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PRESS CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT
For Immediate Release: 08-24-2011Contact: Cheryl Dickson-Walker
Mobile: 440-645-9472 Studio:
USDA Announces Deadline for NE Ohio/NW Penn. Biomass Crop Assistance Program- OSU President Gee and Team NEO Join Government, Business and
Agriculture Leaders’ Rally at Aloterra Energy Miscanthus Farm to Encourage Landowners and Farmers to Sign Up for new Rural Economic
Development Project
Conneaut, OH - (August 24, 2011) Aloterra Energy will host a gathering of federal, state and county officials, as well as business and agriculture leaders, at a 1:30pm press conference, Friday, August 26, 2011, at the Aloterra Energy Miscanthus Grass Farm and Biomass Conversion Facility, 3635 Middle Road, Conneaut, Ohio, 44030. Aloterra Energy representatives will announce details on the United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency’s official enrollment deadline for our region’s $5.7 million dollar Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP). Participants will discuss the positive economic impact of this groundbreaking project that will help revitalize the rural economies of Ashtabula, Lake, Geauga and Trumbull counties in Ohio and Erie, Crawford and Mercer counties in Pennsylvania. They will also encourage farmers and landowners to take advantage of this opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a new renewable energy industry being built right here in northeast Ohio.
Speakers and Presenters at the press conference will include Matthew J. Griswold, Chief Financial Officer, Aloterra Energy; Jon A. Griswold, CEO, Aloterra Energy; David Marrison, Agriculture & Natural Resources Educator for Ashtabula and Trumbull Counties office of the Ohio State University Extension; Dr. E. Gordon Gee, President, the Ohio State University; Ty Kellogg, Organization Director, Ashtabula County Farm Bureau; Brian Anderson, Executive Director, Growth Partnership for Ashtabula County; Laura Englehart, Special Projects Coordinator, Senator Sherrod Brown; Dino DiSanto, Chief of Staff for Congressman Steven LaTourette; State Senate Minority Leader, Capri Cafaro (Ohio – 32nd District); State Senator Tim Grendell (Ohio – 18th District); State Representative Casey Kozlowski (Ohio - 99th District); Ashtabula County Commissioner Joe Moroski, William Spratley, Executive Director, Green Energy Ohio.
Prior to the news conference, Dr. E. Gordon Gee, President of the Ohio State University, will tour the Aloterra Energy Farm and learn more about Ohio State’s partnership with the farm. This visit comes as part of his annual summer tour across the state of Ohio. Other guests touring the farm this Friday include 15 members of Team NEO, from Cleveland, members of the Ashtabula County Commissioners and representatives of the Conneaut Port Authority. Members of the news media are invited to tour the farm, as well, before and after the press conference.
The USDA approved funding for the BCAP project on June 15th of this year, giving local landowners and farmers only 11 weeks to complete the enrollment process. This extension gives those who are just becoming aware of the project and dozens of
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landowners who have already begun the enrollment process, more time to ensure they can meet the deadline for federal funding to grow the miscanthus energy crop. The Ohio/Pa. project, operated by Aloterra Energy, has guaranteed funding for 5,344 acres in 2011, which will go to the first farmers or landowners to sign up in Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake and Trumbull counties in Ohio and Crawford, Erie and Mercer counties in Pennsylvania. The goal is to establish 50,000 acres of miscanthus by 2014. This project will also help Ohio and Pennsylvania meet mandated renewable portfolio standards.
An Aloterra Energy electronic media kit and a full press release detailing the BCAP deadline extension and its impact will be available at the press conference. Afterward, journalists will be able to speak with Aloterra Energy’s miscanthus and biomass production experts and regional economic development leaders. For interviews, b-roll of the miscanthus winter harvest or additional information, please contact Cheryl Dickson-Walker at (440) 645-9472 or email: [email protected] There will be great photo/video opportunities at this picturesque farm operation, before and after the press conference, including standing fields of year-old giant miscanthus grass – 6’ tall, and only half grown! Pizza and refreshments will be served.
Aloterra Energy LLC develops biomass conversion facilities through cultivating sources of biomass crops to expand fuel marketing, distribution and logistics operations into the biomass renewable energy market. For more information on Aloterra Energy, visit www.aloterraenergy.com . For more information on this event, contact Cheryl Dickson-Walker, publicist at Media Magic Productions: (cell) 440-645-9472, studio line: 440-294-2431, or e-mail: [email protected] .
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