The State Legislature has eliminated funding for the Biofuels Center of North Carolina in its newest budget. The Center will close by the end of October.
The Biofuels Center was created by the Legislature in 2008, and was tasked with pursuing biofuels for North Carolina, made from energy crops other than corn.
Wil Glenn is director of communications for the Biofuels Center. He says the move will hurt farmers.
"One of our main outputs was going to be revitalizing rural North Carolina," said Glenn.
"And giving folks in the state and farmers who used to mainly farm tobacco and other things another way to make money."
"We're going to miss opportunities to create rural jobs, to revitalize the agriculture economy and deliver cost comp fuels to its citizens," Glenn said.
"Other states that were considering biofuels will delight that North Carolina is not going down this track any longer. They may even get facilities that would have come here to go to where they are."
The Center's Oxford office, which was leased for one dollar a year, will be returned to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and any unspent funds will go to the State Department of Commerce. The Legislature previously gave the Biofuels Center $4.3 million in annual funding. The Center employed 14 people.
