Next-generation biofuels will be the focus of headliner Bill Matuszeski’s keynote speech at the Chester River Association’s annual meeting on Thursday, June 17.
Matuszeski, a former director of the federal Chesapeake Bay Program, believes next-gen biofuels such as locally grown switchgrass hold huge promise for alternative energy production in the Chesapeake region.
“There are a lot of reasons for thinking about how our forest and farm resources should be used in new, creative ways. Done right, this would be so beneficial. This gets to the whole issue of farmland preservation. It gets to things like development sprawl,” he says. “Slowly this is getting into the public consciousness – and it’s happening at the local level.”
A graduate of Harvard Law School, where he specialized in land use law, Matuszeski served for 33 years in federal environmental programs. He consulted on all three biofuels reports published by the Chesapeake Bay Commission. The most recent, “Chesapeake Biofuel Policies: Balancing Energy, Economy and the Environment,” was released in January.
The meeting will also feature Chester Riverkeeper Tom Leigh’s annual report on the state of the river, which will contain some of the good news in the just-released 2009 Chester River Report Card. Leigh will also announce the recipient of this year’s Riverkeeper Award.
The meeting, free and open to the public, will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Litrenta Lecture Hall at the John S. Toll Science Center at Washington College. Refreshments will be offered at 7 p.m.
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