Ethanol Producers and Consumers

Conference/Workshop To Be Held In Helena

The 14th Annual EPAC Ethanol Conference will be held June 13 - 15 in Helena, MT at the Great Northern Hotel. The conference will begin with the opening Awards Reception at 6:00 pm on Sunday, June 13 and adjourn at noon on Tuesday, June 15. The agenda & registration form is on page 4-5.

Following adjournment of the conference, EPAC will sponsor a Legislative workshop and lunch. Representatives from Montana state agencies, legislators and other state officials are invited to join with private citizens who are Ethanol and biodiesel
supporters to discuss laws that may be proposed for the upcoming legislative session. EPAC does not anticipate that the workshop will result in a bill to be proposed, but it is hoped that a committee of supporters can be formed to provide input and monitor laws that are proposed. Mike Allen, who provided information to legislators in the past, commented, "The meeting and workshop will provide EPAC with the opportunity to be proactive in the legislative process, instead of reacting to a bill that has already been introduced". Legislators who are invited to speak include Sam Kitzenberg, Holly Raser, Bob Bergen and Jerry Black. Governor candidates are also invited to attend. Everyone is welcome, but the organizers ask attendees to please pre-register if possible to help with planning.

Attendees who can take advantage of a plane ticket with a Saturday night stay are invited to join in fun activities on Sunday, including the golf tournament or mining for valuable gemstones at the "Spokane Bar Sapphire Mine". Other fun activities are available and you can contact EPAC staff or the hotel caterer for information.

For full conference details and a registration form, visit our Conference page.

Meeting Notice
The annual EPAC membership meeting will be held on Sunday, June 13 at the Great Northern Hotel in Helena, MT beginning at 8:30 a.m. Long term goals for EPAC will be discussed. Election will be held for the Board of Directors. Ada Weeding is in charge of nominations. All members are encouraged to attend the meeting.

Linda Nielsen was in charge of the booth at the trade show of theWestern Petroleum Marketers Association held in Las Vegas. EPAC thanks her and the rest of the crew pictured from left, Ron Lamberty, America Coalition for Ethanol; Mike Barwig, Chief Ethanol; Linda, and Glenn Schwartzkopf, Wyoming Ethanol.

Memorial To Merlin Ball

Merlin was a farmer and a strong Ethanol supporter. He was one of a group of farmers who worked at building an Ethanol plant in Montana in 1980. Although the plant did not reach reality, Merlin still supported the concept that Ethanol production would be good for agriculture. Since that time he was involved in various ways to support Ethanol and EPAC. He helped with many of the promotional events and was the person who maintained and drove EPAC's E-85 cars. He was also in the WIFE Ethanol convoy to Denver in 1987. Merlin passed away on April 29 of cancer. This page is dedicated to his memory, with thanks for all he accomplished for Ethanol and EPAC.


Merlin Ball	Merlin attended many EPAC conferences, helping to carry boxes, oversee details and socializing with Ethanol friends. Pictured above with Tom Kryzer.	Merlin helped hand out DDG snacks from the Renewable Fuels Association booth at the National Corn Growers convention in Houston. Pictured above with Shirley and Mary Giglio.

Merlin and friends at the Whitefish conference.	In 1994, EPAC obtained the first "Ethanol Powered" vehicle, and Merlin took on the volunteer task of helping to drive the car to display events. The first of the events was a Bioenergy Show in Reno, where the car was put on a truck with an elevating lift to get the car up high enough to drive it into the second story exhibit hall. After that experience it was easy to drive the car into other exhibit halls.	The WPMA booth featured a golf putting machine. Merlin and Ron Lamberty handed out golf balls to winners.

Merlin (left) talks Ethanol with a customer at the "Yellow Dime /Open House" event in West Yellowstone.

Conference Speakers

John Hamilton

John Hamilton has over thirty years experience in agriculture and the food industry. His experience includes the sugar industry, the corn wet milling industry and the grain industry. John also has many years of experience in the management of companies and personnel, most recently in start up companies and research.

