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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 12, 2006
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Scott Kleeb Completes "Energy Independence Tour"

Kearney, Neb. – Congressional candidate Scott Kleeb completed a four-day “Energy Independence Tour” Thursday by meeting with the staff of the Sutherland ethanol plant and sitting down with Kimball Mayor Greg Robinson to discuss that town’s successful wind turbine development.

This week, Scott has toured ethanol plants in Columbus, Central City, Lexington and Sutherland. Nebraska’s ethanol output in expected to more than double in the next five years, and each one of the plants Scott toured is slated for a major expansion. The Columbus plant will increase its production from 90 billion gallons a year to 275 million. The Lexington plant will increase production from 40 million gallons a year to 300 million.

“The ethanol industry has made spectacular progress in the last 10 years,” Kleeb said Thursday. “The Lexington plant today uses just 22,000 units of energy (BTUs) to produce 85,000 units of energy. That is a very significant net energy gain for our country. And it came from investing in our farmers and our rural communities right here in Nebraska, instead of shipping billions of dollars to the middle east to maintain the flow of oil.

“Energy independence starts right here in Nebraska,” Scott added. “Experts predict that we can produce enough ethanol to make up 30 percent of our fuel consumption in the next 20 years. That will reduce our reliance on foreign oil, stabilize fuels prices, and bring quality jobs and investment to the third district of Nebraska.”

“But this country has to make a commitment to the alternative fuels if this incredible potential is going to be realized. We have to invest in the future of energy, instead of the past.”

During his tour, Scott also learned about many possible spin-off business opportunities using ethanol production byproducts. Most people are familiar with the high quality cattle feed that comes in the form of distillers grain. But increasingly ethanol plants are drying the byproduct from production so it can be used as an ingredient in fertilizer, or as food for poultry and perhaps even a shrimp farm.

The growth of the ethanol industry is also having a growing positive impact on the farm economy. The Central City plant has nearly completed an expansion from 50 million a year to 100 million. The expansion increased the plant’s corn consumption from 15 million bushels a year to 30 million. Because Merrick County only produces around 20 million bushels of corn a year, the plant will actually begin importing corn from surrounding counties this fall.

Plant managers and ethanol experts told Scott this is part of a trend that could see more and more American corn consumed domestically for ethanol production, instead of being exported to the international markets. Experts also said the price of corn has begun to creep up as a result of the growing demand from the ethanol industry, a trend that should accelerate in the years to come, increasing the profits that are returned to Nebraska’s producers.

Scott Kleeb (pronounced ‘KLEB’) is a fourth generation Nebraskan who has spent the last seven years working on a cattle ranch near Broken Bow and studying ranching. He is convinced that the policies coming out of Washington, D.C. are making it harder for rural towns to thrive and is calling for changes in farm, energy and health care policies