On Wednesday, April 28, 2004, a truck came into RIVERLAND FS, Stronghurst driven by Doug Shaw, Vermont, as he delivered the first load of ethanol into the county from the BIG RIVER RESOURCES COOPERATIVE, West Burlington, IA.
The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
By Bonnie Johnson and Dessa Rodeffer - The Quill
On Wednesday, April 28, 2004, a truck came into RIVERLAND FS, Stronghurst driven by Doug Shaw, Vermont, as he delivered the first load of ethanol into the county from the BIG RIVER RESOURCES COOPERATIVE, West Burlington, IA.
This delivery was quite an occasion for the county because of the impact this new venture of producing ethanol could have on the area's economy.
According to Dennis Brown an Energy/Safety Manger from RIVERLAND FS's Knoxville office, "This day has been in the making for several years." Half of the tanker's load of ethanol went to RIVERLAND FS in Monmouth.
The other half came to their Stronghurst FS location.
Dennis was enthusiastic about the fact that local farmers can sell their corn to the West Burlington, IA ethanol plant and in turn the ethanol will be brought back to the area for sale.
Mark Parrish, manager of the Stronghurst location and Chris Cook, manager of the Stronghurst store, were on hand to observe the historic unloading of the first batch of the locally produced ethanol into the Stronghurst Riverland FS underground tanks.
Parrish said the price of ethanol will not go down here just because the plant is close. He said that Ethanol demand has increased due to the demand increase after the new air quality regulation laws were passed on the east and west coast a couple of years ago. This resulted in most all of the Ethanol going to the coasts.
"Our prices will follow the cost of gasoline," Parrish said, "which is the result of supply and demand, and the Commodity Markets in New York."
That may not be low anytime soon with today's report of crude oil trading near a 13-year high after prices of gasoline in the U.S. surged fearing a shortage during peak demands. This will start later, in May when vacationers begin travel and will go thru the Labor Day holiday in September.
The U.S. Department of Energy said last month that Futures, which reflect wholesale prices, have risen 38 percent this year and 12 percent the past seven days.
RIVERLAND FS Dennis Brown, Energy/Safety Manager, Chris Cook, Store Manager, Doug Shaw-transport, and Mark Parrish, Site Manager witness the first load of locally produced Ethanol in Henderson County.