{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.moran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ID=059FC2C9-50CA-4D5B-8BBC-323307572896", "Sen. Moran Leads Kansas Officials in Breaking Ground on Southwest Airlines\u2019 New SAFFiRE Plant in Liberal", "2024-08-28", "2024", "2024-08", "Republican", "Senate", "KS", "Jerry Moran", "M000934", "www.moran.senate.gov", "moran", "https://www.moran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) \u2013 the co-chair of the Senate Sustainable Aviation Caucus \u2013 today led the groundbreaking ceremony for Southwest Airlines\u2019 new SAFFiRE plant in Liberal, Kansas.\n\n\u201cThis facility\u2019s 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,\u201d said Sen. Moran. \u201cWith 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\u2019s recent decision to decrease imports of sorghum makes projects like this even more vital to support our producers.\u201d\n\nThe new SAFFiRE plant will use corn stover \u2013 the stalks, leaves and cobs that are left over after the corn harvest \u2013 to produce renewable ethanol that will be converted into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).\n\nSen. Moran was joined today by Tom Nealon, CEO of SAFFiRE; Tom Willis, CEO of Conestoga; Debra Sanning, FAA Deputy Regional Director; Emily Skor, CEO of Growth Energy; Dr. Valerie Sarisky-Reed, Director of the Bioenergy Technologies Office in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy; Congressman Tracey Mann (KS-01) and Sen. Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kan.).\n\nEarlier this year, Sen. Moran introduced the \u00adFarm to Fly Act, which would help accelerate the production and development of SAF through existing U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs.\n\nSen. Moran also wrote an op-ed on SAF in a special edition of the Washington Times.\n\n# # #", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:41:32Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.moran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ID=059FC2C9-50CA-4D5B-8BBC-323307572896"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.652127131819725, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}