Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain spoke to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Council of Presidents meeting in Washington DC last week by teleconference about various issues of importance to agriculture, including it’s role in America’s energy needs.
McCain heralded his “Lexington Project” to make America energy independent which includes alternative fuels, ethanol, nuclear and offshore drilling. The plan includes calling on automakers “to make a more rapid and complete switch” to flex-fuel vehicles, as well as increase support for second generation ethanol, that would involve eliminating “mandates, subsidies, tariffs and price supports that focus exclusively on corn-based ethanol and prevent the development of market-based solutions which would provide us with better options for our fuel needs.”
Obama stated that his goal would be to phase in a 2 billion gallon cellulosic ethanol renewable fuel standard into the nation’s fuel supply by 2013.
“I am not interested in rolling back the renewable fuel standard. I think it is something that is critically important to supporting the agricultural sector and rural America, and I think that the use of ethanol as a scapegoat for rising fuel prices is misplaced. If we don’t invest in American grown biofuels and advanced technologies, our nation is never going to be energy independent. And that is why I am proud to have been a consistent supporter of biofuels and I will continue to be so in the future.”
Construction on the Hankinson facility began in August of 2006 and was completed in June. The opening of the plant was delayed due to market volatility. 
US biofuels development company 
The cellulosic plant in Thailand is co-located with a facility that will produce ethanol from sugar-cane derived sucrose, which is widely abundant in the region. Sugar cane bagasse, the biomass residue from the sugar cane plant, will be the primary source of feedstock for the cellulosic facility, which will be converted into ethanol using Verenium’s process technology.
The tax code currently states that Publicly Traded Partnerships are supposed to earn 90-percent of income from the exploration, transportation, storage or marketing of depletable natural resources like oil, gas and coal. The Harkin-Lugar bill would change the tax code so that these Publicly Traded Partnerships can earn qualified income from the transport, storage or marketing of any renewable liquid fuel approved by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Cincinnati has received a federal grant to help the city’s mass transit system buy some biodiesel buses.
A beef producer that cranks out 22 million pounds of tallow a week will be turning that waste into another alternative to non-renewable petroleum.
Gov. Dave Heineman, who headlined Friday’s groundbreaking ceremony, said he expects Natural Innovative Renewable Energy to help elevate the Cornhusker state’s biodiesel industry to the same level as its corn-based ethanol production, which now ranks No. 2 in the nation.
Team Ethanol has teamed up with 
Reece Nanfito, senior director of marketing for the 
Driver’s Edge president Steven Tepper says being featured on the No. 17 Team Ethanol car is a great opportunity to draw attention to their effort. “Most people have no idea that the number one killer of young Americans ages 16 to 24 is motor vehicle collisions,” said Tepper. “With the proper behind-the-wheel instruction, these are avoidable tragedies, and that’s what Driver’s Edge is all about.”
Ethanol makers all over the world are asking the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), “Who do you think you’re kidding?”