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The executive vice president of the American Coalition for Ethanol is Brian Jennings. He gave the state of the industry and organization speech.

I interviewed Brian this morning to find out what he thinks about how things are going in the ethanol industry and especially from the ACE perspective. He says the industry has reached a “pivotal point” in its development. He says that although significant growth has been achieved there are still some road blocks out there that have to be recognized and dealt with. One of those involves getting the truth about ethanol out to the public and combating the naysayers. He says the industry is about to launch a major public relations offensive and that ACE will be involved in that effort.

You can listen to my interview with Brian here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/ethanol/ace-07-jennings.mp3]

The Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee is Collin Peterson who represents Minnesota’s 7th Congressional District. He took the stage here today at the ACE Convention.

During his remarks he mentioned that the House farm bill had less money allocated for renewable fuels research than some wanted, including the USDA. I got to speak with him afterward and asked him about this very subject.

Peterson says that they didn’t want to overdo it and that he feels that there is adequate funding in his bill. One thing he says they want to make sure of is that there aren’t overlapping projects and he has a concern that if they had put more money in the bill for this type of research it would have been taken away by appropriators later. He says they can always address an increase in funding for research later if the need arises and that the public would be very supportive of it since he believes the topic of renewable fuels is one in which agriculture has the most support from the urban population.

I also asked him about the whole food vs. fuel issue. He thinks that has died down and as he put it was “ginned up” by people who had other interests.

You can listen to my interview with Congressman Peterson here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/ethanol/ace-07-peterson.mp3]

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty just finished speaking here at the ACE Convention.

He outlined his vision for the future of ethanol in his state. First he applauds ACE on its 20 years as an organization promoting ethanol started by farmers and producers who had courage and vision. He then talks about his plan to have all the gas sold in the state contain at least 20% ethanol by 2012. He wants MN to be the benchmark state for the rest of the country on the development, use and availability of ethanol.

Gov. Pawlenty also received the ACE President’s Award which was presented to him by ACE Board President Bob Scott who introduced him. You can listen to the complete speech given by Gov. Pawlenty here (21 min): [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/ethanol/ace-07-pawlenty-speech.mp3]

I was able to catch up to the Governor on his way out and asked him about his vision for ethanol in Minnesota. You can listen to my interview with him here (1 min): [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/ethanol/ace-07-pawlenty.mp3]