Where

we live
Inside Sports
Thursday, November 1, 2007 theadvertiser.com 50 cents ★

Rivalry fans flames that many have waited for

Reviled Saban LSU vs. all season.
Alabama This week, it’s all about
now the object 4 p.m. LSU vs. Nick Saban, a
coach who led the Tigers to a
Saturday
of LSU fans’ ire CBS (Cox 11)
national championship in 2003
and then deserted them for the
lure of the NFL to coach the
Advertiser file photo/Brad Kemp Mike Hasten
mhasten@gannett.com
INSIDE TODAY Miami Dolphins. LSU fans
cheered when the Dolphins lost.
Saints-Jags features ■ Perrilloux won’t play, Page 1D
Then Saban, often referred
■ Doucet at full speed, Page 1D
clash of strengths BATON ROUGE — The to in Tiger Country as Nick
Sean Payton’s surging election of Bobby Jindal as Satan, did the unforgivable. He
Saints squad faces a big test Alabama coach Louisiana’s next governor has “Beat ’Bama.” signed a contract to coach the LSU coach
taken a back seat in the Capital On Saturday, the LSU Tigers
in the trenches Sunday
against Jack Del Rio’s formi- Nick Saban City to a much deeper issue — will play Alabama, a contest See RIVALRY on Page 4A Les Miles
dable Jaguars. Page 1D
Saints players weigh in on
Sunday’s Patriots-Colts show-
down. Page 3D UL System
Follow the Saints through-
out the season with updates,
fan chat and photo galleries at
theadvertiser.com/saints. Program
Ethanol grows up targets
Only on the Web
Don’t miss our top 10
videos, photo galleries
From video of the Jena Six
protest at the federal court- low grad
numbers
house and L’s Best Dressed
Ball to photo galleries of
Festivals Acadiens and Bark
in the Park, see what events
Past failures
made the news in October at
theadvertiser.com. cast shadow Lower-income
Find spooktacular over future students have
photo galleries online
Catch all the Halloween of biofuel more obstacles
fun in Photo Galleries.
Bob Moser Marsha Sills
For these features bmoser@theadvertiser.com msills@theadvertiser.com
and more, go to
theadvertiser.com.

I
t was 1986, and
174,695 Louisiana’s
page views yesterday ethanol future
looked bright.
We made
Growth & Business ethanol with sug-
arcane molasses —
Rayne water park 32 million gallons
worth — and
clears funding hurdle mixed it to make
An OK from the State 319 million gallons of
Bond Commission paves the “gasohol,” more than any
way for developers to pro- year before. The state was
ceed with plans for a new expected to lead the
water park and entertain- nation’s budding ethanol
ment complex in Acadia industry.
Parish. Page 1B Burned by the world oil
crunch in the 1970s, the
In the forecast United States
gave tax
breaks to an
High: 80 Low: 55 ethanol
industry in
its infancy,
hoping to
eliminate the
country’s Theriot
reliance on foreign oil.
Farmers considered it a
saving grace, and six
plants across the state
were planned to turn corn
and cane into fuel. Up to 18
Jasmine Hebert more were expected with-
in the decade.
A full day of sunshine with But that was then.
patchy clouds by evening. In the long run,
See more on Page 6D or Louisiana and the nation
began backing away from
go to theadvertiser.com.
the promise of renewable
fuels as soon as oil got
GetPublished cheaper — and let a wob-
The UL System is one of 19
across the country that has
pledged to close the graduation
gap that exists between low-
income and minority students
and their white peers.
The initiative — Access to
Success — is a
partnership
between the
N a t i o n a l
Association of
System Heads
and The
Education Trust,
a national non- Clausen
profit.
Because numbers show that
graduation rates among low-
income and minority students
have not kept pace with the col-
lege-going rates for those
groups of students, at least 19
system heads, including
University of Louisiana
System President Sally
Clausen, have signed on to the
initiative.
It means they’ll be measur-
ing their progress and report-
ing some information that has
never been made public before
— like the progress of their
low-income students.
The graduation rate of
black students is nearly half
that of white students, and
Latino students graduate at a
P.C. Piazza/ppiazza@theadvertiser.com
rate that’s nearly a third of the
The rusted remains of an ethanol plant outside Jeanerette on U.S. Route 90 cast a haunting reminder white student population, said
of Louisiana’s burgeoning hopes for producing biofuel from sugar cane. NASH President
Meredith, who also leads the
Tom

ETHANOL:
Share your news, bly-kneed ethanol industry Mississippi Institutions of
fall before it could find its Higher Learning.
photos and events legs. Louisiana erased its The graduation rates of
E-mail: news@theadvertiser.com subsidies in 1989 that con- WHY DID IT FAIL? low-income students are esti-
Call: 289-NEWS vinced investors to roll the mated to be even dimmer.
Fax: 289-6443 dice, and the state’s More than 160 “Students from high-income
Mail: 1100 Bertrand Drive ethanol future was gone. ethanol plants were families are eight times more
Lafayette, LA 70506 Now, the U.S. is back to open around the coun- likely to earn a college degree,”
See ETHANOL on Page 6A
try by the mid-1980s. In Meredith said.
Inside today 1982, 9,000 gas stations The initiative’s goal is to cut
Accent 1C Nation &
6C World 6B
FOLLOW in the U.S. had sold 234
million gallons of gaso-
the graduation gap in half by
2015.
Those goals complement
THIS SERIES
Classified
hol (gasoline with a 10
5C Obituaries 8A the UL System’s existing aspi-
Comics percent ethanol mix). rations to improve its gradua-
Growth & On TV 4C ■ Today: Louisiana’s But oil prices fell tion rates — but sooner, by
Business 1B Opinions 4B-5B ethanol past quickly by 1986 and 2012.
Lottery 3A Puzzles 4C ■ Friday: U.S. sugar struggles; ethanol producers were Claudia B. Laws/claws@theadvertiser.com During a conference call
Brazil succeeds
Movies 2C Sports 1D ■ Saturday: Brazil’s ethanol
knocked flat. Later that Lafayette resident Dailey Berard led the investment team for announcing the NASH and
economy year, only 74 of 163 Agrifuels ethanol plant and wastewater treatment facility in New See PROGRAM on Page 4A

  "6 ■ Sunday: Louisiana’s

ethanol future
ethanol mills in the U.S.
were still open.
Iberia in the 1980s. The mill, seen in the photo Berard is holding,
opened in 1986 and ran for one day before closing forever.
Inside today
Find out what steps UL has
A Gannett Newspaper • Go to theadvertiser.com/ethanol for photos and more information • taken to help low-income and
minority student graduation
Lafayette, Louisiana
Copyright 2007 and retention rates. Page 4A

t h e a d v e r t i s e r. c o m : W e a t h e r * J o b s * C a r s * H o m e s * S h o p p i n g * C l a s s i f i e d s
6A • The Advertiser theadvertiser.com Thursday, Nov. 1, 2007

the DOE used $1 billion in operating then qualified for

Continued from Page 1A loan guarantees to finance $66 million, and if all the mills
three major U.S. ethanol certified at that time were pro-

