COST OF CHINA EARTHQUAKE RISES DISASTER RECOVERY:
Chemical companies report damage in affected area
X I N H UA /OT H K
An anti-chemicalwarfare officer surveys the damage at a plant in the town of Yinghua.
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HEMICAL COMPANIES operating in the area in southwest China where a 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck on May 12 are gathering more specific details about deaths and injuries among their workers and damage to their facilities. The region is not one of China’s main hubs for chemical and pharmaceutical production, but a number of fine chemicals and fertilizer producers operate there. Sun Dongliang, executive chairman of the Chinese industry group CCPIT Sub-Council of Chemical Industry, told C&EN that the area around the cities of Deyang and Shifang, about 50 miles from the quake’s epicenter, is one of four main phosphorus production centers in China. He said phosphorus mines and phosphate-processing facilities in Deyang suffered extensive damage, although he was unclear about the details when he spoke to C&EN because phone service had just been reestablished. Sichuan Hongda, a producer of am-
FARM BILL MOVES AHEAD
S H U T T E RSTO C K
Farming of switchgrass is likely to increase under incentives created in the new farm bill.
LEGISLATION: Energy provisions
focus on cellulosic biofuels
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FTER 18 MONTHS of haggling by lawmakers
and a few near-death experiences, a five-year, $300 billion farm bill is close to becoming law. On May 21, President George W. Bush vetoed the bill, but the House easily overturned the veto, and the Senate was believed likely to do the same as C&EN went to press. The bill proposes a wide range of subsidies and support to farmers, coupled with more spending on nutrition and conservation programs. But it also includes some $1 billion in agricultural energy funding, particularly to encourage biofuels development from nonfood cellulosic feedstocks, as well as provisions to support renewable-energy use in farm production. The bill would provide $320 million in loan guarantees for biorefineries that produce advanced biofuels, including cellulosic ethanol. It would offer another W W W.C E N - O N L I N E .O RG
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R EU T E RS/OT H K
N EWS O F T H E W E E K
monia and phosphate derivatives, issued a statement saying that 79 people died at its facilities in Shifang. The firm estimates its direct economic losses at $55 million. China National Chemical (ChemChina), a stateowned conglomerate employing 100,000 people throughout China, said in a statement that 36 of its employees died and 457 were injured, 23 of them severely. The group estimates its economic losses at $120 million. Most of ChemChina’s Soldiers stand on the damage was at subsidiary rubble of a chemical plant Deyang Haohua Qingping in Shifang. Linkuang’s phosphate mine, where 31 people lost their lives and 34 are unaccounted for. ChemChina said a hill slid into Haohua Qingping, burying seven dormitories and a sales office and trapping miners underground. The environmental group Greenpeace reported that several chemical plants in the area most affected by the earthquake are still operating in violation of an order by the State Administration of Work Safety to stop production and carry out safety inspections.—JEANFRANÇOIS TREMBLAY
$300 million in support and incentives to aid production of advanced feedstocks made from agricultural and forest crops, cellulosic materials, and waste materials, including manure and livestock waste. The farm bill also creates a new cellulosic biofuel tax credit of $1.01 per gal, which would continue through 2012. The current production tax credit for corn-based ethanol would be cut from 51 cents per gal to 45 cents per gal. The 54-cent-per-gal tariff on ethanol imports would remain in place but end in 2010. To encourage use of renewable-energy systems and greater farm efficiency, the bill includes some $250 million in grants and loan guarantees for farmers, biofuels producers, and rural small businesses. Also, $120 million would be available for biomass R&D to encourage development of noncorn feedstocks and to increase efficiency of biofuels production. A host of agricultural interests, including the Biotechnology Industry Organization, embraced the bill. BIO singled out incentives to accelerate commercial cellulosic biofuels production. In his veto message, Bush cited the farm bill’s cost, particularly provisions that would give subsidy payments to farmers with adjusted annual incomes of up to $1.5 million.—JEFF JOHNSON
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5/22/08 5:20:49 PM