Through the years, his focal point of interest has been what industries believe to be waste or by-products. The extraction of value from agriculture commodities and adding value to each of the fractions has been a long-term goal for Hamilton. He is dedicated to the concept of multiple grain sources being fractionated into food grade products, and production of Ethanol as a by-product.

John Hamilton's work experience has prepared him to meet his goal. Management, agriculture, food industry, education, contacts and research have contributed to his success in his career. He iscurrently the consultant/manager for Treasure Valley Renewable Resources Inc. He has done barley research and been a consultant to many food companies in Idaho and Colorado.

John has a Bachelor of Science Degree from the Colorado State University.

James Glancey

James Glancey has a B.S. in Business Administration from Lasalle College, Philadelphia, PA. Jim is the President of Wyoming Ethanol, LLC. His initial entry into the Ethanol industry was over 20 years ago as President and principal stock-holder of Ethanol Marketing, Inc., in Boise, Idaho for nine years.

Following that, in 1993 he consulted on the formation of Brimm Energy, Inc., and subsequently became the General Manager of the corporation based in Canada and operating in the Northwest U.S. States.

As the charter chairman of the Washington, D.C. based Clean Fuel Development Coalition, Jim helped promote the public use and understanding of Ethanol with the coalition of users and producers of Alternative fuels. All three major U.S. Auto manufacturers are member of this coalition.

Jim's broad business experience in the past included General Manager and National Purchasing Agent for Kaufman and Broad Home Systems and Purchasing Manager for General Electric.

Jim is a past member on the Board of Directors for EPAC.

Kim Penfold

Kim Penfold is an Energy Project Manager with the U.S. Department of Energy, Western Regional Office. In this capacity, she oversees the implementation of the Pacific Regional Biomass Energy Program, Clean Cities Program and the State Energy Program for the states of Idaho and Oregon. She has worked in energy efficiency and renewable energy programs in various capacities for the past ten years for the Seattle Regional Office. She has a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Saint Martin's College in Lacey, Washington.

Bob Dinneen

Bob Dinneen is President of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and has been with the RFA since 1988. Prior to becoming President in August of 2001, Bob was named Vice President in 2000. Bob first joined the RFA in 1988 as Legislative Director.

Bob worked in various positions for the U.S. Congress beginning in 1977. During his tenure on Capitol Hill, Bob was a Legislative Assistant to Representative Bob Torricelli (D-NJ) and did research for the House Committee on Education and Labor.

Bob graduated from the Catholic University of America with a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science in 1981.

At home on the farm, Bob and his wife Maureen, have three children that help with the chores to maintain an 800 square foot corn field in southern Maryland.

The RFA is the national trade association for the domestic Ethanol industry. The RFA membership includes a broad cross-section of Ethanol producers, marketers, engineers and equipment manufacturers, agricultural organizations and state agencies interested in the increased development and use of fuel Ethanol.

Howard Haines

Howard Haines has worked in an engineering capacity with energy-related projects over 29 years. He has worked for the Montana Department of Environmental Quality and its predecessors for over 22 years. Past projects include wood and waste conversion to Ethanol, wood-fired combined heat and power applications, development of a Montana-grown fuel safflower, development of fuel Ethanol plants and processes, fuel Ethanol and biodiesel markets including Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. Current efforts include the development of a biodiesel for fuel cell use and a project to use non-solid waste from fire hazard reduction treatments for fuel in small, geographically diverse thermal or combined heat-and-power applications.

Lou Summerfield

Lou Summerfield is the Facility Manager for Glacier National Park. Lou has over 20 years experience with the National Park Service. His assignments have take him to the Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain and the Guadalupe Mountains National Parks. Lou has a Degree in Agriculture Business Management from Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo.

Lou has been working to bring biofuels to Glacier National Park because "It is the right thing to do!"

