Biofuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, are more than just good for the environment and shedding America’s dependance on foreign oil… they’re also good for our industrial construction base.

This story on the Reliable Plant.com web site says construction of biofuel plants has helped increase North American industrial construction by a whopping 34.5 percent increase over a year ago.

Looking at vertical markets, the Alternative Fuels Industry continues to experience the largest increase in growth, with more than $44 billion in active projects for 2007. Explosive growth is occurring in this industry as hundreds of ethanol and biodiesel plants move forward. An example of one of the many Alternative Fuels Industry projects moving to the construction stage this year is the start of Phase I construction of a $200 million grassroot fuel ethanol plant under construction in Mount Vernon, Ill. Aventine Renewable Energy Incorporated (Pekin, Ill.) began construction in September of a 226 million gallon-per-year plant.

Meanwhile, oil and gas production has dropped by nearly 30 percent during the same period. Hmmm… biofuels on the rise, oil and gas on the decline. Seems like a direct correlation to me.