Press release from Lt. Governor Becky Skillman:
Lt. Governor Becky Skillman presents Paul Dana Award
(October 14, 2009) Today Lt. Governor Becky Skillman presented the 2009 Paul Dana Excellence in Bioenergy Leadership Award during the Central Indiana Clean Cities Alliance (CICCA) 10-Year Anniversary Celebration at the Governor’s Mansion in Indianapolis.
The Paul Dana Award recognizes those who have exemplified leadership and innovative vision in the bioenergy industry. Governor Daniels and Lt. Governor Becky Skillman established the award to honor the memory of Indy Racing League (IRL) driver Paul Dana, a strong supporter of Indiana’s growing biofuels industry who was killed in a racing accident in 2006.
“Paul was an inspiration to so many, as an IRL driver, a personality and an advocate for biofuels. He persistently pursued his vision and truly cared about the future of Indiana,” said Lt. Governor Becky Skillman. “Ft. Wayne clearly shares Paul’s innovative spirit and has pursued its own innovative vision in bioenergy, which has also greatly benefitted our state.”
The 2009 Award recipient is:
. The City of Ft. Wayne began its journey down the alternative fuel road in 2005, under the guidance of then Mayor Richard Graham. That first year they implemented a blend of B20 biodiesel into their diesel fleet, and began fueling their then police fleet of 37 flex fuel vehicles at the Lassus Walden Road location. Since then they have used more than 180,000 gallons of biodiesel in blends from B2 to B20 and are on track to use over 50,000 gallons of biodiesel in 2009.The current Mayor, Tom Henry, has expanded the alternative fuels commitment and today their gasoline fleet has 379 flex fuel vehicles. To better serve the winner’s Flex fuel fleet, they were one of nine partners in the CICCA and Office of Energy Development Clean Cities Grant application funded from the American Reinvestment and Recover Act (Stimulus Funds). In addition, “Idling reduction” programming has been implemented into medium and heavy duty city trucks, automatically shutting them off after 10 minutes of idling. They also continue to purchase several hybrid vehicles each year for the city’s vehicle pool and inspectors.
Lt. Gov. Skillman is committed to the use of biofuels. Ethanol and biodiesel burn cleaner, reduce the state’s dependence on foreign sources of energy and increase the economic opportunities for Hoosiers producers.Indiana is proud of the rapid success we have had in biofuels production. Indiana’s new ethanol and biodiesel plants have created direct jobs for Hoosier workers and many more in other supporting industries. In total, they have invested more than $2.3 billion in capital expenses.
In January 2005, Indiana had only one ethanol plant, even though it is the fifth largest corn state. Today, the biofuels climate is much different in Indiana with multiple ethanol projects proposed in every region of the state. Indiana currently has 11 completed ethanol plants and two more under construction. The combined production of the plants already completed and those under construction will exceed 1.1 billion gallons of ethanol annually and will use approximately 423 million bushels of corn.
Indiana is the fourth largest soybean state, but had no biodiesel plants in 2005. We now have five biodiesel plants with a combined capacity of more than 100 million gallons of biodiesel.
In January 2005, there were no public E85 pumps and it was difficult to find a public biodiesel pump. Today, it’s a different story, with more than 120 E85 public pumps and numerous biodiesel pumps. To find a biofuels pump close to home, visit Indiana’s biofuels website.
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