FORT MEADE –
Paul Quinn thinks he has an answer for America’s energy problems, and it starts with eucalyptus.
The Australian tree with the oily, dagger-shaped leaves nibbled on by koalas would make perfect fuel for an electric plant, Quinn says. He envisions putting in 10,000 acres of trees in the vicinity of this Polk County community.
“Florida could be the Saudi Arabia of biomass because there are just so many resources out there,” Quinn said.
Quinn is part of a Florida boom in “biomass,” the business of turning organic materials into energy. Proponents of at least a dozen new electric plants hope to one day create power by burning eucalyptus, debris from logging operations or solid waste.
But nearly a decade after Florid-ians first dabbled in this renewable energy option, and with hundreds of millions of dollars hanging in the balance, the jury is still out on whether biomass is a new gold rush or the pipe dream of entrepreneurs and idealists.
Recently, two big projects near Bradenton and the Florida Panhandle collapsed after failing to secure funding. A few other proponents won’t reveal their sources of funding, and skeptics believe they may not have any. And some proposals are relying
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