Ethanol plants — one of which was in

square one, importing 65 per-
cent of its oil from foreign
sources, a supply that grows
more expensive each day.
Meanwhile, Brazil, which
stuck to its 1970s plan to create
an ethanol industry, no longer
needs foreign oil.
Led by the success of
Midwestern corn farmers, the
U.S. is moving toward ethanol
again.
Louisiana, too, sees the pos-
sibility of restarting a biofuels
industry, but the state must
avoid mistakes of the past.
Ethanol to the rescue
Decades ago, ethanol was
embraced in Louisiana to save
the struggling sugarcane
industry.
By the late 1970s, the price
of world sugar was declining,
local farmers lost their profit
margins and five sugar mills
closed in South Louisiana,
said Jason Theriot, a native of
New Iberia and doctoral candi-
date at the University of
Houston specializing in ener-
gy and environmental history.
“Saving sugar cane was
goal No. 1,” he said. “If it
helped the nation reduce oil
imports, that, as we say, was
lagniappe.”
The state Legislature
passed several laws in 1979 to
kick-start a program mixing
10 percent ethanol into gaso-
line. Louisiana’s 8 cent motor
fuel tax was erased for gaso-
hol, and with the federal 4 cent
tax exemption, as well, nine
companies announced
Louisiana ethanol plans.
The subsidy package alone
was enough to attract private
investors to ethanol, Theriot
said. Louisiana’s gasohol tax
exemption in 1985 was $28 mil-
lion, the largest exemption in
the U.S.
Louisiana ethanol plants
first ran in 1985, and cane
molasses, a byproduct of the
normal sugar extraction, was
The Agrifuels ethanol plant and wastewater treatment facility in New Iberia opened in 1986 and ran for one day
before closing forever.
SPECIAL REPORT ON ETHANOL IN SATURDAY’S EDITION
theadvertiser.com/ethanol.
the only feedstock used.
Cane farmers reaped a $5.3
million increase in the price of
molasses, according to reports
from the Louisiana
Department of Natural
Resources. The budding gaso-
New Iberia.
Built in 1986, the $107 mil-
lion Agrifuels Iberia Parish
Ethanol Plant was 10 years in
the making by local oilfield
fabricator Dailey Berard and a
team of investors.
It was considered a cutting-
edge project on the national
level, would produce 100,000
gallons of ethanol per day for
Louisiana, and would change
regional cane farming forever.
Three other Agrifuels plants
were proposed for the state,
pending success of the first.
“For years farmers had
been using bagasse (a fibrous
pulp leftover from cane after
sugar extraction) to make
things like paper, building
materials, animal feed and
even oilfield mud products,”
Theriot said. “Agrifuels’ plan
was to use bagasse to run the
Photo courtesy of Dailey Berard
refinery. It would use no natu-
ral gas, no petroleum ...
Agrifuels in New Iberia was 20
years ahead of its time.”
A dozen or so sugar mills
and 200 local cane farmers
were on board to provide the
molasses and grow sweet
The Daily Advertiser’s
sorghum, a crop with high
Bob Moser takes a look sugar content that takes one-
at how investment in third the time to grow as
cane, could be planted dur-
ethanol has paid off for
ing fallow months and har-
Brazil and what lessons vested with a farmer’s same
that success holds for cane equipment.
But a day after the plant
our local economy.
turned on its lights the state
cut its tax incentive — the
same incentive that other fin-
anciers banked on when devel-
oping their plans for
For more on Louisiana ethanol. Agrifuels
information couldn’t produce a drop.
on ethanol, go to
A bitter end
Danny Viator, a Youngsville
cane farmer, planted sorghum
the season leading up to
hol industry created 178 new Squeezed by a Middle Agrifuel’s opening, and
remembers the excitement
jobs that year. Eastern oil embargo in 1973
over a crop that could keep
and a national recession,
Part of a national plan President Jimmy Carter creat-
cane land profitable year-round.
When Agrifuels closed, farm-
The industry was also ed the Department of Energy
ers involved felt hung out to dry.
helped by a major infusion of in 1977 to find an alternative “At the end of the day we
federal dollars. energy solution. To do that, were worried if we’d even get
paid,” Viator said. “I think we
covered our expenses and
made a few dollars.”
The smaller federal tax break
was maintained for gasohol. It
was the state, Berard said, that
set itself and nine completed
ethanol plants up for failure.
ducing ethanol
at full capacity,
they’d have need-
ed $217 million.
There was never
enough money in
the pot.
Oil prices
Thibodeaux
started declining
in 1982, and when it hit $10 per
barrel in mid-1986 national
refiners no longer needed to
cut gasoline with ethanol
because it was cheap enough
again on its own.
Learning from mistakes
Ethanol’s current revival
has a better shot on the
national and local level this
time because of environmen-
tal mandates, dwindling oil
discoveries and more private
investment.
In 1999, some states began
banning MTBE, a petroleum-
based additive in gasoline,
after the toxic substance
showed up in drinking water.
The Environmental Protection
Agency recommended it be
banned nationally in 2000, and
now about 25 states are doing
so, with more to follow. It’s
allowing ethanol demand to
grow about 50 percent just to
fill MTBE’s role as an octane
booster.
Louisiana’s Legislature
passed a law in 2006 mandat-
ing a 2 percent mix of ethanol
and biodiesel in fuels sold in
the state, once Louisiana
plants start producing a mini-
mum amount of green fuel.
New oil discoveries world-
wide are projected by many to
peak around 2037 and not
rebound again. The 1980s
showed that ethanol needs a
consistently high oil price to
stabilize and become competi-
tive, Theriot said.
And for Louisiana cane
farmers and sugar mill opera-
tors to jump in again, they
may need some incentive to
sell molasses for local ethanol
instead of its other markets
like animal feed, which cur-
rently pay more.
Tommy Thibodeaux, gener-
al manager of the Cajun
Sugar Cooperative sugar mill
in New Iberia, pumps extra
vitamins into his potassium-
rich molasses and gets 51 cents
per gallon to feed cattle in the
Midwest.
It’ll be hard for the

25 Years of Partnering With Medical Former Gov. Edwin

Edwards doubled the state tax
exemption from eight cents to
Providers to Make Acadiana Healthier! 16 cents in 1984 to speed up the
ethanol mill infrastructure.
It was far more than
investors needed, Berard said.
Rumors still are whispered
today of Edwards’ personal
profit through oil refineries
that got the tax break.
“I didn’t then, and don’t
now, trust Louisiana govern-
ment as far as I can throw
them,” he said.
A Department of Natural
Resources report estimated
Louisiana lost $9.6 million in
1985 with the gasohol subsidy.
The Legislature also only
appropriated $52 million for
subsidies in 1986-87. The mills
Lacassine Ethanol Plant,
which should start construc-
tion this summer and be run-
ning by October 2008, to match
that price for molasses, he said.
But Thibodeaux believed in
ethanol’s purpose as he
watched Agrifuels New Iberia
be built in the 1980s, and said
it’s even more important now
for the U.S. to get off foreign oil
and help sugar cane farmers
survive long-term. He’d sell at
least 20 percent of his molasses
at a lower price to help an
ethanol plant establish itself.
“It’ll have to be proven, and
then we’ll be involved for
sure,” he said. “We’ll have to
be, because our survival will
be in biofuels — it just depends
on who can last until then.”

One of the country’s premier professional engineering corporations, Associated Design Group, Inc., is
celebrating 25 years of partnering with local providers to provide excellence in healthcare in Acadiana –
and we’d like to thank these organizations for their confidence in our capabilities.

