President Obama moved on Wednesday to bolster the nation’s production of corn-based ethanol and other alternative liquid fuels and ordered the rapid development of technology to capture carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of coal.
The Agriculture Department said it would provide financing to farmers, ranchers and foresters to convert biomass — farm and forest waste, sugar cane, switch grass and other materials — into liquid fuels for land, air and sea transportation.
And the Energy Department said it would try to build five to 10 projects by 2016 to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of coal.