HAWKEYE NAMES MARTY LYONS CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER
Former ADM Executive adds Experience, Strength to Expanded Business Team

AMES, IOWA – September 21, 2007 – Hawkeye Energy Holdings, LLC, one of the largest producers of ethanol in the U.S., is pleased to announce that Martin A. Lyons has joined Hawkeye as Chief Commercial Officer, effective today. Marty has most recently served as Senior Vice President in charge of Archer Daniel Midland’s ethanol, corn processing and sweeteners businesses. Marty has over twenty-eight years of sales, marketing, strategic planning, and regulatory management experience and helped pioneer the fuel ethanol additive business in the energy industry. 

The hiring of Marty Lyons is part of Hawkeye’s continued commitment to bringing outstanding executive leadership to the company, and reinforces the bright outlook of the future of the ethanol and biofuels business in the United States.

Hawkeye CEO Bruce Rastetter said: “We are delighted to have a person of Marty’s caliber join Hawkeye’s team. As we build Hawkeye into one of the largest and most efficient ethanol platforms in the U.S., attracting top-notch management remains an essential business objective. Hawkeye continues to believe in our core strategy of lowest cost corn, active risk management and best-in-class marketing and logistics. Marty is the right person to help us expand on these capabilities and succeed as the ethanol and biofuels industry continues to grow.”

Lyons added: “I’m thrilled to be joining Hawkeye to help them build their ethanol and biofuels platform at this exciting point in the history of our industry.  As fuel ethanol advances from a niche gasoline additive to 15-20 billion gallons of demand over the next few years, the industry will benefit from effective leadership. We will succeed by keeping a keen focus on our strategic relationships with our petroleum customers, supply chain partners, and the U.S. farmers.  Together we can face the challenges of the country’s energy shortfalls and worldwide global warming.  I take a lot of pride in my 28 years at ADM and have a high degree of confidence in ADM’s future success as an important agricultural processing leader.”

Both Rastetter and Lyons expressed their high confidence in the future of the ethanol industry well beyond 2007 due to several initiatives of near-term and longer-term expansion, including:
·         Increased penetration of fuel ethanol into gasoline markets that have experienced little blending like Florida and many of the southeastern United States. Expanded ethanol blending in that region alone could add an incremental 3.5 billion gallons of demand in the very near term.
·         California’s adoption of a statewide 10% ethanol blend and the implementation of a Low Carbon Fuels Standard could add another 1.0 to 2.0 billion gallons of annual demand.
·         Congressional passage of the Senate’s version of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) would also increase ethanol demand to over 30 billion gallons over the 2015 to 2022 time period. The expanded RFS will further cement the U.S.’ commitment to reducing our dependence upon foreign oil via homegrown agricultural-based low carbon renewable fuels.
Hawkeye Energy Holdings, LLC and its subsidiaries have 450 million gallons of ethanol production capacity located in Iowa. Hawkeye’s Iowa Falls and Fairbank facilities currently operate over 220 million gallons of ethanol production and Hawkeye’s Menlo and Shell Rock plants, which will become operational in the second half of 2008, will add another 230 million gallons of production. Hawkeye is headquartered in Ames, Iowa.

For more information, please contact: Nick Ryan, Media Relations, (319) 621-6425.