When John Skelley saw the opportunity to return to his home state of Arizona, he left his job at Agri Industries in Iowa to preside over a small grain company called Arizona Grain Inc. in Maricopa in 1984. Under his direction, Arizona Grain grew into a large grain-trading company dealing in wheat, corn, milo and barley with a 100-car shuttle terminal on Union Pacific's main line. In 2006, Arizona Grain established Pinal Energy LLC and asked Skelley to be the general manager of the ethanol plant. In July 2007, the 52 MMgy facility started production. Today, the company continues to develop strategic relationships and expand its market share.
 
 Q: What is unique about your plant?
 A: We consider our facility a destination plant, which is a facility located next to demand markets for ethanol, carbon dioxide and distillers grains. We are a long distance from corn production. What I'm most proud of is how we have developed this site. This wasn't a greenfield project. We already had grain, private trackage and a 100-car unloading facility. 
 
 We are surrounded by feedlots and dairies that we have very active, ongoing relation dairies—our customers. We have a good market for carbon dioxide in the Phoenix; Tucson, Ariz.; Las Vegas; and Albuquerque, N.M., areas. We established a joint venture with a gas company, and we'll break ground on a carbon dioxide and dry ice plant in April. We have a joint-venture relationship with a large gasoline-blending terminal in Phoenix to create the company PinalJet that markets the ethanol. We believe we have a successful formula working with a large blender to market ethanol. Not unlike everybody else, we're struggling with high feedstock costs. We also have higher costs to bring in feedstock, but we are well-positioned to send our products to a nearby market.
 
 Q: What are your management strategies?

 A: We watch our costs closely. We use our futures and derivatives markets to manage costs. Personally, I try to treat my staff like I want to be treated. I like the environment to be serious, but fun. We take our jobs seriously, but we try to have a lot of fun at it. For example, we are going to have a golf tournament in two weeks to get our employees away 
 
 from the plant. 
 We also like our employees to feel like they know what's going on. I like to bring in our team managers once a week to tell me about the plant, and then I in turn tell them about the marketing and general environment for ethanol, so they feel like they're part of the process. 
 
 Q: Are there any government policies that you want to see reformed?
 A: One of the biggest challenges is getting the U.S. government, namely the USDA, to allow farmers to get out of the commitments of the Conservation Reserve Program without penalty if the ground is suitable for row crops. We're not advocating that we put the plow to all open ground in the Midwest, but we think there is a reasonable amount of acres that could come back into row production. The Energy Independence & Security Act of 2007 has renewable fuels standard mandates that have created greater demand for corn production in the United States. The CRP needs to be tapped for some of those acres. 
 
 Q: If you could say one thing to our readers, what would it be? 
 A: Things will never be as bad or as good as you may project them to be.

Venturing Out

Upcoming Events

2025 International Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo

Carbon Capture & Storage Summit

Sustainable Fuels Summit: Sustainable Aviation Fuel & Renewable Diesel

North American SAF Conference & Expo

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Upcoming Events

2025 International Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo

Carbon Capture & Storage Summit

Sustainable Fuels Summit: Sustainable Aviation Fuel & Renewable Diesel

North American SAF Conference & Expo

Venturing Out