The 2009 National Ethanol Conference is underway in San Antonio. Cindy and I are on location and will be bringing you as much of the activities as we can courtesy of the Renewable Fuels Association. We’ll also be posting content onto The Ethanol Report site for RFA.

Today, one of the main activities is the annual golf tournament which is being played at The Club at Sonterra. It’s a beautiful sunny morning and we have a good crowd out having a good time. I’ll be here with them through lunch at their awards before heading back to the hotel. This evening we’ll have an opening reception and then tomorrow the main conference programs get started.

Just prior to the start of the golf tournament I spoke with RFA Chairman, Chris Standlee, Abengoa Bioenergy Corp. Chris is expecting this to be a great conference and said that not only are we in oil country but that there are more attendees this year from the oil business than usual. Chris says that he’s very optimistic about the health of the ethanol industry even in light of the challenging year we just completed.

You can listen to my interview with Chris here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/rfa/nec-09-standlee.mp3]

Keep an eye on our conference photo album which we’ll be adding to throughout the event: 2009 National Ethanol Conference Photo Album