Ethanol poured more than $2.2 billion in revenues into local, state, and federal tax coffers in 2006… and is expected to go over $3 billion this year.
In this press release from the Nebraska Ethanol Board, The Economic Impacts of Ethanol Production produced by the group Ethanol Across America purports that ethanol plants are also producing hundreds of million of dollars in direct and indirect economic for local communities:
“These are substantial sums that result directly from these facilities,” said U.S. Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE), Co-Chairman of the Ethanol Across America campaign. “When indirect and induced jobs are considered, along with capital spending and investment, the ethanol industry is adding more than $40 billion of gross output to the U.S. economy. These are monies that are being returned to our local communities and providing improved public services,” said Senator Nelson.
The report looks at the ripple effect of these facilities and ethanol’s role in reducing gasoline prices. By displacing oil imports, ethanol can reduce the U.S. trade deficit by $13 billion annually. The USDA estimates that ethanol production will reduce federal farm subsidies by nearly $1 billion over the next seven years.
”We are keeping U.S. dollars at home—plain and simple,” said U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD), another member of the Ethanol Across American Advisory Board. “We are increasing net farm receipts, reducing federal farm subsidies, and lowering gasoline prices by expanding the overall fuel supply. And we are doing this with little if any impact on food prices.”
You can read the full report by clicking here.
Big announcements for cellulosic ethanol recently prove that the next generation of the biofuel is here today. 
Some prominent Democratic mayors in California have taken to the road to campaign for presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton in a bus fueled by biodiesel.
As we mentioned here before, one of the best ways to make biodiesel more mainstream is to get it into the mainstream of the trucking industry in this country.
REG’s Retail Biodiesel Blending Program, announced at the NATSO Show in Orlando, Fla., offers truck-stop operators both biodiesel injection equipment and a regular supply of high-quality biodiesel.
Biodiesel could save Americans billions of dollars, while making the country cleaner… that according to a spokesman for a Mississippi-based biodiesel manufacturer.
A demonstration-scale cellulosic ethanol facility in Jennings, Louisiana is getting closer to completion. 
In February 2007, Verenium broke ground on a 1.4 million gallon-per-year demonstration plant right next to its Jennings pilot site. The company hopes to finish this second plant before April, where Verenium will fine-tune its enzymes, ethanol production and feedstocks (primarily local cane bagasse) before it goes full-scale with a third plant.
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Colorado Springs, Colorado has been picked as the top municipal biodiesel fleet in the nation, according to Government Fleet Magazine.
The biodiesel documentary “Fields of Fuel” has walked away with one of the top honors at this year’s Sundance Film Festival at Park City, Utah.
“Fields of Fuel” was chosen for the Audience Award for Best Documentary Film and was presented to Tickell by host William H. Macy. The film’s producer and other crew members accompanied Tickell onstage to accept the award. In his acceptance speech, Tickell said, “May we work together to create a green and sustainable future.”
A Japanese company is planning on building a bioethanol making the green fuel from a plant that is said to yield more ethanol per hectare than any other biofuel crop currently being grown.