The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) both had a presence at the Florida Farm to Fuel Summit this week in St. Petersburg.

Matt Hartwig with RFA (pictured at the podium) drove home the growth of the ethanol industry, the economic importance and what RFA has been doing in Washington to help the industry expand. “It’s important to appreciate the scope of the industry,” said Hartwig. “There are 123 biorefineries in 23 states, not just corn producing states, they states like Arizona and California.” In the next 24-36 months, he said, production will exceed 12 billion gallons.

He noted that federal and state legislative policy and regulations remain the number one driver for increasing ethanol demand and use across the country.

Listen to Matt’s remarks here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/audio/f2f-hartwig.mp3]

EPIC’s Robert White (seated) talked about his organization’s marketing and promotion efforts in Florida with the “Florida Needs Ethanol” campaign that kicked off earlier this year, one he says will be ramping up in the next few months. “Obviously our objective is to educate Floridians on ethanol as it starts to flow,” said White. “I can tell you that there is a contract being negotiated right now to clean 1180 underground storage tanks to bring in E10 before the end of the year. So, congratulations, you are about to become a very welcomed ethanol state.”

Listen to Robert’s remarks here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/audio/f2f-robert.MP3]