Without giving away too much or too little, a local statesenator has acknowledged what the rumor mill has been sure of formonths – she’s considering a job change.

Speaking to the Brookhaven Noon Lions Club Tuesday, District 39Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, D-Brookhaven, confirmed she’s looking intothe possibility of running for commissioner of agriculture, astatewide seat that will be wide open for contestation in 2011after current commissioner Lester Spell announced earlier this yearhe would not seek another term.

Hyde-Smith, herself a cattleman, has been chairman of the SenateAgriculture Committee since 2002 and shapes state agriculturebudgets annually.

“I have been approached about that because I’ve been chairman ofAgriculture for eight years, worked on their budget for eightyears,” she said. “I’ve looked at it and I’m continuing to look atit. I’m very happy with where I am in the state Senate, butagriculture is something I really love.”

The race for commissioner of agriculture will be decided on thegeneral ballot next November. Qualifying for the race begins inJanuary. Hyde-Smith did not commit herself publicly as a candidate,nor did she back away from the possibility.

The focus of Hyde-Smith’s speech to the club was not politics,however. It was industry.

She spent the majority of her time talking about KiOR, aHouston-based biofuels company that announced major expansion plansfor Mississippi in August, receiving a $75 million loan fromlawmakers for the construction of five facilities statewide thatwill employ around 1,000 people. The company uses wood waste toproduce Re-Crude, a crude oil-like material that can be refinedinto gasoline and diesel fuel substitutes.

One of the five sites will be built in or near Bude in FranklinCounty in about three years. Positions with KiOR are reported topay an average of $60,000 per year, and the company will reportedlyinvest around $85 million per year in its workforce, technology andland rights.

Some Lions club members wondered if the industry was too good tobe true, but Hyde-Smith shed some light on Mississippi’s recentbiomass past.

“Mississippi State University has told me for so many years thistechnology will work,” she said. “I’ve worked with MSU for 12 yearsnow. Based on what they’re telling me, this will work.”

Hyde-Smith was also questioned about Southwest Mississippi’sability to sustain KiOR’s timber needs. She said the MississippiInstitute for Forest Inventory indicates the region has theresources to support the industry.

“We’re in a good position to supply them,” she said. “If you’vegot timber, I think the price on your wood is going to go up.”

Hyde-Smith said current timber prices are between $10 and $16per ton. Once KiOR starts competing for harvesting rights, thatprice is expected to increase to $23 per ton, she said.

The region’s abundant timber resources are important in thefight to bring industry to Mississippi, Hyde-Smith said.

Without naming names, she told of conversations with aprospective biomass industry from Sweden considering an operationin the state. She also alluded to the purchase of 450 acres inLawrence County by a former governor looking to build a huntingretreat, and to the purchase of more land in that county on thePearl River by a Louisiana oil company owner who wants a site forconferences and training.

Lawrence County Community Development Director Bob Smira saidthe former governor is Bill Waller, who wants the land to generatemoney by game hunts, crops, renting cabins or other outdooractivities.

“You have to capitalize on what you have – we have pine treesand people with the desire to make it work,” Hyde-Smith said. “Wehave more people coming to look at our forestry resources. This isreally something I hope will be a shot in the arm for our ailingtimber industry.”