Domestic Fuel

Jim 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: 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.

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Most 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.

We 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: 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.

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At The World’s Largest Truck Stop they had a 1917 Army truck on display. Possibly one much like the ones involved in the cross country convoy in 1919 that Lt. Col. Eisenhower travelled with, which is one of the events we’re commemorating with our trip.

Here’s two of our army participants posing in their modern day uniforms. They look sharp don’t they?

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

One of our stops on the way through Iowa was The World’s Largest Truck Stop. This stop is so big it has a trucking museum where we were greeted by local people and provided with some of the best pies I’ve eaten in a long time.

This is also a fueling stop that has ethanol in the pumps. Glad to see that.

You can find The World’s Largest Truck Stop off exit 284 (Interstate 80) in Walcott, IA.

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

Joanna Schroeder works for the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) which is an AASHTO Convoy sponsor and sponsor of Domestic Fuel and my trip. She came to our Iowa event to tell people about the good things that ethanol is doing for America. Besides sponsoring the convoy, EPIC also was one of the sponsors of the local Iowa event.

Joanna says that people need to demand ethanol because it’s good for the environment, good for your car’s engine and reduces our dependence on foreign oil. She says they’re developing a mechanics training module to teach mechanics about ethanol regardless of what blend they use.

Listen to Joanna here: Joanna Schroeder Interview (2 min MP3)

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

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When we got to Living History Farm in Urbandale, IA Tony Sartor, Iowa State University had an ethanol car on display.

Tony is the public relations man for the team of students who work on this car this year. He did a great interview.

Tony says that the engineering students build this car, which is a mini version of a Formula One or Indy race car, to compete in the Society of Automotive Engineers competition. They’re one of the only cars to use ethanol.

Listen to Tony here: Tony Sartor Interview (2 min MP3)

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

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The Lt. Governor of Iowa met our convoy off of I-80 after we got into Iowa. She’s Sally Pederson (right), seen here with AASHTO staff members Jennifer Gavin (left) and Kathie Leyendecker.

When I spoke with the Lt. Governor she said she’s kicking off her own convoy tour around Iowa to promote tourism. I’m sure she’ll be doing some interstate miles. She thinks ethanol is very important to Iowa and is proud that Iowa is the number one ethanol producing state.

Listen to Lt. Gov. Pederson here: Lt. Governor Sally Pederson Interview (2 min MP3)

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

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Before we were escorted into Living History Farms in Iowa I met with our escorts, the American Legion Riders of Iowa.

One of their group was volunteered by the others to do an interview. He’s Chuck Thompson. Chuck says he burns ethanol in his Harley with no problems and highly supports renewable fuels.

Listen to Chuck here: Chuck Thompson Interview (2 min MP3)

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

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You get just one post today. We rolled into Iowa and stopped just short of Urbandale to meet up with the Lt. Governor, Sally Pederson. I’ve been meaning to shoot a video clip of the convoy and finally did that.

Yes, we risk life and limb to bring you interesting pics and video. It’s been a long day with a fabulous celebration at Living History Farms and a stop at the Largest Truck Stop in the world and now we’re in Davenport. Tomorrow it’s on to Illinois and I’ll get caught up this weekend.

So watch our convoy roll out of a rest area this morning being led by the American Legion Riders: Convoy Rollout (2 min WMV)

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

A bill introduced this week in Congress would make the federal excise tax credits for renewable fuels permanent. According to a release from the National Biodiesel Board, Congressmen Kenny Hulshof (R-MO) and Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) introduced the Renewable Fuels and Energy Independence Promotion Act, which removes sunset provisions for ethanol and biodiesel incentives that accompanied the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC), which took effect Jan. 1, 2005. It also makes permanent a small agri-biodiesel producer credit.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns has announced a loan guarantee and grant totaling $3.75 million for construction and operation of a new biodiesel production facility in Iowa.
Riksch BioFuels LLC will construct a plant near Crawfordsville, Iowa. Twenty-five investors, including farmers and business owners, already have raised over $3.3 million for the project and will receive $400,000 from the Iowa Department of Economic Development.

Seventy-three percent of American consumers are likely to purchase ethanol-enriched fuel, according to the results of a new national study by the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council. This represents a nine percent increase over January 2005. In addition, nearly 90 percent of those who are familiar with ethanol associate the fuel with its many positive benefits.

However, Tom Slunecka, executive director of EPIC, thinks we could do better.
“Despite prolific media coverage of ethanol in recent months, awareness of its availability is lower than expected,” said Slunecka. The lack of consistent nationwide pump labeling standards may be one of the reasons. The study showed that consumer awareness of ethanol’s availability increases with the presence of ethanol signage at the pump,” states Slunecka.
Read the release and the study here.

U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman today announced that the two agencies will co-host a national renewable energy conference to help create partnerships and strategies necessary to accelerate commercialization of renewable energy industries and distribution systems, the crux of President Bush’s Advanced Energy Initiative. According to a USDA release, the conference, Advancing Renewable Energy: An American Rural Renaissance, is scheduled for October 10-12, 2006, in St. Louis, Missouri.
Among the goals for the conference is raising public awareness and I asked the Secretaries if they had any ideas for doing that. Listen to their answers here: Johanns and Bodman (3 min MP3)

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I didn’t get my own photo of Nebraska Lt. Governor Rick Sheehy today so I borrowed this one from his website. However, I did get to speak with him after our Omaha press conference.

He’s a real ethanol supporter as you’ll hear in our interview. Sheehy says that in just a few years Nebraska will be producing over 1 billion gallons of ethanol.

Listen to Lt. Governor Sheehy’s interview here: Lt. Governor Rick Sheehy Interview (2 min MP3)

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

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