Aug 23 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Leslie Reed Omaha World-Herald, Neb.

Renewable energy represents an unprecedented economic opportunity for Nebraska and rural America, a top USDA official told Nebraska lawmakers Friday.

"It is perhaps the greatest new opportunity for economic development, jobs and wealth creation in rural areas in our lifetimes," said Thomas Dorr, undersecretary of agriculture for rural development. "The USDA is deeply involved in the renewables revolution. . . . We believe we are on the cusp of what we call a rural renaissance."

Dorr was among those who testified during an interim study hearing examining the ways in which agricultural products and wastes can be used to produce energy and what steps the Legislature needs to take to encourage biofuel development.

The study was sponsored by State Sen. Annette Dubas of Fullerton.

Dorr praised Nebraska for its early entrance into the ethanol arena, describing its 1971 law as one of the "basic underpinnings" of the national effort to reduce the use of fossil fuels.

But the effort now is maturing and moving into its second generation, with the development of ethanol from plant fibers, wind power, solar and geothermal energy and anaerobic digesters that produce methane gas from animal waste.

Dorr said lawmakers now need to consider measures to encourage investment, develop business models and facilitate local ownership. They also need to look at distribution networks -- from trucking, railroads and eventually pipelines to the electricity grid.

"All are critical investments in the infrastructure and regulatory system," he said. "All pose challenges for officials at the state and local level."

Dorr described the energy challenges facing the United States as an opportunity, and not "the end of the world as we know it" -- even though higher energy prices feel "like a punch in the wallet" every time we fill up our automobiles or pay our utility bills.

He said the higher prices are the result of economic growth and unanticipated worldwide demand for energy resulting from economic growth. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, he said, 3 billion people have joined the world market system and hundreds of millions have entered the middle class, eating better, driving cars instead of riding buses or bicycles, and living in homes with better heating and better cooling.

"In the long run, those are good things, and we should not fear them," he said. "Commodities are being revalued across the board. . . . In retrospect, most observers failed to anticipate the remarkable growth in energy consumption that has occurred over the past several years. The world, including the U.S., is under-invested in energy infrastructure."

--Contact the writer: 402-473-9581, leslie.reed@owh.com

Copyright © 2008The McClatchy Company