From the 7/11/07 Marion Star:

 

 

Tiger Ethanol LLC's pollution control public hearing will be held Aug. 28

Marion Star Staff Report

 

COLUMBUS - A public hearing on Tiger Ethanol LLC's request for an air pollution control permit-to-install for the ethanol production facility it plans to build in Marion County will be held Aug. 28.

 

The hearing will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Marion Harding High School, said Dina Pierce, spokeswoman for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

 

More at:

 

http://www.marionstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070711/NEWS01/707110314/1002

 

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070714/NEWS24/70714009/-1/NEWS

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Article published July 14, 2007

 

State rail agency OKs $1M loan to ethanol firm

 

 

LIMA, Ohio — The Ohio Rail Development Commission yesterday approved a $1 million loan that will help finance construction of a rail spur to serve an ethanol refinery being built in Lima.

 

The loan’s recipient, Greater Ohio Ethanol, is spending $145 million to build its plant, expected to produce 54 million gallons of ethanol annually and employ 41 people.

 

 

http://www.railwayage.com/breaking_news.shtml

From the 7/13/07 Ashland Times-Gazette:

 

 

Ethanol plant at impasse

Silver State lacks funds for Ashland

By GINGER CHRIST

T-G Staff Writer

 

Plans for a local ethanol plant owned by Las Vegas-based Silver State Ethanol Inc. are at a standstill.

 

Silver State, which expressed an interest in Ashland, does not have the funds necessary to move forward at present, according to Evan Scurti, executive director of Ashland Area Council for Economic Development.

 

More at:

http://www.times-gazette.com/news/article/2252142

 

7/16/2007    Ethanol Market

Rail rates and service will be issues as U.S. ethanol production rises, shippers say; destination terminal capacity a bigger concern, short line says

 

The Bush Administration’s energy bill that aims to lessen the nation’s reliance on foreign fuel sources likely will boost U.S. ethanol production. But are railroads capable of moving large volumes of ethanol at a rate customers are willing to pay?

 

The short answer is “no,” according to Consumers United for Rail Equity (CURE) and other rail shipper organizations.

 

More at:

http://www.progressiverailroading.com/prdailynews/news.asp?id=11040

From the 7/17/07 Coshocton Tribune:

 

 

Ethanol plant permit cuts emissions, EPA says

By JOSHUA CHANEY

Staff Writer

 

COSHOCTON - With no comments or concerns raised, a session held by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency seeking public comment regarding a new air permit issued to the Coshocton Ethanol plant ended in just over a half hour Monday evening.

 

The mandatory meeting, held at the Coshocton Public Library, was to allow time for public comments, concerns, or questions in regards to a new air permit issued to Coshocton Ethanol, LLC, regarding the replacement of several emission units planned to be used with larger, but fewer units.

 

More at:

 

http://www.coshoctontribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070717/NEWS01/707170303/1002/rss01

 

From the 7/18/07 Fostoria Review Times:

 

 

Neighbors express fear about new plant

By RUSS ZIMMER

staff writer

 

Not everyone is happy to see the arrival of an $130 million ethanol plant on Sandusky Street, namely the facility's neighbors.

 

Property owners abutting the site of the future plant at 2111 Sandusky St. were invited to a hearing before the city addressed the necessary changes to the zoning map Tuesday.

 

http://www.reviewtimes.com/News/backissues/2007/Jul/ar_news_071807.asp#story3

 

OHIO-GROWN FUEL

Governor pushes ethanol at track

Monday,  July 23, 2007 4:07 AM

By Tim May

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

LEXINGTON, Ohio -- Gov. Ted Strickland traveled to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course yesterday to tell the drivers to start their engines and to jump-start the campaign for ethanol production statewide.

 

The 18 cars in yesterday's Honda Indy 200 of the Indy Racing League have been running on 98 percent ethanol all season. The other 2 percent is unleaded gasoline to make the fuel inconsumable -- ethanol is alcohol.

 

More at:

http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/state/17528492.htm

Popcorn gets pricier

Growth of crop costly with ethanol boom

By Ben Sutherly

Dayton Daily News

Staff Writer

Monday, July 23, 2007

 

It's no longer a pop secret: Ethanol is driving up the price you pay for popcorn.

 

"Ethanol is the cause of the high popcorn prices," said Charles Cretors of C. Cretors & Co. in Chicago, which makes and supplies popcorn popping machinery to the snack-food industry and movie theaters.

 

Here's why: Popcorn differs from field corn, a commodity used in livestock feed, food additives and ethanol. But the price popcorn farmers receive stays above the price of field corn, which at more than $3 per bushel is up 37 percent from a year ago as production of corn-based ethanol soars. The reason: Popcorn requires more care than field corn, and popcorn processors pay farmers a premium for it.

 

Find this article at:

http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2007/07/22/ddn072307popcorn.html 

 

 

Popcorn gets pricier

Growth of crop costly with ethanol boom

**Article 86'd for spacing by Progamer**

Find this article at:

http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2007/07/22/ddn072307popcorn.html 

 

I probably said it before but I'll say it again.

It'll be a sight to see when all of the negative factors in corn production start to ripple through other parts of the economy, especially certain food economies.  (Beef/milk industry anyone?)  Or perhaps it already begun and we've yet to see (and feel) the full repercussions of the situation. 

Cancellation by E85 of Seattle

Plans fizzle to build ethanol plants in Newark, Lancaster

Thursday,  August 2, 2007 3:37 AM

By Randy Ludlow

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

A new Seattle-area company has canceled plans to build ethanol plants in Newark and Lancaster.

 

E85 Inc. informed officials Monday evening that it will not build an ethanol-production plant in Newark, Stephen Fowler, economic development director, said yesterday.

 

More at:

http://dispatch.com/dispatch/content/business/stories/2007/08/02/E85.ART_ART_08-02-07_C7_Q27GO3Q.html

 

Five plants in Ohio

Ethanol: Is corn-based fuel worth tax deals, pollution?

Monday,  August 6, 2007 3:26 AM

By Spencer Hunt

 

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

After years of failed attempts to attract ethanol production in Ohio, state officials say as many as five plants should begin producing the corn-based fuel by early next year.

 

"We should go from zero gallons produced to 394 million (a year) almost overnight," said Jamie Gentry, agribusiness liaison with the Ohio Department of Development.

 

But at what price?

 

More at:

http://dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/08/06/ethanol.ART_ART_08-06-07_A1_IB7HNVK.html

 

Commentary

Mike Harden commentary:

Farmers like dream of ethanol paydays

Sunday,  October 7, 2007 3:48 AM

By Mike Harden

 

BALTIMORE, Ohio -- Here and there along the rural two-lanes, the rows of parchment cornstalks wear lavender boutonnieres of crown vetch. Patches of the stuff -- "Yankee kudzu" -- dapple the earth from road berm to windrow.

 

If, as you read these words, the weather is fair, Fairfield County farmer Dave Miller likely will be high above the good grain of a quirky growing season in the cab of a combine as big as a blue whale.

 

More of column at:

http://dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2007/10/07/MIKE07_ART_10-07-07_B1_JM84A90.html?sid=101

Looks like the ethanol hype may be fading for many towns... could hit hard in Ohio.

 

An Ethanol Glut Hits Home In BioTown, USA

By Douglas Belkin and Joe Barrett, Wall Street Journal, November 1, 2007, Page B1; URL subscription-based

 

Two years ago, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels came to the small farm town of Reynolds in northwestern Indiana corn country to christen it BioTown, USA. The goal: to attract bioenergy companies and set an example by fueling the town's cars, homes and businesses with cheap, environmentally friendly energy.

 

Click headline above for full story:

I didn't see anyone mention it, but one of the gas stations in Parma, on State right before the 480 ramp, is converting to Ethanol pumps...

 

It is right across from the "Cowards Dentist" and European Delights, home to the best Pirogies in Parma...

^this station, branded a sunoco, will also be sellling B20 biodiesel.  they should be open within a month.

I think the WSJ is being a little dramatic on this.    For one, this whole industry is still just getting started.    Sure, it may hiccup along the way!     They are still discovering uses for the byproducts of making these biofuels.

I'll see if I can pull another article up from the WSJ, but there was a good point about the price of ethanol diving sharply. Since ethanol was riding on the margins, any major blip on the screen can send projects planned and under construction tanking. We have one plant in Kentucky already stalled because of that; I can only imagine how many more are like that in the midwest.

Since ethanol was riding on the margins, any major blip on the screen can send projects planned and under construction tanking.

 

Not to mention that massive gov't subsidies are priced into each gallon of auto moonshine.  A change in the political landscape could cause the whole house of cards to fall apart.  I suppose an educated consumer could do the same.

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080110/BUSINESS01/396517335

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Article published January 10, 2008

 

Ohio's first ethanol plant opens in Leipsic

 

BLADE STAFF

 

LEIPSIC, Ohio — The first operating ethanol plant was revealed today in this northern Putnam County town.

 

The $105-million plant, made by Poet LLC of Sioux Falls, S.D., is to produce 65 million gallons a year of the alternative vehicle fuel. It is to begin operations in about two weeks. Poet is one of the largest producers of biofuels in the country.

 

More at link above:

I had a chance to attend the opening of the POET ethanol facility in Leipsic today.  This place is huge and they expect to produce 65-million gallons of ethanol a year.  What really struck me was the size of the crowd that showed up for this: well over 700 people.  The line I was in (pictured) took over 30 minutes to get inside.  Most of the audience were either corn farmers or people involved in some aspect of agribusiness.  We city dwellers don't get a chance to see something like this: hard-working people who literally left the farm today for a few hours to see where a good deal of their grain will go.  Most went right back to work on their farms right after the ceremonies were done.

 

POET is building two more plants like this at Fostoria and Marion.

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080111/BUSINESS01/801110376

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Article published January 11, 2008

 

Ohio opens ethanol era with $105 million refinery in Putnam County

 

By JON CHAVEZ

BLADE BUSINESS WRITER

 

LEIPSIC, Ohio - With a snip from an oversized pair of scissors, Ohio's first large foray into ethanol production officially opened here yesterday in northern Putnam County.

 

"This is a great day for Ohio," said Gov. Ted Strickland, shortly before joining Poet LLC Chief Executive Jeff Broin in cutting a ribbon to signify completion of the $105 million Poet Biorefining - Leipsic facility.

 

More at link above:

Corn is golden, so conservation takes hit

Monday,  January 14, 2008 3:02 AM

By Spencer Hunt

 

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Higher corn prices have farmers dropping out of a conservation program that pays them to plant grasses instead of crops.

 

At stake are millions of acres that protect wildlife habitats and screen farm chemicals that drain from fields into streams and rivers.

 

More at:

 

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/01/14/farmland.ART_ART_01-14-08_A1_SA9253R.html?sid=101

And check out the nauseous "God bless GM" comments at the bottom of this article at:

 

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/jan2008/bw20080111_703972.htm?campaign_id=relatedtest_AK

 

January 13, 2008, 12:01PM EST

 

GM Takes a Stake in Ethanol Maker

 

General Motors underscores its commitment to ethanol-powered vehicles by investing in a company that claims it can make the fuel more cheaply

 

by David Welch

 

Here's a tough sell. General Motors (GM) thinks it can make ethanol a big player in the quest to cut greenhouse gas emissions and wean America from its addiction to foreign oil.

 

More at link above:

.......

Miami Valley ethanol production begins

 

By Ben Sutherly

Staff Writer

Monday, February 11, 2008

 

GREENVILLE — Ethanol production has begun in the Miami Valley.

 

An ethanol plant in Greenville recently started operations. It's expected to produce 110 million gallons of ethanol annually and will employ 45 people.

 

The plant, under construction since November 2006, is a joint venture between subsidiaries of Maumee-based The Andersons Inc. and Marathon Oil Corp.

 

http://www.daytondailynews.com/b/content/oh/story/business/2008/02/11/ddn021108ethanolweb.html

http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=311350

 

Ethanol fuels food price frenzy

Carrie Tait, Financial Post

Published: Friday, February 15, 2008

 

The pending global food crisis is due, in part, to a rich twist of irony: One of the factors driving up the price of T-bone steak, a dozen eggs and a carton of milk is a perfectly edible vegetable, a staple of many diets - corn.

 

To add to the irony, we're growing more corn than ever before. We're just not eating it.

 

"The U.S. is now using more corn for production of ethanol than our entire crop in Canada," says Kurt Klein, a professor of agricultural economics at the University of Lethbridge. "It's huge."

 

.......

Vote to help Marion ethanol plant questioned

Official says he was unaware parents had invested in it

Tuesday,  February 19, 2008 2:55 AM

By Dana Wilson

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

A Marion County official has been publicly accused of voting in favor of a tax abatement for a local ethanol plant that his parents have invested in.

 

Commissioner Josh Daniels said he thinks Commissioner Ken Frayer knew about his parents' investment in POET Biorefining when he supported a 12-year, 80 percent abatement for the ethanol production facility last year.

 

More:

 

http://dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/02/19/mcommish.ART_ART_02-19-08_B3_1P9D7JA.html?sid=101

and a bit more...

 

 

Questions tarnish ethanol's golden glow

Higher corn prices, a new look at environmental concerns are leading to criticism of the fuel.

 

By Ben Sutherly

Staff Writer

Sunday, March 02, 2008

 

DAYTON — Not so long ago, when ethanol prices soared and prices for corn were low, some ethanol plants briefly had whopping annual returns on investment of 150 percent.

 

These days, with corn prices much higher, those ethanol plants' annual returns on investment are more modest — 15 percent to 25 percent, said Dwayne Siekman, executive director of the Ohio Corn Growers Association. But those returns are sustainable, he said.

 

More at:

http://www.daytondailynews.com/b/content/oh/story/business/2008/03/01/ddn030208ethanolside.html

Feb. 14, 2008

 

Urban sprawl is crashing into farms, fueling cars

Write of Way

Ken Prendergast

 

  Just as they have for decades, investors are snapping up farmland at Greater Cleveland’s urban fringe in Lorain, Medina, Summit, Geauga and Lake counties.

 

  But in the last couple of years, investors ranging in size from individuals to big private equity firms aren’t seeking to bulldoze some of the world’s best farmland to plant rows of McMansion-style homes. Instead, they’re buying land to actually use it for agriculture — for corn in general and ethanol in particular.

 

  “With the boom in ethanol, farmland has value again. High commodity prices driven by biofuel production may stop the loss of farmland to urban sprawl,” wrote energy-agriculture consultant Cliff Bradley in a 2007 report, ’Saving the Poor and the Planet with Biofuels.’

 

  Cities have been growing outward for thousands of years. But since the mid-20th century, governments began building Interstate highways and big sewer systems, subsidizing oil prices, granting tax abatements to hop-scotching companies and enacting low-density zoning codes.

 

  Urban areas expanded outward so quickly that overall metro area population densities fell. It meant that at least one community had to shrink for another to grow. That’s the difference between growth and urban sprawl.

 

  The Greater Cleveland-Akron area suffered some of the nation’s worst sprawl; its developed land area doubled in size since 1960 but its population stayed stuck at 2.9 million people. Some call this the free market at work, even as Northeast Ohioans spend more of their tax dollars per capita to extend public infrastructure and services over longer distances and among smaller population densities.

 

  At the same time, the urban poor are isolated from new jobs, mostly in the suburbs, incurring taxpayer support for social programs, law enforcement and prisons.

 

  But a more genuine example of the free market may impose an end to sprawl — the rising value of farmland appears to be an example of it. Admittedly, ethanol is highly subsidized and new federal laws mandate an increase in ethanol production from 7 billion gallons a year to 15 billion by 2015. Ethanol is also a poor source of energy; it has a low net return on energy invested (an issue for another column).

 

  There is a great irony at work here in the early 21st century. In the last century, the outward growth of car-dependent suburbia was nourished by incredibly cheap gasoline and subsidized roads. Today and into the foreseeable future, ethanol and farmlands are being nourished by the rising cost of oil based on flattening global production rates and rising demand.

 

  According to a Feb. 5, 2008 USA Today article, “demand for grain for food, fuel and export, along with low interest rates and a weakened dollar have raised farmland prices by double digits the past two years. Average values have doubled since 2000.”

 

  No longer are farms easy pickings for real estate speculators seeking to build another housing subdivision. And no longer are farmers appealing to Willie Nelson and his Farm Aid concerts to bring attention to their plight, not when an Ohio farmer can get up to $500,000 for his 100-acre property and remain a tenant on the farm.

 

  In the 1980s, a farmer might get half as much money, only to see his farm succumb to housing. More than 6.9 million acres of Ohio farmland met that fate between 1950 and 2000, according to the Ohio Farmland Preservation Task Force.

 

  Today, real estate developers are having a harder time justifying paying double for farmland. They can still build in wooded areas, but must compete for the land with conservancies funded by the Clean Ohio Campaign which voters approved in 1999. Still, developers must pay higher costs of building materials and for operating gas-powered construction equipment.

 

  The situation is made worse by the sub-prime mortgage crisis and high gas prices that are discouraging people from buying homes farther from work and shopping. The world’s tightening oil market suggests we’ll be paying even more for gas in the near future. Emerging trends in real estate markets suggest some are betting on that future.

 

  According to the real estate firm Grubb & Ellis, office users in 2007 snapped up 145,327 square feet of office space in downtown Cleveland compared to just 121,370 square feet in all of Northeast Ohio’s suburban markets.

 

  The overall residential real estate market has slowed to a crawl, except in and near downtown Cleveland. More than $2.5 billion in new construction and renovation projects are planned, underway or recently completed. Developers are creating a low-mileage lifestyle where people can walk, bike or take transit amongst an intimate mix of offices, housing, restaurants, entertainment and shopping.

 

  “I won’t say downtown real estate has been immune to the housing crisis, but it’s doing better than real estate elsewhere,” said Cleveland’s Ward 13 Councilman Joe Cimperman, who represents downtown and the neighborhoods of St. Clair-Superior, Ohio City and Tremont.

 

  It appears our car-crazy, oil-addicted lifestyle and the urban sprawl it fostered has collided with itself. The only reason it has is because we chose corn-based ethanol as a means to keep on driving as if nothing has changed. I love ironies.

^---Wouldn't this be one hell of a trend? Buying up and demolishing sprawl housing to build....*gasp*....farmland! :lol:

Biofuels company to get $50,000 grant for biodiesel production

By Bridgette Outten

 

Staff reports

 

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

 

SPRINGFIELD — A biofuels company will receive a $50,000 grant to produce biodiesel, state Rep. Chris Widener (R-Springfield) announced Wednesday, March 19.

 

The Ohio Rail Development Commission will award the grant to Liberty Fuels of Ohio, LLC, according to a release issued by Widener's office.

 

Find this article at:

http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/03/19/sns032008biodiesel.html 

 

 

 

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080327005953&newsLang=en

 

Cleveland Alternative Fuel Technology Company Receives Million Dollar Grant from Ohio Department of Development

 

CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cleveland fuel production systems manufacturer Arisdyne Systems, Inc. recently received a one million dollar grant from the Ohio Department of Development’s Third Frontier Advanced Energy Program for the development of a more efficient method of processing corn into ethanol. The company expects to add 10 to 15 employees over the next two to three years as a result of the grant.

 

“We’re delighted to be able to bring additional funding to improving the ethanol production process,” said Fred Clarke, President of Arisdyne Systems. “With the help of this grant, we will develop the technology to increase the yield of ethanol from each bushel of corn by up to ten percent.”

 

More at link above:

U.N. expert: Food crisis 'a silent tsunami'

cnn.com

 

(CNN) -- Those battling global warming by promoting biofuels may unintentionally be adding to skyrocketing world food prices, creating what one expert calls "a silent tsunami" in developing nations.

 

The rising prices are "threatening to plunge more than 100 million people on every continent into hunger," Josette Sheeran, executive director of the United Nations' World Food Program, said on the agency's Web site Tuesday.

 

 

Find this article at:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/04/22/food.biofuels/index.html 

 

http://www.energycurrent.com/index.php?id=3&storyid=10284

 

Scientists call for halt in grain-based biofuel production

By Hwee Hwee Tan

Filed from Singapore

4/30/2008 4:54:31 AM GMT

 

 

INTERNATIONAL:  Some scientists are calling for a moratorium on using grain-based feedstock to produce biofuel to halt the rise in global food prices.  Joachim von Braun, head of the International Food Policy Research Institute, told local journalists after a teleconference that if a biofuel moratorium is issued this year, it would lead to a price decline in corn by about 20 percent and wheat by about 10 percent from 2009 to 2010.

 

In his published paper, Rising Food Prices: What Should be Done?, von Braun blames the rising food prices on a combination of factors, including high oil prices, growing population, change in world population dietary habits and unfavourable climate change.  A copy of the paper can be found on the International Food Policy Research Institute Web site, here.

 

More at link above:

Ethanol plants alter farming landscape

As farmers prepare for season, all eyes on big-player corn

Sunday,  May 18, 2008 3:42 AM

By Monique Curet

 

Columbus Dispatch

 

At corn-planting time last year, Ohio farmers weren't planning to sell their crop to in-state ethanol plants because there weren't any. But that's changed.

 

Now, Ohio -- which had lagged other top corn-growing states in ethanol production -- has five plants in operation. Two more are slated to open by the end of the year.

 

More at:

 

http://dispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2008/05/18/planting_season.ART_ART_05-18-08_D1_JOA7GFL.html?sid=101

Since Ohio has several companies moving agressively on bio-fuel production (ethanol & bio-diesel), I thought this might make a good thread. ---noozer

 

Biofuel plants fall victim to tougher financial times

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Chris Blank / Associated Press

 

Lilbourn, Mo.- It's one of the newest buildings in the small agricultural town of Lilbourn, Mo. Aligned between two city water towers, the 120-foot-long biodiesel plant gleams in the sun. The paint on its sign hasn't even chipped.

 

But weeds have begun to encroach on the Great River Soy biodiesel plant, which produced just 94,000 gallons over two weeks before it ran out of money and was shuttered.

 

It's a scene that has been repeated throughout the United States: Clovis, N.M.; Nevada, Mo.; Hartsburg, Ill.; Lamoni, Iowa; Evansville, Wis.; Greybull, Wyo.; Rock Port, Mo.; and Belle Fourche, S.D. All were supposed to have biofuels plants operating or under construction by now. None do.

 

More at:

http://www.cleveland.com/business/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/business-8/122371393690060.xml&coll=2

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081017/BUSINESS03/810170353

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Article published October 17, 2008

 

Bankruptcy sought by owners of Lima ethanol plant

By GARY T. PAKULSKI

BLADE BUSINESS WRITER

 

Citing construction delays and production problems, owners of a five-month-old ethanol plant in Lima have filed for protection from creditors.

 

Documents in a Chapter 11 case filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Toledo state that owners of the Greater Ohio Ethanol LLC plant on Houx Parkway have assets of $129 million and debts of $123 million.

 

GOE Lima LLC sought permission this week from Judge Mary Ann Whipple to gain access to bank accounts, pay employee wages, and cover certain other bills that came in during the weeks leading up to the filing.

