News Briefs

Cindy Zimmerman

I have been letting Chuck do the talking this week covering Clean Cities and Ethanol Day. Now it’s time to catch up on some Domestic Fuel news: Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) announced a new biofuels policy in the Senate, while House Ag Democrats unveiled a comprenesive biodiesel energy package. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest price forecast for corn predicts …

Biodiesel, Ethanol, Government

Ethanol Flood

Cindy Zimmerman

The World Bank is being “flooded” with requests to fund ethanol projects worldwide, according to a report from Reuters. The article says that requests are coming from countries such as “Mali, Guatemala, Honduras, the Philippines, Colombia, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Mozambique, Tanzania, Egypt and Turkey,” and that “inquiries have increased since President Bush last week called on the U.S. Congress …

Ethanol

Pineapple Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

A Florida-based company is working to make ethanol from pineapples. Biomass Resources Corporation of Boca Raton reportedly has “achieved initial success at extracting Ethanol from pineapple fruit and pineapple plant waste,” according to a news release. Initially, the company is focusing on the pineapple industry for its production, and has established a 5,000 sq. ft. R&D and production facility outside …

Cellulosic, Ethanol

Catalytic Conversion Could Make Ethanol Cheaper

Cindy Zimmerman

Lowering the cost of ethanol production is the goal of Syngas International, a Canadian alternative energy technology corporation. The company hopes to do that by by replacing corn with less-expensive cellulose-based feed stocks and using its “M2 gasifier and PyStR system,” with is catalytic conversion as opposed to fermentation. According to a news release, “cellulosic feed stocks include agricultural wastes, …

Ethanol, Research

Green Grand Prix

Cindy Zimmerman

Increased awareness of domestic fuel alternatives is helping organizers of the 2nd Annual Green Grand Prix to be held in Watkins Glen, NY on June 2. The Green Grand Prix features a road rally of Hybrid and Alternative Fueled Vehicles held on an 84-mile course following the perimeter of beautiful Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New …

EPIC, Ethanol, Indy Racing, Racing

Ethanol Plants in NY, LA and IA

Cindy Zimmerman

Governor George E. Pataki announced nearly $6 million in State funding to assist Western New York Energy in the development of the first state-of-the-art dry mill ethanol plant in New York State. The $87.4 million facility is to be located on 144 acres in the Town of Shelby, Orleans County. BioEnergy International, a privately held, biotechnology company headquartered in Norwell, …

Ethanol, Facilities, Production

Good Time For Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

The folks at the Clean Cities Congress must be loving CBS. The ethanol industry could hardly have written a better story for itself than “60 Minutes” did tonight. Amazingly, it was all positive – not a discouraging word was heard. Maybe it was because Dan would rather make “Big Oil” look bad than Iowa ethanol farmers. Rather seemed to take …

Clean Cities Congress, Ethanol

Ethanol on “60 Minutes”

Cindy Zimmerman

Pine Lake Ethanol plant in Steamboat Rock, Iowa has alerted us that they will be on “60 Minutes” this Sunday night as part of an ethanol-based story. Dan Rather spent some time with several members of the Board. No word on whether it will be positive or negative – hopefully at least fair and balanced…wait, that’s a different network…

Ethanol

E-Day at Indy

Cindy Zimmerman

The countdown to the 2006 Indy 500 has begun – the first Indy 500 to be run on ten percent ethanol fuel. To get the momentum going, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is holding “Ethanol Day” on Thursday, May 11, featuring Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman. Chuck will be covering that event live, as soon as he gets back from the …

Ethanol, Indy Racing

ACE Says Lifting Tariff Unnecessary

Cindy Zimmerman

In a press release today, the American Coalition For Ethanol also outlined several reasons why suspending the tariff on ethanol will do nothing to lower gas prices. They are simply: Lifting the tariff is unnecessary because significant volumes of ethanol already flow in the U.S. duty-free.under the Caribbean Basin Initiative. Lifting the tariff forces U.S. taxpayers to support the production …

Ethanol