RALEIGH (AP) -- A plan presented to state lawmakers says North Carolina should have ten percent of its liquid fuels come from plants grown and produced in the state by the year 2017.

That's one of nine recommendations from a biofuels work group reporting to the Legislature's Environmental Review Commission.

North Carolinians currently use about 5.6 billion gallons of petroleum-based fuels per year. Based on that, the group recommends that the state grow and produce more than 500 million gallons of liquid biofuel in ten years.

The work group also calls for creating a state biofuels commission to develop policy, guide research and coordinate efforts in the public and private sectors to make and market biofuels.

It also calls for providing as much as 25 million dollars in funds for research including growing and producing feedstocks that can be used in biofuels, and building small processing plants where production methods can be tested.

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