With a vote on the Energy Bill expected this week in the House, a Wednesday morning rally is being planned in support of increasing the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) and Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY) will host the media event which will include representatives from the Renewable Fuels Association and the National Biodiesel Board, …
FTC Reports on Ethanol Market Concentration
A new report from the Federal Trade Commission says U.S. ethanol industry become more competitive in 2007. According to the report, “The ethanol production industry is not concentrated, and has become even more unconcentrated over the last year.” The FTC utilizes the Herfindahl-Hirschman Indices (HHIs) to determine concentration. As outlined by the FTC and the Justice Department, HHIs with values …
Corn Commentary Videos
I don’t think I’ve had a chance to bring your attention to a series of video interviews I did recently at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention. They have all been featured on Corn Commentary, the blog of the National Corn Growers Association that we created for them and help manage. In this one I interview NCGA CEO Rick …
POET Celebrates 20 Years
Hardly anyone knew what ethanol was 20 years ago, but that is when the company formally known as Broin started in the ethanol business. United States Senator John Thune, South Dakota Lieutenant Governor Dennis Daugaard and other elected officials helped the company now known as POET celebrate at their corporate headquarters in Sioux Falls, S.D. “Jeff Broin and POET were …
Closed Loop Plant Closing
An innovative “closed loop” ethanol plant in Nebraska shut down last week as the company filed bankruptcy, according to a report in the Omaha World Herald. E3 BioFuels opened in June as a model for using energy from biogas derived from cattle manure and cellulosic biomass to power the plant. Manure from 28,000 head of cattle in a nearby feedlot …
GM Disputes E85 Report
General Motors issued a statement in response to a USA Today report this week on a cost-benefit analysis of E85 ethanol, saying the report failed to take into account several positive factors. “We believe ethanol as a renewable fuel is the best near-term alternative to oil as a transportation fuel and replacing gasoline with ethanol positively contributes to lowering greenhouse …
Sweet Potato Fuel
Researchers at North Carolina State University are re-engineering the traditional sweet potato to make it better suited for producing ethanol. According to a NCSU release, this industrial sweet potato doesn’t look, or taste, much like the Southern classic, but can produce twice the starch content of corn – the leading source of ethanol. More starch means more sugars that can …
Major Ethanol Merger
The merger of two major ethanol producers is being seen as “a sign that ethanol-industry consolidation is gaining velocity.” VeraSun Energy and US BioEnergy will merge into one entity under an agreement announced this week where VeraSun will pay $700 million in stock and the new company will retain the name of VeraSun. VeraSun Chairman, CEO and President Donald L. …
Renewable Fuels Now Fights for Alternative Energies
The first “official” action of the Renewable Fuels Now coalition was to determine where Americans stand on developing and using alternative energies. The coalition is a new umbrella organization of different associations that are working to provide accurate information about renewable fuels. Greg Krissek with ICM says opponents of alternative energies have swamped the public with misinformation about renewable fuels, …
Working on an Ethanol Pipeline
Seminole Energy Services of Tulsa, Okla. is talking with Nebraska ethanol plants about a $150 million project that could move a billion gallons of ethanol a year from plants to a terminal between Grand Island and Hastings. Company representative say the pipeline could stretch 175 miles and the hub would be built ideally at an intersection of Union Pacific and …