Domestic Fuel

Travelling with the convoy is Merrill Eisenhower Atwater (right), great grandson of President Dwight Eisenhower. Here he’s talking with transportation author, Dan McNichol.

Getting to know Merrill, a fellow Missourian, has been one of the treats on this trip. I finally got to interview him this evening. He’ll be taking a “swing” route with a small group from the convoy through Denver and Kansas City tomorrow while the main convoy moves into Nebraska.

Merrill has political aspirations and judging by what I’ve seen and heard he’s going to be a very successful politician. He’s here not just because of his connection to the man who is credited with creating the Interstate Highway System but because he believes more attention needs to be placed on it and that too many people take it for granted.

Hear more from Merrill: Merrill Eisenhower Atwater Interview (5 min MP3)

Merrill is one of the people blogging the convoy trip. You can find a link to his blog here.

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 Interstate Perspectives symposium in Cheyenne, noted transportation author, Dan McNichol, who is a convoy participant and driver, spoke to the crowd.

Dan talked about President Eisenhower and how and why he worked so hard to create a cross country highway system. To find out how entertaining Dan can be you can watch a portion of his presentation here: Dan McNichol Speaks (3 min WMV)

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

After arriving at Cheyenne, WY the interstate convoy attended an evening symposium called, “Interstate Perspectives.” We heard from highway historians and people who have worked on building the highways.

Well over 100 people attended to learn more about the highway system we’re travelling on.

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

The Broin Companies are approaching a milestone. According to a release from the development, production, management, and marketing firm, “combining the production from plants now in operation and those currently under construction, the Broin Companies will push past the one billion gallon mark in annual ethanol production.” As the second largest producer in the industry, the Broin Companies have designed and constructed 23 operating ethanol plants and currently have nine projects under construction or development.

At our morning press conference today, Bill Newman (left), Safety Manager for Wyoming Ethanol drove up in Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal’s E85 GM Avalanche. It was nice to see someone from the ethanol industry on hand. The Wyoming Department of Transportation pointed the vehicle out to attendees and the brightly wrapped truck caught a lot of eyes.

Bill followed the convoy on to Cheyenne after the event. Before leaving though I asked Bill a few questions, including telling us a little about Wyoming Ethanol.

Listen to Bill: Bill Newman Interview (1 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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Welcoming the AASHTO Convoy Crew to Wyoming today was John Cox, Director of the Wyoming Dept. of Transportation. We had a press conference at a rest stop at 8,600 ft., the highest spot on I-80.

John said he appreciates how the convoy is raising awareness of the interstate highway system and the role it plays in commerce coast to coast.

Listen to John’s comments here: WYDOT Director John Cox Remarks (2 min MP3)

BTW. John mentioned our fortune for the good weather we had (at that moment). It changed. By the time we got to our lunch we had a rain shower and the temperature dropped about 30 degrees. Then just before we got back on the highway the sun came back out and it warmed up again. I guess that’s life on the mountain top.

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

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Plans for a 125-million-gallon ethanol plant in Nebraska that will use coal as its primary energy source were announced this week by the Phelps County Development Corp, and Alcorn Energy LLC of Troy, Mich. According to a Kearney (NE) Hub news story, Alcorn Energy Chief Executive Officer Tom Randazzo said the large local supply of corn was one of the most important considerations in choosing the Phelps County site. “We are excited to also announce that Alcorn Energy has formed a strategic alliance with Agri Co-op to supply all the corn for our plant operation,” Randazzo said.

DuPont and BP are partnering up to develop, produce and market “the next generation of biofuels” to help meet increasing global demand for renewable transport fuels. Pioneer Hi-Bred International, a subsidiary of DuPont, is playing a role in this new partnership, according to Pioneer President Dean Oestreich. He says the first jointly developed product the partnership will bring to market is biobutanol. “Butanol is simply another molecule that is different than ethanol, but it’s also a fuel. And what we’ve done here is we’ve found a way, through use of our science, to make the process more efficient and economically viable.” Oestreich says biobutanol and ethanol in a blend can actually make a better fuel.
Here’s an inteview with Oestreich about the announcement and the potential for biobutanol. Pioneer Interview (7 min MP3)

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The planned site of Florida’s first major ethanol facility served as the backdrop for Governor Jeb Bush this week as he signed into law the four-year, $100 million Florida Renewable Energy Technologies and Energy Efficiency Act, designed to encourage the development of alternative fuel technologies in the state.
U.S. EnviroFuels is planning a 40 million gallon per year facility at Tampa Bay’s Port Sutton (see previous post). The company is expected to break ground in August, and begin operations by October 2007. Read more in this Tampa Bay Business Journal article.

Making our arrival in Laramie, WY enjoyable was the Commissioner of Tailgating, Joe Cahn.

Joe is a chef who travels the interstate meeting interesting people and tailgating at every chance. He’s going to do this for us again in Omaha with a “Taste of America.” I asked him to tell people that besides the corn he will roast, it can also be made into ethanol to fuel the cars and trucks that get you to the tailgate party.

Here’s what Joe had to say yesterday: Commissioner Cahn Interview (3 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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There are a lot of cameras floating around on this trip and you have no idea when someone’s going to take your picture. This is an ethanol blogger in action.

Right now it’s getting late. We’ve got a dominos game going on here in the lobby of the hotel in Laramie, WY.

I think it’s time to call it quits although we don’t have an early start or far to go tomorrow!

Cruising along I-80 today I came across a form of renewable energy sitting on a hilltop. These windmills are just huge.

You can see them from so far away and then it takes forever to get close to them.

I counted over 100 in this windmill farm. Then after getting around the hill there was another group on the next hill.

I don’t know much about wind power but as I’ve been driving the interstates in the last few years I’ve been seeing more and more of these. You can find out more about it here.

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

This morning Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. greeted the interstate convoy. He brought his black Harley to escort us to the Wyoming line. Here you can see him getting ready to saddle up and lead us out of town.

Prior to getting on his motorcycle Governor Huntsman made a few remarks which I recorded for you. He talks about the importance of the interstate system and to my surprise mentioned ethanol and renewable fuels in a very positive way. He said that we’ve got to think more about renewable fuels like ethanol.

Listen to Governor Huntsman here: Governor Jon Huntsman Ethanol Comment (1 min MP3)

Listen to Governor Huntsman here: Governor Jon Huntsman Full Remarks (5 min MP3)

Here’s a short video clip of the Governor getting on his bike to lead us out: Governor Huntsman Leads The Way (1 min WMV)

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

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We got started bright and early this morning in Salt Lake City. We made a short trip to a local park to wait for Governor Huntsman to meet us.

Here’s the convoy lined up with the Ethanol truck in the middle line.

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

Genencor International, a division of Danisco A/S, announced today the availability of a new acid fungal protease enzyme product for use in the ethanol industry. According to a company release, the new product, called FERMGEN™ will be introduced this week at the Fuel Ethanol Workshop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Thanks to Erick Erickson in Nebraska for forwarding the release to me.