Over the past quarter century, we were fortunate enough to provide mechanical and electrical
engineering solutions to some of the most prestigious hospitals in our area, including Lafayette General
Medical Center, Opelousas General Health System and Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center.

Beginning in 1981, we worked on over 250 different projects with Lafayette General Medical Center.
Some of these projects include the $18 million Pavilion for Women and Children, additions and
renovations to the emergency power distribution systems, fire alarm and extinguishing systems, the
addition and renovation of the Emergency Department, Heart Catheterization Lab, patient floors and
elevator towers, Radiology and BRACC imaging units.

At Opelousas General Health System, we partnered on over 120 projects, including the new $26 million
Emergency Department and Medical Office Building. Since 1981, we helped with the engineering of a
three-story professional building, implemented energy conservation system improvements, redesigned
the air conditioning system of the hospital’s operating rooms, and multiple other expansion and
renovation projects, including a new parking garage.

We are excited to be asked to work on over 250 projects with Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical
Center. Some of the work included additions and renovations to the St. Mary’s Office Building, the
Fitzsimmons Building, hospital surgical suites, Human Resources offices and a new facility maintenance
building. We have been involved in master planning efforts throughout the campus involving repairs
and upgrades to the primary heating and cooling systems and central plant operations.

The management and employees of Associated Design Group, Inc. enjoy the opportunity to work with
these great facilities and we look forward to continuing our work with these premier healthcare
providers for the next quarter century.

SUPPORT ACADIANA HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS Advertiser file photo/Claudia B. Laws

LAFAYETTE OFFICE 114 Toledo Dr. | Lafayette, LA 70506 | P: 337-234-5710
THAT SUPPORT ACADIANA COMPANIES. F: 337-237-1467 | adginc.org | adginc@adginc.org
Youngsville farmer Daniel Viator grew sorghum many years ago leading up to
the Agrifuels opening. He now grows sugar cane.
 Where
we live
Inside Sports
Friday, November 2, 2007 theadvertiser.com 50 cents ★

John Rowland/The Advertiser

District log jam muddles
prep playoff scenarios
Prep editor Kevin Foote
peers deep into his crystal
ball to untangle the possibili-
ties of the high school football
postseason. Page 1D
New construction up $176M
Higher costs
contribute to
$494M total
Bob Moser
bmoser@theadvertiser.com
The 2006-07 fiscal year
ended this week, and new con-
struction in Lafayette didn’t
just break previous records, it
shattered them.
The year-end total is about
$494 million, more than $176
incentives, and the rapid
growth Lafayette has experi- Apartments top list of Lafayette building projects
million higher than last year, enced following hurricanes
according
information from
to Katrina and Rita.
“With construction projects
The top-five commercial
projects are apartment com-
will add 1,424 units to
Lafayette’s tight apartment
plexes and two other apart- market (more than 95 percent
L a f a y e t t e
E c o n o m i c
spread across the parish,
everyone stands to benefit ment projects are in the top
10. These seven projects
occupancy).
Development from this growth,” said Gregg SOURCE: Lafayette Economic
Authority and Gothreaux, LEDA president alone total $82 million and Development Authority
L a f a y e t t e and CEO, in a news statement
Consolidated Thursday. “You can’t go far parish as businesses rush to be valuations, but an increase
Government. Gothreaux without seeing a construction
in service by the December in the number of permits
Residential and commercial site, and with one year left to 2008 deadline.” issued for new residential
developers are said to be focus- qualify for GO Zone incen- Higher costs for building and commercial projects are a
ing on the Acadiana region to tives, you are seeing a flurry of materials have contributed part of the $176 million
take advantage of GO Zone construction activity in the to the higher construction increase.

Advertiser file photo/Leslie Westbrook

Watch ‘Inside Prep’ video

with Kevin and Brady
Kevin Foote and Brady Brazilian model for success offers hope for La. farmers When: 4 p.m. Saturday
Aymond preview tonight’s TV: CBS (Cox cable 11)

A strategy for survival

matchups in our online-exclu-
sive video, Inside Prep Football,
at theadvertiser.com. INSIDE SPORTS
Saban makes impact, Page 1D
Don’t miss this Follow LSU throughout the
season at theadvertiser.
Voting ends Monday for com/tigerfootball. Find
December’s Cover Cutie updates, stats and fan chat.
Time is running out to
vote for your favorite Cover
Cutie at AcadianaMoms.
com. Follow
the “Cover
Cutie” link
Saban
defends
and vote as
often as
you’d like for
who you’d like to see on

strange
the December cover of
Acadiana Moms magazine.
Plan your weekend fun
with Weekend Accent
From the Blackpot Festival
at Acadian Village to La Belle
Journée Historic Festival
journey
downtown, new movies and
DVDs, and an interview with Alabama coach
the globetrotting Terrance
Simien, Weekend Accent’s tries to stay
got you covered. Page 1C

178,931
Photos by P.C. Piazza/ppiazza@theadvertiser.com
Early risers on the Duplantis family farm toil under the watercolor skies of a South Louisiana morning during a recent sugarcane harvest. With
above the fray
page views yesterday Mexican sugar tariffs set to expire in January, some Louisiana sugarcane farmers believe that diversification of U.S. sugar production — Glenn Guilbeau
geared toward food and fuel — will be the only way to ensure the industry’s survival. gguilbeau@gannett.com
In the forecast
High: 76 Low: 52 Farmers want FOLLOW TUSCALOOSA, Ala. —
Maybe everything that is hap-

game plan for THIS SERIES
diversification ■Brazil
Today: U.S. sugar struggles;
succeeds
Bob Moser
bmoser@theadvertiser.com
fter four years of
pening this week has just been
too much for Alabama coach
Nick Saban to take.
His former school — that
would be LSU — arrives in
■ Saturday: Brazil’s ethanol town today. The
economy football team is
■ Sunday: Louisiana’s here to play one of
ethanol future the most antici-
Visit www.theadvertiser.

A
pated games
Madison Landry crippling drought, com/ethanol for stories each of LSU’s sea-
freeze and hurri- day, an interactive map son, against
Pleasant conditions with lots canes, Louisiana’s of sugar and biofuels in S a b a n ’ s
of sunshine, clear skies late. sugarcane farmers Louisiana, and audio photo Sugarcane harvester driver Jimmy Hernandez keeps a close eye on Crimson Tide.
are celebrating a slideshows from Brazil. his cutter during one of the best yields in recent memory. The team
See more on Page 6D or
near-perfect 2007 comes with
go to theadvertiser.com. be short-lived, most farm- ing sugar, well, “we’ll all be
crop, fed merely by good farmers compared to nearly 30
rain and the absence of decades ago. It’s the state’s ers and mill owners agree, out of business,” said Tommy kids he
GetPublished disaster.
Louisiana keeps evolv-
No. 1 row crop, generating
more than $500 million of
unless the industry takes
the next step and finds a
Thibodeaux, general manag-
er of Cajun Sugar Cooper-
signed.
That’s 30 AP file photo
Share your news, ing with new cane breeds total value in 2006 with place for cane in the future ative sugar mill in New Iberia. families he Alabama coach
photos and events and technology, producing 27,000 jobs directly tied in. of U.S. ethanol. k n ow s.
more sugar with fewer But today’s success will If farmers just keep sell- See SURVIVAL on Page 4A Nick Saban said
E-mail: news@theadvertiser.com He’s been
he regretted
Call: 289-NEWS in most of
those liv- leaving the col-
Fax: 289-6443
Mail: 1100 Bertrand Drive ing rooms. lege ranks to
Lafayette, LA 70506 • Go to theadvertiser.com/ethanol for photos and more information • Writers coach in the NFL.
and televi-
Inside today sion sportscasters he worked

