Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will be the keynote speaker at the upcoming Cellulosic Biofuels Summit on November 16, 2010 in Washington DC. His topics will focus on several recent announcements from the USDA that established five regional Biomass Research Centers, the funding of five new biorefineries and the final rules for the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP), a $525 million program designed to help spur the growth of the cellulosic ethanol industry. Most recently, Vilsack was named as the top person in the Biofuels Digest “100 Top People in Bioenergy“.

Other summit speakers include Margo T. Oge, Director of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Eric Darmstaedter, CEO, Clearfuels Technology; Harrison Dillon, Chief Technology Officer, Solazyme; Lee Edwards, President & CEO, Virent Energy Systems; Neil Renninger, Chief Technology Officer, Amyris Biotechologies; among others. In addition, representatives from all the major ethanol organizations will also be speaking.

The 5th annual summit is set for November 15-18 at the Almas Temple Club and Stoel Rives LLP has come on board as the platinum sponsor. Registration is still open and there is currently a 25 percent discount on the standard registration rate.