Original Highway Equipment

Chuck Zimmerman

Highway EquipmentThe cross country convoy is in Akron, OH and heading to Pennsylvania today. We got in too late last night to post anything although I have a lot of good stuff for you.

Before leaving Tinley Park, IL though we had a big press conference. The Illinois Dept. of Transportation has a very nice display of pictures of old highway construction, including equipment like this that I found fascinating.

I’ll have more tonight.

Domestic Fuel coverage and participation in the AASHTO Interstate 50th Convoy is sponsored by the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.

Uncategorized

Xethanol On the Defensive

Cindy Zimmerman

Xethanol Xethanol Corporation issued a press release this week defending itself against “inaccurate and misleading statements” made in an article published by The Motley Fool on Friday, June 23. Xethanol took offense at the Fool’s suggestion that it “was formed simply to capitalize on the ethanol interest in today’s market.” To set the record straight, the release states that Xethanol was formed in 2001 with the express strategy to develop its business in the emerging biomass-to-ethanol industry. Since 2001, Xethanol has been engaged in the business of developing and operating facilities for the production of ethanol. It continues to be engaged only in that business and in the development of technologies and facilities for the production of other biofuels.
It’s worth noting that the Motely Fool did make some corrections to the article, although the general tone and the implication that Xethanol is simply “looking to exploit investor excitement for ethanol” remains. Xethanol says “the misleading statements in the article were so egregious that Xethanol felt compelled to respond.” You be the judge.

Ethanol

New Mexico Plant Plans

Cindy Zimmerman

Riverstone Clovis, New Mexico is the future site of a 105 million gallon a year ethanol plant planned by private equity firms Riverstone Holdings and The Carlyle Group. According to a news release, “the plant will more than triple New Mexico’s ethanol output. New Mexico’s only other ethanol plant, Abengoa in Portales, currently produces 30 million gallons annually.” The plant will be constructed on ConAgra Trade Group’s Peavey grain elevator property which will supply corn and energy inputs for the plant, market and distribute the plant’s outputs, including ethanol and distillers grains, and provide logistics and risk management services.

Ethanol, Facilities, Production

Showcasing Ethanol Information

Chuck Zimmerman

Cars On DisplayOn Sunday in Tinley Park, IL we set up a display with information about ethanol that used the Rahal-Letterman #17 show car. You could see it in action at last night’s race.

This display was part of the Innovative Mobility Showcase that’s been following along with us at several stops to showcase some interesting highway and road safety systems.

Domestic Fuel coverage and participation in the AASHTO Interstate 50th Convoy is sponsored by the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.

Uncategorized

Country Coach Founder

Chuck Zimmerman

Bob LeeWe are allowed to play sometimes as we trek across the United States on I-80. Here’s Bob Lee (left), founder of Country Coach, Inc. with one of the toys he brought on the trip.

Besides a remote controlled car, Bob also brought a vintage Thunderbird and a couple of Honda tricycles. Of course he’s riding in a custom Country Coach and his toys are riding in bright yellow truck. Bob has an interesting story to tell which you can listen to here:: Listen to MP3 Bob Lee Interview (4 min MP3)

Here’s a short video clip of Bob playing: Watch wmv file Bob Lee & Toy (1 min WMV)

Domestic Fuel coverage and participation in the AASHTO Interstate 50th Convoy is sponsored by the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.

Audio, Video

Chicago Blues

Chuck Zimmerman

Carl WeathersbyAbout the only thing this post has to do with ethanol is the fact that a lot of it was being consumed around me last night at Buddy Guy’s Legends in downtown Chicago.

I went to see the awesome blues guitarist, Carl Weathersby, who was greatly influenced growing up by Albert King. Carl was even better that I expected and I’m glad I went. After so many days on the road you need at least a few hours to unwind. However, I got a late night reminder of the challenges we face with our interstate highway system when I sat in stopped traffic coming back to my hotel. 3 lanes solid for miles after midnight due to construction. It was 30 minutes getting there, over 2 hours getting back. I’m sure the original highway planners never envisioned that kind of traffic, especially at 12:30am.

I’m posting this video clip so my convoy buddies who didn’t go, know what they missed: Watch wmv file Carl Weathersby (1 min WMV)

Domestic Fuel coverage and participation in the AASHTO Interstate 50th Convoy is sponsored by the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.

Video

Highway Medalists

Chuck Zimmerman

MedalistsHere is a group of medalists. Not in the Olympics but highway medals.

The Lincoln Highway Association has produced some commemorative medals that are modern replicas of the ones made when Lt. Col. Eisenhower conducted his cross country convoy in 1919. Most of this group are folks who worked at the Ottawa AASHTO test site many years ago. They were recognized at our stop for the work they did in helping get our interstate highway system off the ground. Mixed in are current convoy participants like yours truly.

Domestic Fuel coverage and participation in the AASHTO Interstate 50th Convoy is sponsored by the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.

Uncategorized

Illinois Corn Greeting

Chuck Zimmerman

Jim RobbinsJim Robbins, Illinois Corn Marketing Board Director, showed up to greet the AASHTO convoy in Tinley Park, IL. In fact, he gave our convoy group and nice description of what ethanol means to him as a farmer and to our country.

Jim is a corn grower in Illinois right below Chicago. He also commented on how important the interstate highway system is for transporting agricultural commodities.

I interviewed Jim prior to his speech: Listen to MP3 Jim Robbins Interview (4 min MP3)

Domestic Fuel coverage and participation in the AASHTO Interstate 50th Convoy is sponsored by the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.

Audio, Ethanol

Field of Future Fuel

Chuck Zimmerman

In The CornMost of the corn I’ve seen along I-80 looks pretty good. This is near Ottawa, IL. It’s the tallest corn I’ve seen so far coming east.

I got on the convoy radio once to point out to our participants all “that fuel growing along the roadside.” This is what it’s all about. We can grow this over and over and make our own clean burning fuel. Farmers and ethanol plants are getting more and more efficient and the explosive growth in the ethanol industry is just going to keep pushing the development of new and better ways to fuel our cars and our economy.

Domestic Fuel coverage and participation in the AASHTO Interstate 50th Convoy is sponsored by the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.

Ethanol

IL Senator Dick Durbin

Chuck Zimmerman

Interviewing Senator DurbinWe stopped in Illinois off the road in Ottawa where the original test site was set up by what is now AASHTO to test various highway products and procedures. To do this a lot of people put in a lot of work over years, including driving a track millions of miles.

One of the people greeting us was Senator Dick Durbin. I interviewed the Senator before our program began. He talks about the importance of the highway system and renewable fuels like ethanol. He also pointed out how it took a doubling of the gasoline tax 50 years ago to raise the funds to get the interstate highway system going and he credits President Eisenhower with a lot of courage to get that done.

Listen to Senator Durbin here: Listen to MP3 Senator Dick Durbin Interview (2 min MP3)

Domestic Fuel coverage and participation in the AASHTO Interstate 50th Convoy is sponsored by the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.

Audio, Ethanol