According to an article in the Triangle Business Journal, the N.C. Biofuels Center will close down “within weeks” as lawmakers moved to vote on a state budget that cuts off its $2 million in annual state funding. The facility is focused on conducting research on transportation fuels derived from cellulosic grasses and other non-food crops. In addition to state funding, the center also receives funds from out-of-state biofuel companies.

According to Wil Glenn, N.C. Biofuels Center spokesman, It’s a nominally independent nonprofit corporation, but its budget has come almost entirely from annual appropriations by the N.C. General Assembly.

However, according to Anne Tazewell, who leads the Clean Transportation Program at the N.C. Solar Center, a division within N.C. State University, a provision of the state budget would fund five new positions to conduct biofuels research at the Agriculture Department.