By the end of 2007, over three-quarters of the gasoline sold in Nebraska contained ethanol. There are currently 21 ethanol production plants in Nebraska, producing over 1.3 billion gallons of ethanol each year, and the state ranks second nationally in ethanol production.
Nebraska’s first ethanol plant, now known as Chief Ethanol Fuels in Hastings, began production in January, 1985. At the Emerging Issues Forum for ethanol held last week in Omaha, Chief Ethanol general manager Duane Christensen talked about a new organization being formed in the state called the Nebraska Ethanol Producers Association.
“As we’ve gone through the years, the ethanol business was relatively slow in growth and 10-15 years ago you knew everybody in the business,” Christensen said. “The last few years has been a real explosion in production and we have a lot of diversity and the producers in the state decided we needed to have an organization.”
The association will complement the current Nebraska Ethanol Board, not replace it, and will focus primarily on legislative issues. “This is really an organization that is about the ethanol producers themselves,” Christensen says. The organization is so new they are still in the developmental phase, but hope to have more information for producers in the next few weeks.
You can listen to Chuck’s interview with Duane here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/ethanol/duane-christensen.mp3]
When you live in this part of the country, you KNOW how big of rivals Kansas and Missouri are. This hatred goes all the way back to before the Civil War! I’ve even known people who would actually spit after they spoke the other state’s name. Officials at MU and KU have tried to tone down the rhetoric by calling it a border “showdown” instead of border “war” (which most diehard fans still call a war). Pretty fascinating for an Iowa boy who didn’t grow up with this rivalry that has moved to the football fields and basketball courts of the two states.
The high price of soybean oil is making it awfully tough on some biodiesel makers. In an unfortunate sign of the times for the biodiesel industry, Iowa-based Renewable Energy Group has had to withdraw its attempt at an initial public offering (IPO).
The town of Greenwich, Connecticut want to run about 150 of their 300 vehicles in the city’s fleet on biodiesel. Unsure how well that might actually work, officials decided to visit another New England town to see how their efforts had gone.
An Oregon teenager has been honored for his work on making solar cells more efficiently.
American biodiesel producers, who are trying to keep their heads above water in a market of rising feedstocks, might have found a way to keep their doors open: send their biodiesel to Europe.
Several race car drivers were on hand to pump gas and sign autographs including Joel Feinberg and Chris Hall both of Primetime Race Group racing the GT2 Team Dodge Viper Competition Coupe. 
The Wisconsin Public Service Corporation is looking to buy half interest of a Southeast Minnesota wind farm.
“What this does is actually give a signal to industry that they should move ahead, and develop more infrastructure for this product,” [bill sponsor Rep. Al Juhnke, DFL-Willmar] says.
After announcing the formation of its Sustainability Task Force at the National Biodiesel Conference & Expo in Orlando, Florida last month, the group has filled out the nine-member panel.
“In order to develop best practices that will be adopted throughout our industry, we selected a task force that represents the various segments of the industry and regions of the country,” said Landsburg. “Recognizing the need for input from critical stakeholders who are not members of the NBB, such as environmental organizations, government entities, and sustainability advocates, we are forming an Advisory Committee that will be heavily involved in this process.”