Accent
Classified
Comics
1C Nation &
1E World 6B
9C Obituaries 10A
Ex-teacher, sister guilty of abuse then-12-year-old boy more than victed of principal to cruelty to
with while at LSU from 2000-04
have been in town all week.
He’s been looking at film of
Matt Flynn and Early Doucet,

Growth & On TV 4C Sentencing two years ago to a bed. juveniles, false imprisonment TALK BACK
@the two kids who were part of No. 1
recruiting classes in 2003 and
Business 1B Opinions 4B-5B Judge Kristian Earles deliv- but was found not guilty of Do you agree advertiser
Lottery 3A Puzzles 4C set for Jan. 7; ered a verdict of
guilty against
simple battery.
The two waived their right
with the judge’s .com
2004.
Doucet was still at
verdict? Click on “Story Chat” St. Martinville High in
Movies 2C Sports 1D
appeals pending Charni Dodson,
60, and her sister
to a jury trial so the case was
decided by Earles.
and tell us what you think. January 2004 when he went to
an LSU basketball game and

  "6 Kyle Jackson

kjackson@theadvertiser.com

A former Lafayette Middle

A Gannett Newspaper
Lafayette, Louisiana
Copyright 2007
School teacher is in jail along
with her sister after being
found guilty Thursday evening
for chaining and tying up a
Ellen Carle, 59,
after deliberat-
ing for 15 to 20
minutes. Dodson
was convicted on Dodson
two counts of cruelty to juve-
niles and one count of false
imprisonment. Carle was con-
“We respectfully disagree
with the judge’s decision,”
said Clayton
Dodson’s attorney.
Burgess,
and obstruction of justice
because of the prosecution not
meeting their burden of proof
walked over to watch a press
conference. Saban announced
he wasn’t going to the Chicago
Bears to be the coach; he was
Earlier in the trial at that early point in the trial. staying. Doucet applauded. A
Thursday, Earles did acquit Shortly after the verdict year later, Saban was gone.
Carles and Dodson each on one
count of false imprisonment See GUILTY on Page 8A See SABAN on Page 8A

