State government awards grants for work on renewable energy

GreatFallsTribune.com (Montana)
By Tribune Staff • August 26, 2010

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality has awarded $1 million in federal stimulus grants to four entities for projects that will further the development and marketability of renewable energy technologies:

Opportunity Link, a Hi-Line-area local economic development agency, was awarded $125,000 to develop railroad markets for bio-diesel. The agency, based in Havre, has organized a partnership between BNSF and the Montana State University-Northern Bioenergy Center to demonstrate the use of a 20-percent biodiesel blend in a locomotive switch engine. BNSF has agreed to use the blend in a switch engine for one year. Part of the grant will be used by Opportunity Link to coordinate emissions testing, and analyze filters and engine components at the end of the operating period.

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