SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – A plan to turn some of California’s 100 million dead trees into fuel has gotten a boost from the state, and it also will give a boost to local employment. The state Energy Commission approved a $5 million grant Wednesday to help fund a biomass operation in Shasta County. California forests have lost tens of millions of trees this decade, partly because of drought. Authorities say the stands of dead trees heighten the threat from wildfires, although some environmental groups dispute that. The Shasta County plant would be one of the state’s first to turn dead trees into combustible gas. Some conservation groups oppose biomass plants on the grounds that they can pollute the air and can increase the release of climate-changing greenhouse gases. Assemblyman Brian Dahle has pushed for the reopening of a biomass plant in the Burney area.