Ground has broken on a 50-million-gallon-a-year canola biodiesel refinery northeast of Edmonton, Alberta… the first large-scale canola biodiesel plant in Canada.
This story on Canadian Press says the Canadian Bioenergy refinery will be built next door to a canola crushing facility… on the province’s refining and pipeline hub:
“We are building a state-of-the-art facility capable of producing a large quantity of clean, sustainable canola-based biodiesel to help meet the Canadian renewable fuel standard and U.S. demand for a superior cold weather, high-quality fuel,” said Canadian Bioenergy president Doug Hooper.
The plant fits in well with recent moves by Ottawa to financially encourage development of renewable fuels. But it also steps boldly into the ongoing debate over whether biofuels are better for the environment.
Scheduled to begin production by the middle of 2009, the plant will have an expected future capacity of 225 million litres of biodiesel per year. It will also be a key component to feeding Canada’s escalating demand for the fuel as new federal regulations call for two per cent renewable content in all diesel by 2012 – requiring about 800 million litres annually.
Officials estimate that about one million tonnes of canola will be needed to meet that two per cent biodiesel commitment.
Ask the American public about renewable fuels and odds are you’ll get two thumbs up. At least, that’s what a poll conducted by 
From the coverage we’ve provided on energy.agwired.com so far, I think it’s safe to say biofuels are continually gaining traction with ground transportation and machinery. So, it seems quite natural that air travel would be the next frontier for biofuels. 
The Fairview Swiss Cheese Plant in Pennsylvania soon will be running in part on biogas made from its own waste products.
An alternative fuel conversion unit has received certification from the Environmental Protection Agency for use on certain types of fleet vehicles. 
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 
Rural school districts in Kansas are receiving small wind turbines as part of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Wind for Schools Initiative. The Kansas City Wind for Schools Program and the Wind Applications Center at Kansas State University have selected several schools in Kansas’ Concordia School District to receive a Skystream 3.7 wind turbine.
Denmark-based Hendricks Industries says it will build a $32 million plant in Keokuk, Iowa… the fifth wind turbine equipment maker to locate in the state that is also becoming a leader in wind energy production.
Surprise, surprise… petroleum giant Texas has cut some of the state’s incentives to biofuels makers. 
Rep. David Swinford, a Republican lawmaker from West Texas who wrote the original legislation, said Texas was betting the state’s future on “a depleting entity” by ignoring alternative fuels.
The U.S.’s first wholly-owned canola biodiesel plant has opened near Velva, North Dakota. The ADM plant is right next to ADM’s crushing facility and will produce 85 million gallons of biodiesel when it’s fully operational.
“This is an exciting time for North Dakota,” said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D. “Our state has the potential to serve as the nation’s powerhouse. North Dakota’s vast resources can be used to reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil, control energy prices and grow our state’s economy. This plant in Velva is leading the way.”
The plant will use the equivalent of 600,000 acres of the state’s canola crop… a fact not lost on North Dakota’s Governor John Hoeven: