Midwest BioFuels

I don’t plan on adding posts to this blog on a regular basis anymore, but I will leave it up for demonstrative purposes.

Pacific ethanol said today it would halt construction on another plant, the latest in a string of such suspensions. This time, the plant is in California. Pacific ethanol said it would stick to its initial production forecast of 220 million gallons for 2008 despite the closing. Pacific Ethanol stock had been making a comeback in the last month, but we’ll see how the market handles news of this latest closing.

An AP article in the Chicago Tribune decries the ethanol industry as being hostile to investors. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Just a few months ago, Newman said, those who had invested in ethanol “made nothing but money.” But the boom is over, profits have faded, and ethanol isn’t the moneymaker it was. Many potential investors are looking elsewhere.

A quick check of google finance shows that VeraSun, Pacific Ethanol and Aventine stocks are all way down compared with one year ago, but have been on the rebound in the past month.

There’s a lot of videos on YouTube on biofuels; a quick search turned up the following video:

It’s a pretty good summary of one point of view on corn ethanol, from what seems like a reputable source. I’ll have to look at some of the other videos to see if they’re worthwhile. Read the comments at your own expense. They can give you a pretty dim view of humanity.

The House is expected to pass an energy bill today that includes mandates for renewable fuels that require:

• Blending 36 million gallons of renewable fuels such as ethanol with gasoline by 2022
• 15 percent of electricity provided by utilities to come from renewable sources such as wind or solar

The bill also includes an mandatory increase of the average fuel efficiency for cars to 35 miles per gallon by 2020, the first such increase in 32 years.

President Bush is expected to veto the bill should it reach his desk because of complaints raised by the auto and utility industries.