MFA Oil announces biomass project

As it seeks to continue providing energy supplies to consumers, MFA Oil said Tuesday it's expanding its role in alternative fuels production.

The 82-year-old Missouri-based cooperative already operates in nine states, and is creating a new partnership with Texas-based Aloterra Energy to form the new MFA Oil Biomass LLC, MFA President Jerry Taylor said during an hour-long Jefferson City news conference Tuesday morning.

The plan is to develop a "vertically integrated" company with local farmers producing a renewable energy crop that can be used as an alternative, clean-burning energy source to generate power, agricultural heating and next-generation liquid fuels.