t h e a d v e r t i s e r. c o m : W e a t h e r * J o b s * C a r s * H o m e s * S h o p p i n g * C l a s s i f i e d s
4A • The Advertiser
Continued from Page 1A
Survival
Foreign sugar is the new
fear. A tariff on Mexican
imports disappears in
January, and some Louisiana
cane growers say they’ll be
doomed if they don’t diversi-
fy and make U.S. cane about
energy and food.
A record 4.85 billion gal-
lons of ethanol was produced
by the U.S. in 2006, passing
Brazil as the world leader by
mashing 18 percent of our
third-largest corn harvest
into fuel. Louisiana corn
acreage more than doubled
last year in the northern
parishes, and two ethanol
plants planned in Lake
Providence hope to capital-
ize.
But those in the sugar
industry know that if the
price is right, cane can be
eight times better than corn
for ethanol.
For inspiration, they need
only look to Brazil, where the
world’s first major economy
has been built around
ethanol made from sugar
cane.
Country run on cane
Brazil has led the world in
ethanol for almost 30 years,
and has the soil, climate and
experience to do ethanol bet-
ter than almost anyone.
When a 1973 OPEC oil
embargo sent the world into
crisis, Brazil was importing
close to 80 percent of its fuel.
The country had used
ethanol in limited ways since
the 1920s, but in 1975 then-
dictator Gen. Ernesto Geisel
committed to breaking his
nation’s foreign oil addiction.
Sugar mills were given
quotas to make ethanol,
heavy subsidies went into
new refineries and vehicles,
and the state-owned oil com-
pany, Petrobras, had to sell it
at almost every fuel station
in Brazil. By the mid-1980s,
consumers bought ethanol-
only cars almost exclusively,
drawn by tax breaks and the
biofuel’s low price.
“While we’ve spent all this
money on wars and protect-
ing oil, in Brazil
they spent it on
infrastructure,
building
ethanol up
since the ’70s,”
said Thibodeaux,
who has visited
Brazilian sugar Thibodeaux
and ethanol mills during the
past two years. “They subsi-
dized the ethanol mills and
helped them through debt.
Now, they’re all very flexible
and developing the industry.”
As the 1990s neared, oil
prices dropped while world
sugar demand grew.
Brazilian mills focused on
just sugar, abandoning an
ethanol-only populace that
had become reliant on the
home-grown fuel.
In 2003 auto engineers
debuted “flex-fuel” engines
that could run on ethanol,
gasoline, or any mix of the
two. Brazilians felt safe with
having fuel choice, and now
eight in 10 new vehicles sold
are flex. Ethanol makes up
almost 40 percent of all non-
diesel fuel used in cars, the
country leads the world in
ethanol export and plans to
double sugar cane acreage
within a decade.
“Customers really believe
in the (flex) market now,”
said Maroio Demenis, man-
ager of Itacolomy Vehicles, a
Chevy dealership in São
Paulo, Brazil. “With sugar
cane, we’re not going to run
out of alcohol.”
‘It’ll save the sugar
industry’
Bob Odom, Louisiana’s
outgoing commissioner of
Agriculture and Forestry, is
also the state’s biggest
ethanol cheerleader. When
his department buys a new
vehicle he makes sure it’s a
flex-fuel, and he’s adamant
about cane farmers produc-
ing energy in the future to
supplement their sugar prof-
its.
“What will ethanol do?”
Odom asks. “It’ll save the
Workers prepare fallen sugar cane for harvest recently at the Costa Pinto Mill in Piracicaba, Brazil.
COST ITEM U.S. corn
Feedstock costs 0.40
Processing costs 0.63
Total cost 1.03
SOURCE: The Economic Feasibility of Ethanol Production for Sugar in the United States, July 2006 USDA report
sugar industry, that’s what
it’ll do.”
Odom got the ball rolling
in 2003, financ-
ing a new syrup
mill in
Lacassine with
department
funds that came
from state gam-
bling revenue.
He traveled to Odom
São Paulo to visit ethanol
and sugar producers before
deciding how to build it.
“I like him very much, a
lot of energy in that man,”
said Luiz Biagi, co-owner of
Renk Zanini-Sermatec, a São
Paulo-based
manufacturer
that made parts
for the
Lacassine
syrup mill. “He
wants to change
things.”
Critics of Biagi
Odom have tore
into his support for
Lacassine and ethanol, cry-
ing misappropriation of state
funds and derailing his
efforts to build another
syrup mill in Bunkie.
Odom’s response has been lit-
tle more than a shrug, and
he’s moved full-steam ahead
in supporting biofuels.
“We spend less than
10 percent of our nation’s
money on food, that’s lowest
in the world,” Odom said.
“For us to keep doing that
and getting that from our
farmers, they need a way to
make money. Ethanol is it.”
Lacassine’s syrup mill
was built specifically for an
ethanol plant to go up beside
it, turning the syrup or
molasses into fuel. Odom
sold it to a group of nearby
cane farmers, who brought
on a private partner, Andino
Energy, which now has 80
percent ownership.
Together, they say
Louisiana Green Fuels, the
first sugar cane-based
ethanol plant in the U.S.,
should be built in spring 2008
• Go to theadvertiser.com/ethanol for photos and more information •
theadvertiser.com Friday, Nov. 2, 2007
PLANNED BIOFUEL
SITES IN LOUISIANA
As of fall 2007, there were ■ Parish: St. James
10 sites that have received ■ Status: permitted, waiting
permits for ethanol or biodiesel for GO Zone approval from
plants in Louisiana. state bond commission
■ Capacity: 110 million gal-
■ Company: Louisiana Green lon per year, corn feedstock,
Fuels, LLC (80 percent owned predict 50 percent will be local
by Andino Energy, and 20 per- corn, the rest off of
cent by Lake Charles Cane Mississippi River.
Farmers Co-Op) ❐❐❐
■ Facility: Lake Charles Cane ■ Company: Tiger State
Ethanol Plant Ethanol, LLC (based in
■ City: Lacassine Monroe)
■ Parish: Jefferson Davis ■ Facility: Lake Providence
■ Status: to begin construc- Ethanol Facility
tion in summer 2008 ■ City: Lake Providence
■ Capacity: 22.4 million gal- ■ Parish: East Carroll
■ Status: permitted
lons per year
❐❐❐ ■ Capacity: 110 million gal-
■ Company: Verenium (for- lons per year, corn feedstock,
predict 80 percent will be
merly Celunol)
■ Facility: Cellulosic Pilot Louisiana corn, the rest off of
Plant (open since 1999), Mississippi River.
Cellulosic Demonstration Plant ❐❐❐
(under construction) ■ Company: Greater Baton
■ City: Jennings Rouge Ethanol LLC (subsidiary
■ Parish: Jefferson Davis of Baton Rouge-based The
■ Status: Demonstration Shaw Capital)
plant expected to open early ■ Facility: Greater Baton
2008. Rouge Ethanol Facility (from
■ Capacity: A 1.4-million gal- corn)
lon per year facility, it's meant ■ City: Port Allen
to test the cellulosic process ■ Parish: West Baton Rouge
and give Verenium a model to ■ Status: permitted
base all its other commercial- ■ Capacity: Approved for
more than 1 million gallons
scale cellulosic plants off of,
per year, corn feedstock
which they should build else-
where by 2010. ❐❐❐
❐❐❐ ■ Company: Allegro Biodiesel
Corporation
■ Company: South Louisiana
Ethanol, LLC (had entered ■ Facility: Allegro Pollock
50/50 agreement with Earth Biodiesel Refinery
Biofuels, Inc., out of Texas) ■ City: Pollock
■ Facility: Ethanol Plant ■ Parish: Grant
(refurbishing of 1980s ethanol ■ Status: Began production
plant still standing) in April 2006
■ Capacity: 12 million gal-
■ City: Belle Chasse
lons per year, now producing
■ Parish: Plaquemines
about 4 million gallons from
■ Status: Permitted, refur-
refined and crude soybean oil.
bishing project on hold while
❐❐❐
Earth Biofuels faces legal
■ Company: Green Earth
action Fuels of New Orleans, LLC
■ Capacity: At least 65 mil- (subsidiary of Green Earth
lion gallons per year, likely Fuels in Houston)
corn feedstock ■ Facility: Green Earth Fuels
Photo courtesy of Marcelo Min/Agéncia Fotogaraffa ❐❐❐ of New Orleans (biodiesel
■ Company: Bionol Lake refinery)
Providence LLC (subsidiary of ■ City: Harvey
BioEnergy International, locat- ■ Parish: Jefferson
U.S. sugar cane U.S. molasses Brazil sugar cane ed in Mass.)
■ Status: permits and financ-
1.48 0.91 0.30 ■ Facility: Bionol Lake ing being finalized
0.92 0.36 0.51 Providence ■ Capacity: Unknown, flexible
2.40 1.27 0.81 ■ City: Lake Providence on feedstocks to use for
■ Parish: East Carroll biodiesel.
■ Status: Permitted, founda- ❐❐❐
tion being laid in fall 2007, ■ Company: Renewable
construction to begin in
and be running by that with 30 cents for U.S. corn- Energy Group Inc. (based in
December and completion 18- Iowa)
October’s harvest. ethanol and 53 cents for beet- 20 months after.
based ethanol made in ■ Facility: REG New Orleans
■ Capacity: 108 million gal- Biodiesel Plant
Cane better than corn Europe. And unlike produc- lons per year, corn feedstock ■ City: St. Rose
Brazil’s tropical climate ers in U.S. and Europe, from nearby parishes and corn
■ Parish: St. Charles
for sugar cane was a main Brazilian ethanol no longer shipments off of Mississippi ■ Status: construction
leans on federal subsidies for River.
draw for Portuguese settlers groundbreaking in June 2007
support. ❐❐❐
in the 1500s. Most of the (expect to start production
sugar and ethanol comes ■ Company: Tiger State second quarter of 2008)
Ethanol, LLC (based in Monroe) ■ Capacity: 60 million gal-
from São Paulo state, heart of U.S. sugar in flux
■ Facility: St James Ethanol lons per year, oil seed feed-
the nation’s southeast. Here In today’s U.S. sugar mar-
Facility stock provider less than two
crimson-red soil rich in ket, mills profit more from ■ City: Convent
miles away.
nutrients sprouted the making sugar than they
region’s nickname as “the would alcohol. The govern-
place where anything ment’s complex income that sugar had, much sugar in their
grows.” sugar policy corn prices would be much process meant for corn.
Ethanol now fills about a limits how higher than they already But ethanol plants in
third of auto-fuel demand, much the U.S. are,” said Mike Salassi, Louisiana and Florida
based around cane feedstock grows and how professor of agriculture using sugar cane for fuel
that’s cheaper to grow than much it economics at LSU, and co- could benefit.
corn, yields twice as much imports, bal- author of a 2006 USDA Ten Louisiana sugar
fuel per acre and creates ancing the sup- study on the U.S. potential mills have a plan to compete
almost eight gallons of ply to keep Salassi for ethanol from sugar with Mexican imports for
ethanol for every one gallon prices here cane. “So, the price support the time being.
of petroleum used (while higher than much of the program for corn indirectly They’ve formed a cooper-
subsidizes a corn ethanol
corn’s ratio is just above world. In Brazil, cane grows ative, named SUGAR, and
industry because it’s allow-
break-even). so cheaply that subsidies are gone in 50/50 with one of
ing corn prices to be lower
A corn kernel’s starch minimal, and alcohol is more the world’s largest agricul-
than if they had a different
must break down into sugars profitable as domestic and tural companies, Cargill, to
type of program.”
before it’s fermented into world demand for fuel grows. build a new white sugar
About 70 percent of As trade globalizes and
alcohol, a process that needs refinery near New Orleans.
ethanol’s cost is its feed- U.S. sugar policies change,
energy. But with cane, that mills may find more profit “We’re simply copying
step is skipped. making Brazil,” said Thibodeaux of
Cajun Sugar, a co-op leader.
The stalk
already is IT’S MORE THAN JUST SUGAR CANE ethanol from
cane syrup if “If we’re going to survive —
20 percent to In the big picture, sugar cane is less than sugar came farmers, mills and refiner-
30 percent 5 percent of Brazil’s agribusiness. It’s the cheaper from ies — the marriage has to
sugar, and world leader in soybean exports, provides 80 someone else. be from the field to the
starts ferment- percent of the world’s orange juice and is a NAFTA shelf.”
ing right after leader in beef and chicken exports, accord- may make that Cargill’s influence on
possible. In markets like candy, food and
its cut in the ing to federal government statistics.
January 2008, drinks provides a huge cus-
field. “We’ve done great things here in Brazil,
a U.S. tariff, or tomer base all the way
Sugar and but we’re lousy marketers,” said Rui Lacerda tax, on
ethanol mills Ferraz, president of Crystalsev, which announced a part- along a cheap transport
Mexican route — the Mississippi
burn the nership in August with U.S.-based Dow Chemical to make imported
River. The waterway can
stalk’s leftover flexible plastics from ethanol in Brazil. “It’s really the country sugar will
pulpy fiber, with the greatest resources, but no one knows about it.” expire. Some
help them compete with
imported-sugar prices.
called bagasse, worry that
“This new refinery is
turning turbines to generate stock, and corn is one of the Mexico could dump its
excess sugar in the U.S. at a just to survive long enough
electricity for the mill and cheapest crops grown in the
price local farmers can’t for ethanol,” Thibodeaux
even selling extra to a local U.S. The government subsi-
compete with, Salassi said. said. The SUGAR co-op and
grid. They recycle potassium- dizes corn growers, so they Cargill are already eyeing
can afford to sell their prod- The new Farm Bill now
rich wastewater back to the an ethanol plant in New
uct for less. Louisiana’s being fine-tuned in
fields, fueling the next round Iberia in a few years, but
corn production jumped Congress may include a
of 10-foot-high cane that plan for the government to there’d be little profit from
from 305,000 acres in 2006 to
regrows six times before new 750,000 acres this year, but buy excess U.S. sugar at a turning sugar cane into fuel
planting is needed. it’s still a minimal part of standard price and resell it right now.
It adds up to about 22 state agriculture. for less to ethanol produc- “We have to look at
cents for a liter of Brazil’s “If corn had the same ers. Midwestern ethanol what’s right economically
sugar cane-ethanol, compared kind of price support plants say they can’t use for sugar in Louisiana.”
 Where
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Inside today
Saturday, November 3, 2007 theadvertiser.com 50 cents ★

