ATLANTIC, Iowa – Nearly a dozen special guests, including Iowa 3rd District Congresswoman Cindy Axne and U. S.  Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Undersecretary Xochitl Torres-Small, attended a roundtable event at Elite Octane, Tuesday morning. The local dry mill ethanol plant in Atlantic served as a backdrop for Axne to announce new rural energy investments in Iowa to help modernize energy infrastructure, lower energy costs, and implement renewable energy systems across the state. Elite Octane President & CEO Nick Bowdish began the meeting by saying the ethanol plant started the morning with 3.25-million bushels of corn on the property. Two huge bins hold two-million bushels each, leaving a large mountain of corn on the ground.

Bowdish said “It’s been a great-great harvest, safe harvest.” Congresswoman Axne, who toured the plant last year, was excited Tuesday to announce a REAP (Rural Energy for America Program) grant of $250,000 was awarded to the company, as part of $1.8-million being invested in Iowa.

Far end of the table, from left to right: Nick Bowdish; Xochitl Torres-Small; Rep. Cindy Axne & Darin Leach, Acting State Dir. USDA Rural Development in Iowa.

Another way the company is saving money and reducing the impact on the environment, especially with regard to the underground aquafirs, is by using recycled wastewater.

The funds are part of the government’s recently passed infrastructure improvement program.

Undersecretary Torres-Small, who is from rural New Mexico, and represented the Biden Administration and AG Secretary Tom Vilsack, said she knows how important biofuels are to the State of Iowa.

Axne and Torres-Small said the USDA investments reflect the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to help rural America build back better.

Other attendees at Tuesday’s meeting included Atlantic Mayor Dave Jones, Acting State Director of USDA Rural Development Iowa Darin Leach, and representatives from the Iowa Corn Growers Association, Cass/Atlantic Development Corporation, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, Iowa Farmers Union, Iowa Soybean Association, and Iowa Rural Development Council.