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Underwriters Laboratories reports progress toward developing safety requirements for E85 ethanol dispensers after a two-day forum at headquarters in Chicago last week. Concern over the safety of pumps for 85 percent ethanol was brought into question after a notice Oct. 23 that UL had suspended authorization of E85 dispenser components and that it would be updating its requirements.

The technical forum, co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, featured 32 national experts discussing E85 fuel-dispensing system materials and the development of safety standards for E85 dispensers. Participants included automobile and petroleum company representatives, ethanol producers, dispenser and component manufacturers, industry associations, government agencies and researchers.

UL, North America’s leading safety testing and certification organization, said additional technical data is necessary from forum participants to assist in the standards development process. Forum participants agreed to provide UL with requested technical data no later than Nov. 15.

Read more.

Scripps News has a feature on ethanol fever in the Heartland, focusing on Heron Lake, Minn.

Ethanol mania is sweeping through Heron Lake and many towns like it across the Corn Belt. Investors are spending billions in rural communities, sparking a wild rush to secure land, an industry movement to alter environmental standards and a rash of fierce bidding by communities desperate for their own plant.

Two decades after farmers began mashing their corn into ethanol, the clear, odorless liquid is seen by many as the best chance for America to lessen its dependence on foreign oil.

Read the story here.

The Chicago Board of Trade has announced plans for two new over-the-counter (OTC) Ethanol Calendar Swap contracts.

The new products, which will include contracts for both forward and previous month calendar swaps, will be based on the price of CBOT Ethanol futures contracts. Scheduled to be introduced on December 4, 2006, CBOT Ethanol Swap contracts are the first exchange-cleared OTC products to be specifically tailored for use in the ethanol industry.

Read more from the CBOT.

Two Boulder, Colorado residents are on a mission to promote E-85 by bus.

Self-described dedicated environmentalists Jason and Tracey Keeley have “organized Buy the Bus to fund an eight-month tour of key locations in the United States, during which they will spread the word about E85.”

Tracey and Jason’s combined passion for the great outdoors has culminated in Buy the Bus, an advertising campaign designed to help spread the word about E85. Starting in April of 2007, Jason and Tracey will tour the United States for eight months, educating the American people about ethanol fuel. The Volkswagon Bus they will use will also be converted so that it can run on E85, which Jason and Tracey will use religiously.

Buy the Bus allows businesses to buy advertisement space on the Volkswagen Bus in which they will make the trip. The bus will see about 8,000 miles of highway, guaranteeing broad exposure for the advertisements it carries with it. Additionally, the ads will remain on the Buy the Bus website, as well as the real bus, for three years. Advertising space costs $1 per pixel, sold in blocks of 100, which translates to 3” by 3” blocks on the real bus.

Read more here and at BuytheBus.com.

The job of lieutenant governor is rarely noticed, but when the running mate of the challenger in the Minnesota governor’s race appeared to show ignorance of ethanol this week, the current holder of the position did get some attention.

And no one can say that Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau is ignorant when it comes to ethanol. As a corn farmer from near New Ulm, part of Molnau’s income depends on the renewable fuel, according to this story from the Austin Daily Herald.

Molnau, who farms with her husband east of New Ulm, said during a campaign visit to Austin Friday that they finished harvesting their corn last week, and that some of their yield will be going into ethanol.

“The best part of E-85 is there’s a lot of demand for the corn,” Molnau said, which drives prices paid to farmers up. “This morning my husband told me the delivery price is $2.81, and that’s what E-85 has done for rural Minnesota.”

Here’s another story on Molnau from the Albert Lea Tribune.