NATCHEZ &8212; The Monday testimony in Washington, D.C., by D. Hunt Ramsbottom of Rentech Inc. could not have been more timely, said Robert Johnson, state representative from Natchez and an attorney who also was in Washington this week.

Rentech, a Colorado-based company, has proposed to build a coals-to-liquids plant in Natchez, with ground breaking possibly in 2007.

Johnson was not in Washington for the hearing before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, at which Ramsbottom spoke on the coals-to-liquids industry.

But Johnson was witness to the excitement in Washington over alternative fuels.

&8220;I can tell you that the biggest thing anyone is talking about is alternative fuels,&8221; he said by phone from Washington Tuesday. &8220;This couldn&8217;t be better timing for Rentech.&8221;

Ramsbottom, company president and CEO, told committee members that he was there &8220;to share how, right now, we are moving to establish a commercial coals-to-liquids &8212; CTL &8212; industry. &8230;We plan to have a fully commercial, fully operational CTL plant up and running by 2010.&8221;

He went on to tell committee members about a fertilizer plant in East Dubuque, Ill., that will be converted into a CTL plant, and he described the environmental benefits of the fuels, which he described as &8220;ultra-clean.&8221;

Ramsbottom also said the second proposed Rentech CTL plant will be in Natchez, &8220;which would produce 11,000 barrels per day. There we are pursuing opportunities for 100 percent capture and storage of carbon,&8221; he said.

&8220;Our carbon dioxide output would be pumped into nearby older oil well fields, both helping to produce additional oil by forcing out additional supplies and trapping the carbon underground.&8221;

In his second reference to the Natchez project, with proposed construction at the former Belwood Country Club site near the Natchez port, Ramsbottom explained how Hurricane Katrina influenced company plans at Natchez for a strategic fuels center.

&8220;We were invited by the local community to consider the possibility after Hurricane Katrina when Mississippi ran disastrously low on diesel,&8221; he said.

&8220;At Natchez, we can use two feedstocks &8212; both coal and petroleum coke, a byproduct of the local petroleum industry.&8221;

As for the use of the carbon dioxide emissions in local oil fields, &8220;to our knowledge, this would be the first large-scale U.S. commercial capture and storage of man-made carbon emissions,&8221; he said.

Ramsbottom went on to assure the senators that &8220;we aren&8217;t asking the government to subsidize the industry.&8221; He did ask for support to get the industry launched.

&8220;At Rentech, we are ready,&8221; he said. &8220;We are using American innovation to produce environmentally friendly, energy-rich fuels to build America&8217;s future. And we are doing it using America&8217;s greatest natural energy resource, coal.&8221;

Johnson said Ramsbottom&8217;s references to Natchez should make clear the company&8217;s commitment.

&8220;It points out the Natchez project is a very important and very serious project.&8221;