunter Army Airfield and Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay. Fort Stewart at Hinesville is the first site scheduled as a demonstration facility. The tentative date for that facility’s ribbon cutting is Oct. 1.

“Fort Stewart is excited about being the first,” Bell said. “They’ve been very cooperative.”

Bell said the United States imports 12.4 million barrels of oil per day and at Thursday’s price of $119 per barrel, people other than those in the United are benefiting.

“That’s $1.5 billion per year we send to other people working overseas or in countries that have dictators,” Bell said.

Each facility uses 10,000 pounds of bio-mass each month and it takes one ton of bio-mass to produce 2.5 barrels of fuel. The goal, Bell said, is to produce 500,000 per day per seven facilities within 18 months.

“It would take production of 5 billion barrels each day to be independent,” Bell said.

Bell said that the production of the fuel does not produce an odor or smoke and the process takes more carbon out of the air than vehicles put into the air.

Kingston said that he first took an interest in energy issues during Hurricane Katrina. He said it baffled him that gas prices weren’t guided by how close consumption was to supply.

“I have decided the only thing more baffling than gas prices is the plays called by high school football coaches,” Kingston said.

Kingston said Bell’s research is encouraging and that he feels strongly that “the answer to the energy crisis resides with this research.”

Kingston recalled the 1980s in America when there were no cell phones, no Blackberries or iPods and people listened to cassette players.

“The products we have today were inconceivable in 1982,” Kingston said. “All progress made in the last 75 years will be surpassed in the next 25 years.”

To contact senior reporter Angie Thompson, call 382-4321.

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