 

More at link above:

Ohio ethanol plant operator files for bankruptcy

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20081026/BIZ01/810260360/1076/NEWS

 

The operator of an ethanol plant that was awarded government financial incentives and a city property-tax exemption has filed for bankruptcy protection after less than four months of production.

 

The president of Greater Ohio Ethanol blamed the current credit crunch and a flaw in the design of the plant.

 

Look for a 15 million dollar expansion coming to the Cincinnati plant very soon.  Looks like they are going to add another tower.  Bids are being taken, but I don't know if they will make the news.  They are doubling the size of their workforce right now and have recently become the number one producer of Biofuels in the U.S.

 

http://www.twinriverstechnologies.com/

Where is that located?

St Bernard, behind the Ivorydale plant. 

 

Edit:

I should have put this in the BioFuels thread.  I just found it!  They make multiple ingredients for Ethanol as well.

Ethanol producer files for bankruptcy

VeraSun Energy among nation's largest ethanol companies

Saturday,  November 1, 2008 10:17 AM

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - After several days of speculation, ethanol producer VeraSun Energy Corp. and 24 of its subsidiaries have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

 

The Sioux Falls, S.D.-based company said in a news release late yesterday that the voluntary move was prompted by a reduction in liquidity and will allow it to continue operating normally.

 

VeraSun said higher corn costs, worsening capital markets and tighter trade credit were all factors.

 

More at:

http://dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/11/01/verasun.html?sid=101

The news is not good in the ethaol industry at all.  Just heard yesterday that Coshocton Ethanol has shut down and furlouged it's employees for a two weeks to a month to see if corn markets improve.

Where is that located?

 

This was the P&G Olestra plant.  This company still produces the Olestra for P&G and whatever contracts are still out there.  A shame really, it only caused slight anal leakage!

From what I gather, the byproducts of producing Olean have been the bread and butter for this particular operation.

 

Fatty acids, omega 3, esters, glycerin, etc etc...

A Rough Road For Greater Ohio Ethanol

- 11/12/2008

WLIO-TV

 

It has been a rough road for Greater Ohio Ethanol and the road just got a little more bumpy as company officials announce the facility is no longer producing ethanol.

 

NBC Lima has been told that the 100 million dollar facility on Hanthorn Road has ceased operations. The company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on October 14th and have been working with legal and restructuring advisors to take the necessary action to preserve the value of the companys assets that will in the long run benefit stakeholders. To this point however, no deal is in place.

 

More at:

http://www.wlio.com/localNews.aspx?NewsID=9145

Environment

EPA's New Biofuel Regs Could Curtail Industry

by Richard Harris

 

 

Weekend Edition Sunday, May 10, 2009 · Getting fuel from green plants seems like a great idea. But scientific research over the last few years shows that biofuels aren't necessarily helpful in combating global warming. Based on this data, the EPA has drafted new, tighter regulations that could make it harder for the biofuels industry to grow.

 

In theory, biofuels themselves don't add any extra carbon to the atmosphere. Green plants take carbon dioxide out of the air, so when you burn them, the carbon dioxide just goes back to where it came from.

 

More at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103893530

 

Coshocton sues ethanol plant developer

 

COSHOCTON -- A $112,393 payment is due Tuesday to the state on a $7 million loan the city took out to make improvements to its wastewater treatment plant to support the ethanol plant.

 

The city is prepared to pay its share -- $33,628 -- but there isn't any money in a fund for the other part of the payment, which is supposed to be supplied by Coshocton Ethanol LLC. The delinquency caused the city to file a breach of contract lawsuit Wednesday against the company and the original developer, John Baardson.

 

Baardson signed a contract with the city on behalf of the company to pay 70 percent of the loan, but the city hasn't seen any payments in 18 months. City Auditor Sherry Kirkpatrick said Coshocton Ethanol is $313,656 behind in payments to the fund the city uses to pay for the company's part of the loan.

 

Read more at: http://www.coshoctontribune.com/article/20110623/NEWS01/106230302/Coshocton-sues-ethanol-plant-developer