DORGAN SAYS NEW HANKINSON ETHANOL PLANT ILLUSTRATES EXACTLY HOW ENERGY BILL INCENTIVES WERE DESIGNED TO WORK

Senator says federal energy bill requires use of 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol annually

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

(WASHINGTON, DC) --- U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND), a member of the Senate Energy Committee who helped write the ethanol incentive in the federal energy bill, issued the following statement today on the announcement that Gold Energy LLC and U.S. BioEnergy Corp. will build North Dakota’s largest ethanol plant in Hankinson, North Dakota. The text of Dorgan’s statement follows:

TEXT OF STATEMENT BY U.S. SENATOR BYRON DORGAN

March 15, 2006

The new Hankinson ethanol plant is exactly what we in Congress aimed for when we wrote the federal energy bill last year, and I congratulate those who plan to build this plant. I am a member of the committee that wrote that bill, and am proud to have included the provision known as the “Renewable Fuels Standard,” which requires refiners to produce and use at least 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol in their gasoline blends annually by 2012. The U.S. will produce more than 4.5 billion gallons of ethanol this year.

The ethanol provision created an incentive for companies like Gold Star and U.S. BioEnergy to expand ethanol development, and look for new opportunities in places like Hankinson, North Dakota by ensuring a market for renewable fuels. Building new ethanol plants in our state creates opportunities for both farmers and workers. It creates new markets for agricultural products and new jobs in areas where ethanol plants are built. That’s what is happening today, and I couldn’t be happier about that.

Today is just the start of an effort to tap into those incentives for ethanol and bio-fuels development in the energy bill. The requirement will add substantial value to North Dakota’s grains and encourage new development—and well-paying jobs—in North Dakota’s ethanol and biodiesel industries.

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