Lou has been working to bring biofuels to Glacier National Park because "It is the right thing to do!"

Roger K. Conway

Roger is a native of Virginia and received his B.A. degree in Economics at The George Washington University, his M.A. in Economics at George Mason University, and his Ph.D. in Economics at The George Washington University.

He joined the Economic Research Service (ERS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1978 as an Agricultural Economist specializing in commodity modeling.

In 1985, Roger spent a year with the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce, as an Econometrician before returning to ERS to become Section Leader of the Productivity and Public Policy Section in the Resources and Technology Division. In that capacity, Roger led successful program initiatives to redesign the current USDA productivity indices, introduce important recent advances in agricultural production economics into the staff analysis and policy making process, and evaluate sustainable agricultural production practices. For his efforts with ERS, Roger has received four ERS Administrator Special Merit Awards.

Roger has published well over 20 refereed journal articles in such journals as the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, and Econometric Reviews.

Roger became Director of what is now called the Office of Energy Policy and New Uses (OEPNU) in 1990. He has served as the Department representative for such activities as the Department of Energy's (DOE) National Energy Strategy, DOE Oil and Gas Initiative and the White House Bioenergy Initiative. For his efforts as group leader, Roger was awarded the Department's highest honor in 1993, the Distinguished Service Award, for "Innovative interagency coordination to develop and implement the Secretary's initiative to enhance USDA's biofuels activities."

John P. Cherry

In October 1984, Dr. Cherry was appointed Director of the Eastern Regional Research Center (ERRC), ARS, USDA, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, an internationally recognized institute researching utilization of agricultural commodities for microbiologically and chemically safe foods, and food and non-food biobased products and processing technologies.

Dr. Cherry served as Associate Director of ERRC from October 1982, and before that he was at ARS Southern Regional Research Center (SRRC), New Orleans, Louisiana. There, since 1976, he was research leader/laboratory chief of the Protein Products Research/Oilseed and Food Laboratory.

Earlier, he held postdoctoral research associateships - one (1970) awarded by the National Research Council, and assigned to SRRC, and the other (1972) in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University. He was named assistant professor, Department of Food Science, University of Georgia Experiment Station, College of Agriculture, Griffin, Georgia, in 1973. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Genetics and Biochemistry from the University of Arizona in 1970, and West Virginia University in 1966, respectively. He has a B.S. degree in Biology from Furman University.

His expertise is broad including microbial and chemical food safety, food science and non-food biobased and biofuels processing and products technologies based on his years of scientific and administrative leadership at ERRC. He has authored and co-authored over 140 publications, including 30 book chapters; made over 140 presentations, with abstracts, at scientific and related meetings; and has edited three books on protein chemistry and functionality. He has visited over 35 nations reviewing and developing research projects and programs. As an active member of the IFT, ACS and AOCS, he has organized and chaired numerous symposia and workshops and is Editor-in-Chief of the JAOCS. Included among Dr. Cherry's numerous recognitions are two, 1992 and 2001, Presidential Rank Awards, as Meritorious Executive "For Outstanding Management and Commendable Research Contributions," of which he is especially proud.

Joe Jobe

Joe Jobe is the Executive Director for the National Biodiesel Board (NBB). NBB is the national trade association representing the biodiesel industry as the coordinating body for biodiesel research and development in the U.S. Its members include feedstock producers and processors, soybean commodity boards, biodiesel suppliers, and fuel marketers and distributors.

Joe has been with NBB since 1997, and has served as executive director since January 1999. Joe serves as the principle investigator for the $2.2 million biodiesel health effects testing program.

Joe became interested in agricultural, environmental, and energy issues, growing up on a farm in central Missouri. Prior to working for NBB, Joe was a fraud investigator for the Missouri Attorney General's Office. Prior to that he worked as a Certified Public Accountant.

