Ten Reasons to be Optimistic about Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman
August 15, 2008

Just back from the 21st Ethanol Conference and Trade Show, here are
some comments I heard that are good reasons to be optimistic about the
future of the ethanol industry.

1. “America must become energy independent and ethanol is one step in
that process.” Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman

2. “Corn-based ethanol is going to be around for a long time – it’s
the foundation of what we are doing with ethanol.” Gov. Heineman

3. “By 2030, we’ll have a national average of corn yield of 300
bushels to the acre, double what we have now. Monsanto stands behind
that, Pioneer says the same thing and so does Syngenta, so it has to
be right – it’s the only thing those three companies agree on.” Rick
Tolman, National Corn Growers Association

4. “Our ethanol per acre is growing so we can produce more ethanol
from fewer bushels of corn.” Rick Tolman

5. “Corn ethanol is the ‘ugly baby’ with a bright future.” Rick Tolman

6. “Last year the use of fuel was up, but the use of gasoline was down
and for the first time in 30 years, we imported less oil in the United
States than we did the previous year.” Ron Lamberty, ACE

7. “I have never seen the kind of progress in cellulosic ethanol that
we are seeing today, I have never seen the kind of investment by
private industry and academia, there is a tremendous amount of
pressure in the country to move this forward and it is definitely
having the best chance it has ever had.” Jeff Broin, POET

8. “We are the freedom fighters in this battle – we’re fighting big
dollars, big press machines, but we got faith, we got spirit, we got
the truth.” Bob Scott of POET, ACE president

9. “According to the independent data, the fuel price benefits to
households far outweigh the food costs associated with biofuels and
the EPA came to the only conclusion the facts would permit – a
complete rejection of the Texas request. Not only did the EPA
summarily deny the request, they set a very high threshold, a very
strict precedent for future states to wave the RFS.” Brian Jennings,
ACE

10. “We are underdogs, but we keep going and we keep winning. We have
fueled a revolution to make gasoline the alternative fuel.” Brian
Jennings

There’s many more good reasons - but you get the idea. The ‘ugly baby’
of corn ethanol is growing up and its better looking cousin cellulosic
is well on its way into the world - the revolution is changing the
world and the industry keeps fighting.