Ag Day Remarks On Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

The chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee had lots of good things to say about ethanol yesterday at the kickoff luncheon for National Ag Day in Washington D.C. Senator Saxby Chambliss, a Georgia Republican, said that ethanol production holds promise even in areas outside the Corn Belt. “We may not be able to grow the corn in the abundance that …

Ethanol, Government

Aventine Growing as Ethanol Marketer

Cindy Zimmerman

Aventine Renewable Energy recently signed an agreement with its 14th ethanol production plant to market their product. According to a company release, Aventine will market all fuel grade ethanol produced by E3 BioFuels in Mead, Nebraska. Aventine also has agreements with plants in Wisconsin, Illinois, South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota and Texas.

Ethanol

US BioEnergy to Build ND’s Biggest Ethanol Plant

Cindy Zimmerman

Hankinson, ND is the designated location for a 100 million gallon per year ethanol plant to be built by South Dakota-based US BioEnergy, in partnership with local Gold Energy, LLC. A company press release (soon to be posted on their website), quotes North Dakota Governor John Hoeven saying, “We have put good programs in place and worked diligently with the …

Ethanol, Production

Ethanol Not so Hot Down Under

Cindy Zimmerman

Apparently the ethanol industry is not doing as well in Australia as it is here in the U.S., according to this story from the ABC Rural Network. (That’s ABC as in AUSTRALIAN Broadcast Company) The reason is that major oil companies have yet to sign contracts to meet future target production goals and officials with the Australian Biofuels Association are …

Ethanol, International

How to Lose the Media in Ten Minutes

Cindy Zimmerman

Some folks building an ethanol plant in Ohio got a lesson in media relations this week in a big way. This is basic PR 101 – don’t invite the media to a meeting and then tell them they can’t record or take notes – and then tell them to leave if they don’t like it. That’s what Harrison Ethanol did …

Ethanol

Ethanol Industry Ready to Replace MTBE

Cindy Zimmerman

The president of the Renewable Fuels Association has sent a letter to the Energy Information Administration “countering assertions concerning the availability of ethanol for those gasoline markets transitioning out of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE).” According to a press release, RFA president Bob Dinneen wrote to EIA in response to a report entitled “Eliminating MTBE in Gasoline in 2006,” released …

Ethanol

Island Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

Hawaii is finally making some progress in its requirement to blend 10 percent ethanol in 85 percent of the gasoline sold in the state. Chevron this week became the first energy company in Hawaii to begin blending ethanol, as required by the state by April 2, according to this story from the Hawaii Channel. As posted previously, Hawaii is running …

Ethanol

New Study Story Old News but Still Good News

Cindy Zimmerman

An Associated Press story on the wire about ethanol producers being encouraged by “new study” is the study that came out at the end of January (see previous post) Just want to make that clear in case someone sees the story and thinks that this is a different “new” study. It is a very positive story for the ethanol industry, …

Ethanol

Ethanol “Gold Rush”

Cindy Zimmerman

Good story in USA Today about the ethanol plant construction boom. I like these quotes from the article: “It’s a little bit of a dot-com atmosphere,” says John Skelley, president of Arizona Grain” and “It’s a gold rush right now,” CEO Jeff Broin (of Broin Companies) says.

Ethanol