Team Ethanol had an honorary pit crew member this weekend in Kansas City. It was a dream come true for 21-year-old Casey Brickey, who suffers from a progressive form of muscular dystrophy. Last year Brickey teamed up with the ethanol industry to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association to fuel the fight for a cure. The ethanol industry donated …
Celebrating Energy Independence
Willie Nelson is celebrating our nation’s energy independence this week in Carl’s Corner, Texas with opening of his joint venture production plant, Pacific Biodiesel Texas. According to a National Biodiesel Board release, Nelson and Pacific Biodiesel decided to open the plant during the July 4th holiday week because, as Nelson put it, “this will be a true Texas Independence Day.” …
Badger State Ethanol
Board members of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council are meeting in Kansas City this weekend and going to the Indy race Sunday at the Kansas Speedway. One of those members is John Malchine, CEO of Badger State Ethanol in Monroe, WI. We got a call this morning from Wisconsin radio station KFAW-AM to talk about ethanol and we had …
Ethanol Corridor Opens
VeraSun Energy Corporation and Ford Motor Company have officially opened a new Midwest Ethanol Corridor. According to a VeraSun release, the corridor will increase the availability of VE85″, VeraSun’s branded E85, with the addition of 14 new retail locations along I-55 in Illinois. VeraSun’s branded E85 fuel, VE85″, is now available at more than 70 retail locations across the Midwest, …
Pumping Ethanol
IndyCar® Series drivers Jeff Simmons (Team Ethanol) and Vitor Meira (Panther Racing), were pumping gas in Kansas City Thursday to promote ethanol. The racers are in town for Sunday’s Kansas Lottery 300 race at Kansas Speedway but they took time out from practice to meet with fans and the media. Casey’s General Store near the Speedway filled over 200 cars …
House Ag Committee Hearing
A four hour hearing of the House Agriculture Committee Thursday covered the waterfront on mainly ethanol, even though it was supposed to be on renewable fuels in general. After USDA’s Tom Dorr, the second panel offered some really interesting testimony on lots of new developments in the field. First up was Mark Gaalswyk, president of Easy Automation in Welcome, Minnesota …
Dorr Pays Tribute to Paul Dana
In testimony before the House Agriculture Committee Thursday, USDA Undersecretary Tom Dorr paid tribute to Indy race car driver and ethanol advocate Paul Dana for his contributions to the ethanol industry. “Last month I was in Indianapolis for an ethanol event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway,” Dorr said. “While I was there I met Tanya Dana, the wife of Paul …
Penford to Produce Ethanol in Iowa
Colorado-based Penford Corporation has announced plans to invest $42 million for approximately 40 million gallons of ethanol production capacity at its Cedar Rapids, Iowa facility. According to a news release, the facility is expected to be producing ethanol by the end of 2007. “Penford’s entry into ethanol will create value for our shareholders from more complete utilization of existing facilities …
NEX Marks the Spot
Xethanol Corporation is parthering up Global Energy and Management, LLC to develop ethanol production in New England states. According to a press release, the new venture, known as NewEnglandXethanol LLC, or NEX, plans to open several ethanol plants throughout the region deploying Xethanol’s proprietary technologies. Additionally, Xethanol may co-locate biodiesel production in its facilities under Xethanol’s sub-license from H2Diesel, Inc.
New Fuel Frontier
Nuclear Solutions of Washington DC, “an emerging innovative technology development company,” is behind a company called Fuel Frontiers, Inc. which proposes to use commercially available and proprietary technologies to transform low-value, end-of-life carbonaceous waste materials such as waste coal, used tires, wood wastes, biomass, discarded corn stalks and other agricultural by-products, into high-value, environmentally friendly, clean-burning ethanol. They plan to …