Eight-page special section inside today’s edition

KICK OFF
Fueling Louisiana’s future
Bob Moser most progressive plans for
YOUR FOOTBALL
WEEKEND
bmoser@theadvertiser.com

As Louisiana’s budding
Leslie Westbrook/The Advertiser
ethanol hopes gain steam,
Churches honor souls cynicism over past failures
See photos from local here could derail progress.
services. Page 2A But we don’t have to rein-
For more photos from vent the wheel.
area All Souls events, Brazil is a sugarcane
click on Photo Galleries at Mecca, supporting its own
energy needs and economy
theadvertiser.com.
since the mid-1970s by pro-
ducing ethanol.
Inside today’s Advertiser,
we take you on a tour of São
Paulo state, heart of Brazil’s
southeastern “cane country”
and home to some of the
sugarcane ethanol’s future.
Our special section
shows you Ribeirão Preto, a
FOLLOW
THIS SERIES
city that boomed thanks to
biofuels in much the same
way that Lafayette has from ■ Today: Brazil’s
ethanol economy
oil and gas.
Learn how ethanol in the
U.S. now creates more jobs ■ Sunday: La.’s
in rural areas than any
other economic activity.
ethanol future

Only on the Web

• Inside today’s edition: The sweet life, Page 1D • theadvertiser.com/ethanol •
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Entrepreneur turns Northside 28
passion into business
Brandon Broussard’s
idea for his Cajun Cookin’
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TODAY
got its start at the
Blackpot Festival
& Cook-off. Read
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Huey Wafer of Houston brings water for his horse, Cool Whip, as he sets up for the Step-N-Strut Trail Ride event Friday at the former Evangeline Downs
High: 75 Low: 49 WHEN: 4 p.m.
site in Carencro. Step-N-Strut is an annual event that features horseback riding and zydeco music.
TV: CBS (Cox cable 11)
during the first weekend in
Signature event’s organizers say Inside today November.

thousands expected to attend Festival schedule and infor-

That’s Step-N-Strut Trail
Ride weekend, a music and
CATCH THE ACTION
Herman Fuselier snowflakes in Leonville, a
mation. Page 4A horse riding event now at the
old Evangeline Downs race-
STARTING ON PAGE 1D
hfuselier@theadvertiser.com St. Landry Parish town with horses, cars, campers track in Carencro. AND ON THE WEB
a pinch more than 1,000 and zydeco dancers have
Elise Stipe Traffic jams are as rare as residents. But a blizzard of traditionally hit the village See TRADITION on Page 4A
@ theadvertiser.com
Plenty of sunshine with cool
temperatures by evening.
See more on Page 8C or
go to theadvertiser.com. Navy Bush nixes billions
GetPublished
Share your news,
initiates in water projects
photos and events
E-mail: news@theadvertiser.com
Call: 289-NEWS
crash La. delegation
stands united in
What’s next?
The House is expected

review
Fax: 289-6443
to vote to override the bill
Mail: 1100 Bertrand Drive
Lafayette, LA 70506 condemnation Tuesday and the Senate could
act Wednesday. In rare una-
Ana Radelat nimity, all Louisiana lawmakers
Inside today
Accent 1D Nation &
Training jet had Brad Kemp/bkemp@theadvertiser.com Gannett News Service are expected to vote to over-
ride the veto.
The U.S. Navy has opened an investigation into why a T-45A jet crashed
Classified 1E World 6B rough landing Thursday at the end of the runway of the Acadiana Regional Airport in
New Iberia. Both the pilot and co-pilot ejected safely.
WASHINGTON — President
Bush’s veto of a $23 billion would authorize spending on
Comics 4D Obituaries 6A hundreds of Army Corps of
Growth & On TV 5D in New Iberia about 6:45 p.m. and involved a
water projects bill Friday was
blasted by members of Engineer projects across the
Business
Lottery
1B Opinions 4B-5B
3A Puzzles 5D Jason Brown
T-45A Goshak single engine
training jet, one of three trav-
PHOTO
GALLERY @ the
advertiser
Louisiana’s congressional del-
egation, which had many state
nation, includes
$2 billion for
jbrown@theadvertiser.com eling from the Florida Coast To see more .com projects in the legislation. coastal restora-
Movies 2D Sports 1C back to the Naval Air Station “This is the tion work, $131
photos from the Navy training jet
NEW IBERIA — Navy offi- in Kingsville, Texas. wrong bill to try million to deepen
crash in New Iberia, click on this

  "6 cials arrived in Iberia Parish

on Friday afternoon to inves-
tigate exactly what went
wrong with a training jet that
The jets had stopped at the
airport to refuel following a
fleet carrier landing practice
in Florida.
story’s headline.

and co-pilot apparently lost

to reclaim the
mantle of fiscal
responsibility,”
said U.S. Sen.
the Port of Iberia
and protect
Vermilion Parish
from storm Landrieu
crashed at the Acadiana Once airborne again, one Mary Landrieu, surges and billions to repair
control and were forced to
A Gannett Newspaper Regional Airport on of the jets is believed to have D-New Orleans. New Orleans’ levees.
eject from its cabin.
Lafayette, Louisiana Thursday night. experienced a malfunction of The water Bush
Copyright 2007 The crash occurred at some sort and both its pilot See CRASH on Page 4A resources measure, which See BUSH on Page 4A

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Our prep team analyzes

today’s playoff seedings
High school football
teams across the state learn
their pairings as postseason
play opens Friday. Watch
Inside Prep Football for analy-
sis and outlooks from Kevin
Foote and Brady Aymond
HonorAir program salutes Acadiana veterans’ sacrifices Speed van controversy
at theadvertiser.com.

