Ethanol Industry Loses Pioneer
Posted in Biofuels | Energy Industry | Ethanol Fuel
The renewable fuel industry received a jolt in the form of Kathy Bryan’s death. She was the founder of BBI International, a global bio fuels consulting and publishing company. She is considered to be a pioneer for the ethanol-based bio fuel industry. In the early 80s when very few people knew about ethanol as a viable alternative fuel she and her family operated a small ethanol plant. She worked for the creation of the Minnesota Ethanol Commission and became its first Chair, where she was instrumental in formulating the state’s aggressive ethanol policy, a program so successful it came to be known as the “Minnesota Model”. As a board member of the Renewable Fuels Association she lobbied for ethanol at the national level, later on.
She succumbed to a metastatic ovarian cancer that was diagnosed in May 2008. She is survived by her husband Mike Bryan, six children and three step-children.
Renewable Fuels Association President and long time personal friend of the Bryans Bob Dinneen issued the following statement:
“Kathy was an indefatigable optimist and her confidence that ethanol would succeed was never shaken by misinformed detractors or volatile market conditions. She knew ethanol would prevail because it was the right thing to do for farmers, for the environment and for national security. It is no exaggeration that the U.S. ethanol industry would not be what it is today without Kathy’s passion and perseverance.”
