The 5th annual Iowa Renewable Fuels (IRFA) Summit was the best ever in many ways, according to IRFA Executive Director Monte Shaw.
“The combination of good weather and great speakers, we had record turnout, the crowd stayed, it was very positive,” said Shaw after the summit concluded on Tuesday in Des Moines. “We clearly had over 700 people here based on the fact that all the chairs were filled and we had standing room at the back of the room.”
Shaw thanked the many sponsors for the event who make it all possible. “This is free and open to the public and you can see a line up of speakers that in other cases you might have to pay several hundred dollars to see, so we’re really blessed with sponsors to make that happen.”
Listen to or download a quick summary interview with Monte here: Monte Shaw interview
And what summit on renewable fuels could be complete without a sermon from the Reverend of Renewable Fuels himself, Bob Dinneen?
The president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association served as the “warm-up act” for the undisputed headliner Newt Gingrich at the event. “Newt Gingrich has been a very thoughtful political leader for decades now and I don’t think people appreciate just how intuitively he understands the role that ethanol can play in our energy security, our economic development opportunities and our environmental policy, but he gets it,” Dinneen said in an interview at the IRFA Summit.
Dinneen was impressed with attendance at the 5th annual event. “It’s terrific, it’s not just a large crowd, it’s an energized crowd,” he said. “I think they recognized just how important this year is going to be.” The importance of this year in ethanol policy was key theme of Dinneen’s address.
Here is a link to the transcript of Dinneen’s remarks.
Listen to or download my interview with Bob at the IRFA here: Bob Dinneen interview