Redflex
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Only on the Web
Photo galleries capture
weekend of family fun
Relive the fun and festivi-
ties from the Blackpot Festival
& Cook-off, the Step-N-Strut
zydeco trail ride, the Cajun
Cup run, the Marquis de La
Fayette Veterans Parade and
the Showcase of Marching
Bands in Photo Galleries at
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Voting ends Monday for
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Time is running out to
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com. Follow
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Cutie” link
and vote for
who you’d
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Niya Flugence
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GetPublished
HonorAir veteran Ernie Broussard is greeted at Lafayette Regional Airport on Saturday after the HonorAir trip to Washington. He was one of 500 World
War II veterans who have been flown to the nation’s capital for a tour of the National World War II Memorial.
Organizers say
program is
labor of love
Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com
Louisiana HonorAir has
had a profound effect on each
person involved in sending
about 500 World War II veter-
ans on free flights to
Washington.
Theirs is a mission of
remembrance, of redemption,
of thanks, a way to appreciate
a generation that may have
thought time had forgotten
them.
“These guys have been out
of the loop for a long time,”
said HonorAir founder T.D.
Smith. “This makes them feel
like they’re in the sunshine
again, like the world revolves
around them again.
“These were people who
were raised in the Depression,
John Rowland/jrowland@theadvertiser.com
PHOTO
GALLERY @ the
advertiser
To see more .com
photos from the arrival of
Saturday’s HonorAir flight, click
on this story’s headline.
and then when it should have
been time for them to start a
family, they went to World War
II and saw unspeakable
horrors. By comparison, my
See REMEMBER on Page 4A
Let us know
Are you having a
Veterans Day event? We’d
like to know. We want to com-
pile a list of Acadiana-area
activities by VFW posts,
schools or other groups
planned around the Nov. 11
national holiday.
If you have something in
the works, please e-mail details
of your activity (time, date, loc-
ation, plans) to Bruce Brown at
bbrown@theadvertiser.com.
hearing
Local woman
challenges
surveillance
Amanda McElfresh
amcelfresh@theadvertiser.com
The Louisiana State Board
of Private Investigator
Examiners will hold a hearing
Thursday morning regarding
speed vans and a planned pro-
gram to place cameras at cer-
tain Lafayette intersections.
Through a contract with
Lafayette Consolidated
Government, Redflex Traffic
Systems, based in Arizona,
operates both the vans in the
SafeSpeed Lafayette program
and is scheduled to operate cam-
eras to catch red-light runners.
The hearing stems from a
complaint filed by private
investigator Stephanie Ware,
who has asked the board to
examine what she considers to
be investigative activities.
“They are practicing sur-
veillance activities without
being a privately licensed
investigative agency who can
employ investigators,” she said.
Ware said she also disagrees
with the fact that citations are
mailed to those caught speed-
ing by equipment in the vans.
“They should not be allowed
to issue citations because the
only people who can do that are
police officers,” she said.
Ware said that the day after
she filed her complaint, she
received a ticket in the mail
with a photo of her 17-year-old
daughter. The ticket stated the
driver had been caught speed-
ing, but Ware would have to pay
the fine because she is the reg-
istered owner of the vehicle.
According to Ware, the tick-
et also stated that if she
refused to pay the fine, she
must post a bond to appeal or

Biofuel future rests with farm waste

contest the citation.
Share your news, “I don’t know who’s taking
photos and events these pictures, and they’re
sending them over state lines

FOLLOW
E-mail: news@theadvertiser.com
Call: 289-NEWS
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La. site leads to Arizona and being edited by
someone we don’t know,” she said.
City-Parish Attorney Pat
Mail: 1100 Bertrand Drive
way in cellulosic
THIS SERIES
Lafayette, LA 70506 A pile Ottinger said his office does
of bagasse not believe the vans’ use con-
Inside today sits at the technology ■ Today: Louisiana’s
stitutes private investigative
activities.
Verenium
Accent 1D Nation & Bob Moser “It is our view that the work
Classified 1F World 8B
plant in
bmoser@theadvertiser.com ethanol future performed by the Redflex van
Jennings. The is not within the scope of the
Growth & Obituaries 8A Massachusetts-
INSIDE TODAY
For the U.S. to have a long-term work of a private investigator,”
Business 1B On TV 6D based com- he said.
future in ethanol, it can’t come from
pany’s site is
Lottery 3A Opinions 4B-5B corn, sugar cane or any other ■ Future expands, Page 10A Redflex representatives
a pilot plant could not be reached for
L Sunday 1G Puzzles 6D
for the pro-
food-based crop. Researchers, ■ John Deere on the comment.
politicians and farmers are all
Movies 2D Sports 1C
duction of starting to agree that we either global move, Page 1B
won’t grow enough of it or can’t What’s next?
  "3
cellulosic thing from pulpy cane fiber called
ethanol. afford not to eat it. bagasse, corn scraps, or almost
While Brazil made its ethanol any nonfood crop into its most The meeting is scheduled
Leslie
Westbrook/
niche in sugar cane, the next evo- basic sugars, and then into fuel. for 10 a.m. Thursday at the
lwestbrook@the lutionary step is cellulosic tech- office of the Louisiana State
A Gannett Newspaper advertiser.com nology — breaking down every- See FUTURE on Page 12A Board of Private Investigator
Lafayette, Louisiana Examiners, 2051 Silverside
Copyright 2007 •For interactive features and slideshows, go to theadvertiser.com/ethanol • Drive, Suite 190, Baton Rouge.