Larry Johnson

Larry Johnson of Cologne, MN is a Business Development Specialist in the fuel Ethanol market for Delta-T Corporation. In addition to the general promotion of the company's products and services, Johnson participates in strategic marketing and market research for Delta-T.

Actively involved with the Ethanol Industry since the early 1980's, Johnson has operated a successful consulting business since 1985. He is widely known as "The Ethanol Answer Man", and is credited by many as the originator of the initiative that produced a 97% market penetration for Ethanol and 14 Minnesota Ethanol processing facilities.

Through the years Johnson has made major contributions to changing public attitudes about Ethanol. In 1986 he was appointed by then Secretary of Agriculture, Richard Lyng, to a panel to produce a study for Congress called "The Cost Effectiveness of Fuel Ethanol", that remains a bench-mark for industry analysis. In 1988 he co-founded the Small Engine Environmental Consortium (SEEC) to promote the use of Ethanol blends in off-road engines.

Mike Derickson

Mike grew up in northeast Indiana and attended the University of Minnesota. He graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Ag Economics. In 1977 he began his career in petroleum as a Research Analyst with the Minnesota Department of Energy and Economic Development. One of his first work assignments was allocating gasoline and diesel fuel under Federal Price and Allocation Controls. Since 1985 he has worked in several Sales and Marketing positions for CHS, a diversified Fortune 500 company in the energy and foods business with energy products marketed under the Cenex brand. Today as Manager of Refined Fuels Marketing and Operations he is responsible for all wholesale programs including pricing and operations.

In 1982, while working for the State of Minnesota, he worked on the original inter-department team that introduced Ethanol/gasoline blends. This included Departments of Administration, Revenue, Transportation, Public Service and Energy. He worked closely with the local marketers, refiners and pipelines in creating awareness and developing a fuel directory for state owned vehicles that later was expanded for all Minnesota users. Today Minnesota is a 12-month a year oxygenated state.

Some notable changes in his 27 years in petroleum have been the increase in the number of refined fuel products, which has increased from 6 to 136, the conversion of leaded gasoline to unleaded over a twenty year period from 1973 to 1993, and experiencing the challenges of the original energy crisis of the late 1970's , the first Gulf War in 1991 and the second in 2003.

Today we continue to face both challenges and oppor-tunities in petroleum. These include marketing with additional government regulation, market maturity and market volatility.

He is married and lives in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. He enjoys reading historical biographies, anything basketball and is a private pilot.

Jim Evanoff

Jim has been with the National Park Service for the past 20 years. His career has involved working in four other National Parks before coming to Yellowstone in 1988. Starting in Curecanti National Recreation area, Colorado, Jim was instrumental in developing the infrastructure for this newly acquired Park unit. Next he moved to Grand Teton National Park and after working there for 3 years, transferred to Arches National Park in southern Utah. The next move was to Mt. Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota, where his responsibilities included the maintenance of the famous four faces. Currently in Yellowstone, Jim is a management assistant to the Chief of Maintenance. His work experiences have varied from assisting in wolf reintroduction to spearheading many of the Park's "greening initiatives". He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin.

Ethanol Production Record Set In February

The U.S. Ethanol industry set an all-time monthly production record in February of 212,000 barrels per day (b/d), according to data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The previous all-time record was 211,000 b/d set the prior month. Production was up 25 percent compared to last February.

Sioux River Ethanol Begins Production
Sioux River Ethanol, LLC recently began production at its Ethanol plant near Hudson, South Dakota. The 45 million gallon per year (mgy) plant is the 76th Ethanol plant operating in the U.S.

Sioux River Ethanol General Manager Joel Jarman stated: "There are so many ways this plant will help the rural economy it's hard to count them all. The community will benefit from dozens of good paying jobs; Hudson and the local area will benefit from millions of dollars in economic activity and farmers will benefit from the increased corn prices. It's a win-win-win situation."

Sioux River Ethanol, LLC will process over 16 million bushels of corn into 45 million gallons of Ethanol and 135,000 tons of distillers grains annually.

