Abengoa Bioenergy was given a key to the city of Hugoton, Kansas last week after formally announcing plans to build a 300-million dollar cellulose ethanol plant near there.
The plant is expected to be the first commercial cellulosic ethanol facility and will eventually produce 30 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol and 85 million gallons of traditional corn-based ethanol per year.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius was among the dignitaries at the event on Thursday. She told representatives from the local community that they should be proud of this “cutting-edge project” that will be home “for our new fuel supply” that the rest of the nation and world will be watching.
Abengoa‘s Kansas plant was one of six projects selected nationwide by the Department of Energy to create and develop the cellulosic ethanol industry.
Read more from the Garden City Telegram.
Indiana Senator Richard Lugar will give the keynote address September 15 at the official opening of the 
The newest ethanol facility to mark its grand opening is uniquely designed to maximize efficiency and produce both food and fuel from the same corn kernel. 
This new generation ethanol facility features a mill in the front of the plant that separates the corn kernel into fiber, protein and starches. This technique enables increased utilization of the starch within the kernel. The resulting higher quality starches will be used for food products while the lower quality starches will be used to produce ethanol. 
Visitors to the Minnesota State Fair (now through Sept. 3rd) are able to take in an exhibit featuring wind energy.
The Environmental Protection Agency and the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) have teamed up in an effort to match up businesses who want to “ship green” with trucks that run on the green fuel, biodiesel.
The SmartWay Transport Partnership is an innovative collaboration between the EPA and the freight industry. Its goal is to increase energy efficiency while significantly reducing greenhouse gases and air pollution. EPA SmartWay Grow & Go will also help reduce U.S. dependence on petroleum.
“The NBB and EPA SmartWay have a long working relationship with the goal of helping the trucking industry adopt renewable fuels to help reduce fuel usage and emissions from burning fuel,” said Mitch Greenberg, Program Manager, U.S. EPA SmartWay. “Grow & Go was developed to help increase the use and acceptance of biodiesel in the freight industry, and to educate truckers and small fleets on the benefits of biofuels. It became clear there was a need to help shippers identify carriers using renewable fuels.” 
National Biodiesel Board CEO Joe Jobe (left) and Bob Dinneen (right), CEO & President of the Renewable Fuels Association have been recognized as “Friends of GROWMARK” – an agricultural cooperative and petroleum distributor.
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are working on a storage system for hydrogen power… an elusive key to unlocking the clean fuel’s unlimited power.
A new computer program is making it easier for truckers to fill up on biodiesel. Commercial trucking software maker ProMiles has developed a program that helps truckers find biodiesel stations through their in-cab computers and laptops.
“ProMiles is the first mapping software company to approach us about showing biodiesel locations in its mapping software,” said Tom Verry, Director of Outreach and Development, NBB. “They are pioneers in the industry and are looking to keep current with what their customers are demanding.”
Louisiana has become the 41st state to have at least one retail E85 fueling station with the grand opening Thursday at a Pumpelly Oil station in Sulphur.