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12A • The Advertiser
Continued from Page 1A
Future
This will be what makes or
breaks ethanol in Louisiana.
Drawing on scraps from the
state’s two largest agricultural
sectors, sugar cane and
forestry, it could add a new
avenue of profit for farmers
and mills eager to diversify.
“Whether it’s from bagasse
or forest residue, I think
Louisiana is going to be capable
of being more of an aggressive
player in biofuels in the future,”
said Brian Jennings, executive
director of the American
Coalition for Ethanol. “You
could help supply a clean-burn-
ing alternative to supplement
your oil capabilities.”
A race for the recipe
The key to cellulosic taking
off in the U.S. is making the
process efficient enough to be
cheaper than gasoline.
The Department of Energy
wants to bring down the over-
all cost of making cellulosic
ethanol to $1.07 a gallon by
2012. That’s not even half what
it costs now to make, but is
less than the current $1.50 cost
to make a gallon of corn-based
ethanol.
Unlike cane where sugar is
ready to go, plant matter is
made up of cellulose and
hemicellulose, which breaks
down into sugars with the
help of enzymes.
A handful of companies in
the U.S. are racing to engineer
an enzyme that eats cellulose
and poops alcohol (and carbon
dioxide) faster and cheaper
than anyone else’s.
Forty minutes west of
Lafayette in Jennings, a com-
pany named Verenium is lead-
ing the pack.
Based in Massachusetts,
Verenium built a small-scale
plant in Jennings in 2006, and
began quietly cooking about
two tons of local crop waste
per day into ethanol. It’s one
of a few pilot plants in the U.S.
acting like chemistry labs for
cellulosic ethanol.
In February, Verenium
broke ground on a 1.4 million
gallon per-year demonstration
plant right next to the pilot site.
It would be the first cellulosic
plant of its size in the U.S., and
Verenium officials boast
they’re at least one year ahead
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This new plant should be
built in March and start run-
ning later next year, but is still
just the second of three phas-
es, meant to help Verenium
perfect the process on their
way to building a commercial-
scale plant.
That could make 25 million
to 30 million gallons of
ethanol per year from biomass
as far away as New Iberia, if it
were built in Jennings. Sites
in Florida and Texas are also
being considered for the large,
third-phase plant.
“If we built here, this
would be the only site with
pilot, demonstration and com-
mercial plants all together,”
said Mark Eichenseer,
Verenium’s vice president of
operations. “It would be a
unique place with full teach-
ing potential.”
Brazil wants cellulosic
A cellulosic breakthrough
is just as important for
Brazil’s ethanol future as in
the U.S., helping limit farm-
ing’s encroachment on the
country’s pristine savanna
and rainforest lands.
Environmentalists are con-
cerned for both if cane acreage
doubles as expected in the
next decade. Sugar cane won’t
move into these areas because
the climate’s not right, but it
could push cattle farmers
north into the Amazon.
Researchers are learning
how to break Brazil’s 128 mil-
lion tons of cane bagasse per
year down into fuel. Sugar
mills there, and most in the
U.S., burn their bagasse to
generate steam and power but
do it in an outdated, ineffi-
cient way. A lot of the value in
that biomass is lost in the
process that could be made
into more ethanol.
Ivo Fouto’s new company,
Biocel, is trying to make that
process a seamless addition to
existing sugar mills.
Biocel’s goal is an addition
to the mill where bagasse
would be diverted, go through
a cellulosic breakdown, and
the sweet liquid result would
circle back to the mill’s
ethanol refining-end. The
same could be done in any
Louisiana mill, he said.
“What we want to do is get
more value on the same plant-
ed area, because more and
more the cost of the land is
getting higher,” Fouto said.
“The alternative is going to
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Clay Duplantis and his 15-moth-old son, Henry Clay, stand in a cane field
recently near Kaplan. Duplantis said he is encouraged about the idea of using
sugar cane for renewable energy.
new frontiers to make new
mills and cane, but to do that
you need more infrastructure
costs. So, the best alternative
is to maximize the amount of
product you get out of the
same planted area.”
In some ways bagasse is the
fastest track to cellulosic suc-
cess. It’s a feedstock that
comes out of the milling
process power-washed and
clean, requiring a simpler
enzyme than corn-field scraps
or other dirty crops fresh from
the field, which Fouto said
may need stronger enzymes
and more time to break down.
Cellulosic support needed
Ethanol demand pushed
U.S. corn growers to plant
more than double the acreage
in 2007 of five years ago. But
even if the entire corn crop
was turned into ethanol it
would replace just 12 percent
to 15 percent of gasoline con-
sumption, while squeezing the
food supply and threatening
areas like the Gulf of Mexico,
where fertilizer runoff down
the Mississippi River is con-
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tributing to a dead zone.
The U.S. can sustainably
produce 1.3 billion tons per
year of cellulosic biomass,
using corn and cane leftovers
while planting new energy
crops like switchgrass on poor
soil, according to a 2005 report
from the Department of
Energy and USDA. It would be
enough biomass to replace 30
percent or more of current
petroleum needs, and last year
the DOE published a “research
roadmap” to get it done by 2030.
The new U.S. Energy Bill
could give cellulosic technolo-
gy the government backing it
needs to attract more invest-
ment. A Senate bill version
would boost the U.S. renew-
able fuels mandate from 7.5
billion gallons annually by
2012 to 36 billion gallons by
2022 — 21 billion of which
would have to be from cellu-
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GEARING UP FOR FUTURE
The U.S. Department
of Energy reportedly
has put $726 million
for cellulosic ethanol
plants. The USDA
wants to increase its
toward renewable bioenergy financing
energy projects this from $122 million to
year, including wind $161 million, and
and solar. Grants total- direct $21 million in
ing $385 million were loan guarantees for
given to six companies cellulosic plants.
losic sources. three types of new energy
“In 2005, the Energy Bill cane that is mostly plant fiber,
sent a necessary signal to the with just 3 percent sugar
marketplace that we’re com- inside compared to 20 percent
mitted to producing fuel to 30 percent in normal cane.
ethanol from corn. This bill Verenium wants 1,500 acres
would do much the same of biomass crops planted in
thing, but for cellulosic,” said 2008 and 15,000 acres in 2009 to
Matt Hartwig, spokesman for support its current demonstra-
the Renewable Fuels Association. tion plant, and see if farmers
“You’re providing confidence can plant enough to support a
in the marketplace that a mar- larger commercial plant in
ket will be there, giving com- southwest Louisiana.
panies today investing hun- Farmers may profit $150 to
dreds of millions into this $200 per acre on an energy
research the firm footing that crop. The company is consid-
they need to move forward.” ering contracts where they’d
The federal investment is even harvest and transport the
risky but worth the payoff, crop for the farmers.
Hartwig said. The cellulosic Those profits are still low,
process would raise ethanol said Howard Cormier, county
yields from sugar cane by agent for LSU AgCenter.
about one-third an acre, and Energy crops now must com-
could do the same for corn, pete for farmers’ attention
generating more profit for with the skyrocketing price of
farmers and making ethanol soybeans, in demand for food
cheaper for consumers. and biodiesel.
Some farmers can pick up a
State in prime position new crop tomorrow and grow
If an ethanol company it if the price is right. It’s not
focused its cellulosic plant in as easy for Louisiana’s sugar-
Louisiana, they’d have access cane farmers. Cane’s a multi-
to a buffet of feedstock. year commitment, and their
“We can grow a lot,” said harvest equipment doesn’t
Mark Zappi, dean of UL’s work on just any crop.
College of Engineering, who Farmer Clay Duplantis of
heads an alternative energy Kaplan has been reading up
development program that on ethanol, is excited about
partners with other universi- energy cane and doesn’t care
ties. “Timber, corn, soy, cane, what his crop would go
switchgrass, manure and towards in the future, as long
wastes from it all. Even cracked as he can keep Louisiana’s
rice, a secondary product for sugar tradition going.
animal feed, could be used.” “This family’s now in its
Verenium spoke to about 20 eighth generation of cane
Vermilion Parish farmers in farming,” Duplantis said, with
late September about growing 15-month-old son, Henry Clay,
new crops like “energy” cane in his arms. “The biggest
in the next two years to pro- thing we need is good weather,
vide biomass for the Jennings new varieties to grow better
plant. LSU AgCenter has bred and a fair price for our product.”
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