Voyager Ethanol Begins Construction In Iowa

Voyager Ethanol, LLC recently began construction on its Ethanol plant near Emmetsburg, Iowa.

Voyager Ethanol, LLC will process over 17.5 million bushels of corn into 50 million gallons of Ethanol and 150,000 tons of distillers grains annually. Once operational in the summer of 2005, the plant is expected to employ approx-imately 40 people.

Both plants contracted design/build services from Broin Companies of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. "These regions are going to see tremendous economic benefits," said Jeff Broin, CEO of the Broin Companies. "We are excited about the continued growth in the Ethanol industry and we're pleased to be creating a new market for corn producers. These plants will be a win for everyone involved by providing a number of quality jobs and by impacting the local economies with millions of dollars each year."

Ethanol Industry Continues Expansion

. . . from Renewable Fuels Association Newsletter
The Ethanol industry continues to grow in response to record demand. The Ethanol industry is expected to produce more than 3.3 billion gallons in 2004, up from 2.81 billion gallons in 2003. Currently, 76 Ethanol plants have the capacity to produce more than 3.25 billion gallons annually. Thirteen additional plants under construction will add 500 million gallons of annual production capacity.

USDA Works On New Use For DDGS

A fungus may hold the key to unlocking new, value-added uses for corn fiber and distiller's dry grains with solubles (DDGS), the "leftovers" of making Ethanol. That's the hope of Agricultural Research Service scientists, who modified the fungus Fusarium sporotrichioides with genes for making lycopene and other carotenoids.

Lycopene, a pigment that makes tomatoes red, is considered a "nutraceutical" for its purported health benefits. Some research suggests lycopene helps prevent certain cancers in people who routinely consume foods containing the carotenoid.

In the modified fungus, geneticist Timothy Leathers sees a potential way to mass-produce lycopene from Ethanol co-products like corn fiber rather than extract and purify the carotenoid from tomatoes. Corn fiber is ideal because it's abundant and costs about five cents a pound. The U.S. Ethanol industry generates four million tons of the fiber annually and sells it as livestock feed to avoid disposal fees. The same applies for DDGS, notes Leathers, at the ARS center's Fermentation Biotechnology Research Unit.

[The above was excerpted from the USDA's Agricultural Research Service web story by Jan Suszkiw.]

Otter Creek Ethanol Begins Production

Otter Creek Ethanol, LLC recently began production at its Ethanol plant near Ashton, Iowa. The 45 million gallon per year (mgy) plant is the 75th Ethanol plant operating in the US.

Otter Creek Ethanol General Manager Dean Van Riesen said: "The cooperation from Osceola County and the entire region has been phenomenal. Everyone at Otter Creek is looking forward to creating a positive economic impact on the community and providing an alternative marketing strategy for area corn producers.

Built by Broin Companies of Sioux Falls, SD, Otter Creek Ethanol, LLC will process over 16 million bushels of corn into 45 million gallons of Ethanol and 135,000 tons of distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) annually.

National Research Initiative (NRI) Competitive Grants Program

. . . from the biobased fuels, power and products newsletter

The USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service requests proposals for the National Research Initiative (NRI) Competitive Grants Program. The purpose of the NRI Program is to support research, extension, and education grants that address key problems of national, regional, and multi-state importance in sustaining all components of agriculture (farming, ranching, forestry including urban and agroforestry, aquaculture, rural communities, human nutrition, processing, etc.). Over 30 areas of interest have been identified, including but not limited to: Biobased products and bioenergy, managed ecosystems, watershed processes & water resources, rural development, and air quality. Contact your state USDA offices for more details.

EPAC (Ethanol Producers And Consumers) organized as a non-profit organization in 1991, with a thirteen person Board of Directors to oversee and guide activities. Membership includes individuals, businesses and organizations in over 26 states and 3 foreign countries.

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