The Iowa Soybean Association will be using some of its checkoff dolars to form the Iowa Biodiesel Board… with the obvious mission of promoting Iowa’s biodiesel industry.
This story in the Des Moines (IA) Register quotes Randy Olson, executive director of the organization as saying the board was created by demand from “the entire biodiesel chain”:
Issues facing the biodiesel industry include the high price for soy oil, the primary feedstock for biodiesel plants in Iowa, because of fewer acres planted to soybeans this year. Farmers are growing more corn to supply the demand for ethanol.
Like its relative, the ethanol industry, the biodiesel industry is dependent on government subsidies to remain economically viable and faces an uncertain future for potential investors.
But there could be some rivalry ahead from another group that says it already represents Iowa’s biodiesel producers:
The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association also has biodiesel producers as members, including those on the biodiesel board.
“We can coexist with the Renewable Fuels Association, but there are times our policies could differ,” Olson said.
Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, said the association would continue to represent biodiesel members.
“We’re going to continue to represent biodiesel and ethanol producers,” Shaw said. “I have no idea what (the Iowa Biodiesel Board) has in mind.”
Daniel Oh, the CEO of Renewable Energy Group, will chair the new board.
By the way, The Iowa Soybean Association and the Renewable Energy Group have just announced they will jointly sponsor the Soy Biodiesel 225 race on September 22nd at the Iowa Speedway in Newton.
Government and industry leaders addressed a sold-out crowd at the second annual 
Rahal Letterman Racing announced today that Ryan Hunter-Reay will be taking over driving duties with the team’s #17 Team Ethanol car effective immediately. I look forward to meeting him soon and I’m sad to see Jeff Simmons replaced. As Bobby Rahal explains in the announcement which I’ve posted below, Jeff stepped into a difficult situation last season. I think Jeff is a class act and was doing a great job as a spokesperson for the team and Team Ethanol. We’ll miss him and wish him and his fiance, Stephanie, all the best.
A new USDA report says that about half of the cattle and hog operations in a 12-state Midwest region either fed ethanol co-products or considered feeding them to their livestock last year. 
The second annual Virgin Festival sponsored by Virgin Mobile will try to be as environmentally conscious as possible during the two-day concert, August 4-5th at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland.
A report from Global Industry Analysts, Inc. says rising crude oil prices, and much of the world’s desire to find alternatives to fossil-based fuels, will push world biodiesel sales to 4.7 billion gallons a year by 2010.
Tomorrow morning, Wednesday, July 18th between 8 and noon, Kum & Go gas stations in 17 locations in Iowa will hold “Biodiesel Appreciation Day”… offering B2 biodiesel for 10 cents a gallon off the regular price.
“While ethanol makes a lot of headlines, especially here in Iowa, biodiesel has become the sleeping giant of biofuels,” said Jessica Zopf, environmental health coordinator for the American Lung Association of Iowa. “Iowa produces 225 million gallons of cleaner-burning biodiesel a year, which can significantly reduce harmful tailpipe emissions when used in higher concentrations. Buying a two percent blend biodiesel may be a small step, but it is a vital beginning on a path toward cleaner air, greener fuels and less dependence on petroleum.”
Where Sweden is the leader in the Ethanol movement in Europe, Minnesota is clearly designated as the leader in the United States with over 300 stations strong and growing, totalling roughly one third of Sweden’s entire nationwide coverage. In Sweden, there are almost 900 E-85 filling stations covering the entire country according to the Swedish Ethanol Development Foundation. In Minnesota, this works out to about one E-85 pump per every 17,000 persons in Minnesota that has a population at just over 5 million people. In Sweden, there is roughly one E-85 pump per every 10,000 persons with their total country’s population totalling around 9 million people.
The report attributes the sector’s boom to a range of global concerns – climate change, increasing energy demand and energy security foremost among them.