HARRISBURG, PA – According to Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell, $3 million will be used to fund alternative-fuel incentive grants. The money will be given out to encourage the production, distribution, and use of biofuels that are produced in Pennsylvania.

“Pennsylvania has aggressively pursued a leadership role in advancing the technology and deployment of alternative fuels in order to build a dynamic new commercial sector that diversifies our energy supplies and puts people to work,” Rendell said, as quoted by UPI.

Pittsburgh, which recently switched its transportation fleets to cleaner-burning diesel, received a $303,675 grant to produce biodiesel and provide storage tanks at city refueling sites. Also included in the grant is $75,000 going to the Greater Philadelphia Clean Cities’ E-85 Corridor project, which will convert fuel stations to E-85 along a 200-mile stretch from central Pennsylvania to suburban Philadelphia.

An additional $30 million is being invested by the governor over the next five years as part of Rendell’s Penn Security Fuels Initiative, which he hopes will lead to the production and use of 900 million gallons of clean, domestically-produced fuel per year, according to UPI. By the end of 2007, Pennsylvania’s annual production capacity is expected to be more than 60 million gallons. The grants have been used in the past to award more than $32 million since 1992 for a variety of projects and individual rebates.