12/26/06 Iogen cellulosic ethanol update

Farm and Ranch December 26, 2006 Iogen Corporation is still hoping to break ground on a cellulosic ethanol plant in southern Idaho next year. Maurice Hladik, Marketing Director for Iogen Energy, provided this status report at the recent Pacific Northwest Grains Conference. Hladik: "Well, we are quite far advanced both in Idaho and in Saskatchewan that we have options on sufficient straw. We've got options on land. We've got our investors lined up, Shell and Goldman-Sachs. We've got our materials sold both to Shell for the ethanol and probably Simplot for the fertilizer. The only thing missing is, the huge thing that is missing is a loan guarantee with the U.S. government, which is coming along but is very slow. That is the only part of the project that is not in place." Hladik says at 60 dollar a barrel crude oil a farmer would be paid 15 dollars a ton for his straw laying in the windrow before baling. Iogen's planned Idaho facility would be south of Idaho Falls and draw straw from within about sixty miles. He sees other opportunities in the northwest. Hladik: "In the area where kind of Idaho, Washington and Oregon meet is a very good area that may be sufficient for up to three ceullulosic ethanol plants." The Omnibus Tax bill Congress passed December 8th included a new incentive for ethanol plants which utilize cellulosic feedstocks. New cellulosic ethanol facilities placed into service prior to January 1st of 2013 will receive a provision for a 50 percent accelerated depreciation allowance. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.