FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts: For Durbin: Sandra Abrevaya, 202-224-7115
For Obama: Tommy Vietor, 202-228-5511
For Costello: David Gillies, 202-225-5661
For Shimkus: Steve Tomaszewski, 618-344-3065
June 16, 2006

Washington, DC….United States Senators Richard Durbin (D, Illinois) and Barack Obama (D, Illinois), Congressmen John Shimkus (R, Illinois-19) and Jerry Costello (D, Illinois-12), and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert have co-signed a letter to the U.S. Department of Energy supporting additional alternative fuels research at the existing National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center (NCERC) at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

The Department recently issued a Request for Information for a pilot facility for the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to fuels and coproducts. The letter suggests that the Department consider the SIUE research center for this conversion research.

"Instead of looking elsewhere for a location for a new cellulosic ethanol center, the Administration should build upon the solid foundation of Edwardsville's ethanol research center, the National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center," said Durbin. "With Illinois ranked as second in the nation in ethanol production, and SIUE's partnership with neighboring biotech companies, Southern Illinois is clearly the best place for the DOE to invest new ethanol development funds."

"There's no need to reinvent the wheel," said Obama. "The SIUE facility has long been a leading producer of ethanol and is poised and ready to increase capacity."

"The federal government has already contributed to the cost of the ethanol research center at SIUE," Shimkus noted. "I don't believe we need to construct an entirely separate facility for other feedstock fuel conversion research."

"There is no need for another facility," said Costello. "With simple modifications, the Edwardsville plant can perform this research in the very near future, and we will continue to pursue this common-sense solution."

Also joining as signers of this letter are U.S. Representatives Daniel Lipinski (D, Illinois-3), Melissa Bean (D, Illinois-8), Jerry Weller (R, Illinois-11), Judy Biggert (R, Illinois-13), Donald Manzullo (R, Illinois-16), and Ray LaHood (R, Illinois-18).
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NOTE: A copy of the letter is attached.

June 16, 2006

Hon. Samuel Bodman, Secretary
United States Department of Energy
1000 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, DC 20585

Dear Secretary Bodman:

We read with interest the Department of Energy's (DOE) Request for Information (DE-PS36-06GO96030) regarding the need for a pilot facility for conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to fuels and coproducts. We support the DOE's activities to promote and expand alternative fuels, and want to draw your attention to a federally-funded pilot plant that can meet the needs identified by the Department quickly and with minimal costs.

The National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center (NCERC) was constructed with $21 million in federal and state funding and is a fully operational commercial scale pilot plant for the conversion of any feedstock to ethanol. NCERC is located in the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville's University Research Park and conducts research for private companies, academia and government laboratories.

The NCERC is a perfect fit in regards to DOE's interest in a pilot plant for conversion of lignocellulosic biomass. It would only take some basic modifications of the modular NCERC to be a state-of-the-art facility for lignocellulosic feedstocks. The necessary cost of such modifications is a fraction of the total cost to construct a new pilot plant, and the facility could also be fully operational for this purpose in a fraction of the time it would take to site and construct a new pilot plant.

We strongly encourage DOE to review the response from the NCERC regarding the Department's Request for Information, to visit the NCERC, and to give serious consideration to the cost and timing benefits of the use of the NCERC if the Department goes forward in this area.

Thank you for your consideration of NCERC for lignocellulosic conversion. We look forward to discussing this with you in the near future.

Sincerely,

J. Dennis Hastert
Speaker of the House

Richard Durbin
United States Senator

John Shimkus
Member of Congress

Barack Obama
United States Senator

Jerry Costello
Member of Congress

Ray LaHood
Member of Congress

Donald Manzullo
Member of Congress

Judy Biggert
Member of Congress

Jerry Weller
Member of Congress

Dan Lipinski
Member of Congress

Melissa Bean
Member of Congress