An investment group has bought a stalled eastern Illinois biodiesel plant and plans to begin production by early next year.
Blackhawk Biofuels said it bought the plant in Danville from Biofuels Company of America, whose owners included agribusiness giant Bunge. The sale price wasn’t immediately available. Blackhawk is based in Freeport, about 30 miles west of Rockford.
(Source: Gatehouse News Service)
Minnesota has taken another step towards promoting domestic energy security and reducing the state's carbon footprint. Yesterday, Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed a bill that will increase the current 2 percent biodiesel mandate to 20 percent by 2015.
According to the legislation, the current 2 percent biodiesel mandate will increase to 5 percent on May 1, 2009; to 10 percent on May 1, 2012; and to 20 percent on May 1, 2015.
Consolidated Grain & Barge has begun posting basis bids for corn delivery at Patriot Renewable Fuels LLC, near Annawan, Ill., which is scheduled to open later this summer, according to Patriot’s CEO/Chairman Gene Griffith.
Dan Aubry, grain procurement manager for Consolidated Grain, said the company is offering a “buyer’s call” contract for the last half of July.
(Source: Quad City Times)
"The price of grain is now directly tied to the price of oil. We used to have a grain economy and a fuel economy. But now they're beginning to fuse."
— Lester Brown, president of Earth Policy Institute, a Washington research group
U.S. government data on Friday showed there is sufficient corn for the United States to supply itself with food and ethanol through next year, but the outlook hinges on cuts in exports and less of the grain being used as feed.
It is also hugely dependent on good weather in America's corn country, always a risky bet.
"This morning's crop report is an ominous sign that we are entering dangerous and uncharted waters for food prices," said Scott Faber, vice president of federal affairs for the U.S. Grocery Manufacturers Association, a trade group.
(Source: Reuters)
A change in Chinese meat consumption habits since 1995 is diverting eight billion bushels of grain per year to livestock feed and could empty global grain stocks by September 2010, according to a new study from Biofuels Digest, now available for download here in an expanded version.
(Source: Biofuels Digest)
Today's Chicago Tribune op-ed page has a commentary from freelance writer Dennis Byrne, who is highly critical of renewable fuels, espcially ethanol. Today's commentary is just a sample of what's been appearing in newspapers across the country, by ill-informed writers.
http://dennisbyrne.blogspot.com/2008/05/ethanol-not-real-solution.html
Illinois Farm Bureau is debuting a new website this week to refute some of the disinformation that has been leveled against renewable fuels and the rising price of food. Go to:
Democrat Barack Obama said Sunday the federal government might need to rethink its support for corn ethanol because of rising food prices, a stance similar to Republican John McCain's but at odds with farm states considered important to the November election.
"What I've said is my top priority is making sure people are able to get enough to eat. If it turns out we need to make changes in our ethanol policy to help people get something to eat, that has got to be the step we take," said Obama, D-Ill., on NBC's "Meet the Press."
"We have rising food prices around the United States. In other countries, we're seeing riots because of the lack of food supply, so this is something we're going to have to deal with," he said.
Last week, a group of Republican senators including McCain, R-Ariz., asked the Environmental Protection Agency to loosen congressional mandates to blend more ethanol and other renewable fuels into the gasoline supply, saying they are adding significantly to food costs. The mandates are backed by President Bush and senators representing farm states.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., speaking on ABC's "This Week," agreed the issue needs closer review.
“Retreat from biofuels is just an empty gesture. That won't fill anybody’s stomach and won’t fill anybody’s gas tanks.”
-- Archer Daniels Midland CEO Patricia Woertz this week, regarding the ongoing attack on biofuels
