Liberal, Kansas and the fight conservatives are waging for energy freedom

By General Jim “Jayhawker” Lane
Special to The Digest

I am a fighting man, and I mean to fight for freedom.

You remember me as General Jim Lane, the Jayhawker — we were the ones who raided the border, broke the chains, and made Kansas free soil. I wore the name gladly.

Freedom wasn’t just a word to us — it was the right to decide your own future without someone else’s boot on your neck. And I’ll tell you, the hunger for that kind of freedom never leaves a Kansan. Today, it means standing up to anyone who would keep a farmer, a town, or a whole country dependent on someone else’s say-so for the fuel that keeps it moving.

Out here on the High Plains, the wind hasn’t changed — still sharp, still endless, still carrying the smell of dust and distance. There aren’t many liberals in Liberal, Kansas — this is deep-red dirt, farm country — but when it comes to energy freedom, we’ll be fighting the last battle in the last ditch.

Don’t go confusing me with that other Jim Lane — the Digest fellow here in the present day. OK writer, but he’s kin to “Oregon Joe” Lane, who ran for Vice President in 1860 on the pro-slavery ticket while I was organizing the Jayhawkers round here. Disgraceful family, that Oregon Joe — we couldn’t have agreed on the color of the sky or the time of day.

But we agree on one thing: one of the most “liberal”-sounding energy projects in America — turning corn stover into carbon-negative jet fuel — is about to take root right here in Liberal, Kansas. And you’ll know it’s not because folks here have gone soft. It’s because they’ve spotted an opening for freedom — energy freedom — and they mean to take it.

From Airline to Ethanol

In April 2024, Southwest Airlines bought SAFFiRE Renewables to secure its own pipeline of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). By summer 2025, Southwest was out, and Kansas-based Conestoga Energy was in — taking the entire technology package, pilot plant, and team.

For an airline so publicly committed to SAF, that’s a turnaround fast enough to cause G-forces. Did Southwest have a sudden shift in strategy? Did Conestoga make an offer too good to refuse? Or was there something in the technology they’d rather pass along?

Whatever the backstory, Conestoga now holds the keys to one of the most promising cellulosic biofuel processes in the country — and they’re planting it right in the middle of the High Plains.

Conestoga’s Roots

Headquartered in Liberal, Kansas, Conestoga Energy Partners is a renewable energy company that’s been producing low-carbon biofuel and related products for nearly two decades. Founded with a goal of strong local ownership and community involvement, Conestoga operates two ethanol facilities in Southwest Kansas and manages over 200 million gallons per year of production across Kansas and Texas.

They’re not outsiders parachuting in with a grant — they’re 400 members deep, with roots in farm country, and they’ve been moving grain, distillers, and CO₂ long before it was trendy.

The Facilities

• Bonanza BioEnergy (BBE) — Garden City, Kansas. A 55-million gallon per year dry mill ethanol plant, operational since 2007. Processes ~20 million bushels of grain into ethanol annually and produces about 480,000 tons of wet distillers. BBE has long been in the carbon game — partnering in 2012 with Petro Santander to supply CO₂ for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). Today, it’s also the site for Conestoga’s Class VI well for permanent carbon storage.

• Arkalon Energy — Nine miles east of Liberal, Kansas. A 110-million gallon per year dry mill facility, operational since late 2007. Processes ~41 million bushels of grain per year, producing ~870,000 tons of wet distillers. Arkalon has been supplying CO₂ for EOR since 2009, but it’s about to take on a bigger role as the host site for the SAFFiRE pilot plant.

The Carbon Play

Conestoga has been capturing CO₂ for over 15 years, mainly for EOR — injecting it into mature oil fields to restore pressure and boost output, while storing carbon underground. Their Class II wells have sent 100% of captured CO₂ to productive use.

Now they’re stepping beyond EOR into permanent storage. In May 2025, Conestoga completed drilling its first Class VI well near BBE, aiming to store 150,000+ metric tons of CO₂ annually more than a mile underground. With EPA approval, that would slash the carbon intensity (CI) of their ethanol, open the door for third-party storage, and generate valuable carbon credits.

Nearby, CapturePoint runs a CO₂ capture plant at Arkalon, pulling in 250,000 metric tons annually from regional bio-ethanol sources and sending it through a 170-mile pipeline network to 75 active CO₂ injection wells in Oklahoma and Texas — with permanent storage after EOR operations wrap. Section 45Q tax credits sweeten the deal.

SAFFiRE’s Edge

SAFFiRE’s crown jewel is its exclusive license to Deacetylation and Mechanical Refining (DMR) technology, developed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL).

The DMR process takes corn stover — an abundant ag byproduct usually left to decay in the field — and treats it with a mild alkaline bath and a mechanical shredder. The result: a high-sugar yield ready for fermentation, with reduced enzyme use, no high-heat or high-pressure headaches, and none of the scaling nightmares that have haunted cellulosic ethanol projects in the past.

The pilot plant at Arkalon, slated to be operational in 2026, will run 10 tons of stover per day through the process. Conestoga plans to use that ethanol as feedstock for LanzaJet’s alcohol-to-jet SAF conversion, producing fuel with at least an 83% lower carbon footprint than conventional jet fuel.

Market Stakes

SAF is one of the few drop-in solutions for cutting aviation’s 9–12% share of U.S. transportation greenhouse gas emissions. Demand is measured in billions of gallons, but supply is still measured in wishful thinking. If Conestoga can scale this process, it could give Kansas a direct hand in closing that gap — and turn a “liberal” idea into a High Plains profit engine.

And it’s not just about SAF. The DMR platform could boost the economics of Conestoga’s existing portfolio and open new revenue streams in low-carbon fuels.

Other Moves

Conestoga has a track record of strategic expansion:

• In 2017, they acquired biodiesel marketer VicNRG, adding midstream marketing and logistics capabilities.

• In 2012, they formed Palmer Energy to bid on a shuttered Texas ethanol plant.

• They’re one of the largest traders in obligated carbon markets, from RINs to LCFS, generating both corn-based (D6) and cellulosic (D3) credits.

The Frontier Lesson

In my time, we fought for Kansas to be free soil. Today, the battle’s about carbon and control — not slavery — but the principle’s the same: don’t let anyone else set your future. Out here, that means taking a risk on a technology that can deliver returns, no matter how “liberal” it sounds to the folks back East.

And as for that other Jim Lane — the one related to Oregon Joe — well, at least he’s telling the story straight.