Sen. Moran Leads Kansas Officials in Breaking Ground on Southwest Airlines’ New SAFFiRE Plant in Liberal

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – the co-chair of the Senate Sustainable Aviation Caucus – today led the groundbreaking ceremony for Southwest Airlines’ new SAFFiRE plant in Liberal, Kansas.

“This facility’s cutting-edge technology will transform the corn stalks and husks remaining after harvest into ethanol that will be processed into fuel used to fly airplanes,” said Sen. Moran. “With this new energy plant, Liberal will play a key role in developing sustainable aviation fuel that is a cleaner fuel for planes, creates a new market for farmers and brings the United States closer to being energy independent. In addition, China’s recent decision to decrease imports of sorghum makes projects like this even more vital to support our producers.”

The new SAFFiRE plant will use corn stover – the stalks, leaves and cobs that are left over after the corn harvest – to produce renewable ethanol that will be converted into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

Sen. Moran was joined today by Tom Nealon, CEO of SAFFiRE; Tom Willis, CEO of Conestoga; Debra Sanning, FAA Deputy Regional Director; U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office Director Valerie Sarisky-Reed; Emily Skor, CEO of Growth Energy; Congressman;
Tracey Mann (KS-01) and Sen. Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kan.).

Earlier this year, Sen. Moran introduced the ­Farm to Fly Act, which would help accelerate the production and development of SAF through existing U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs.