History
VeraSun Energy was founded in 2001 with the goal of providing a renewable, home-grown energy source while boosting domestic rural economy and creating a future that includes renewable energy to help benefit the environment and reduce the nation's demand for foreign oil.
The company has been credited for a number of “industry firsts” – the first 100-million-US-gallon (380,000 m3)-per-year dry-grind production facility, the country's first branded E85, VE85; the first ethanol producer to form strategic alliances with Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Kroger to increase awareness and availability of E85, and the first company to place an E85 retail station in the Washington D.C. metro area.
VeraSun began producing ethanol in December 2003 when its Aurora, S.D., production facility came on-line. Less than two years later, Fort Dodge, Iowa, became the second VeraSun facility to begin production, increasing the company's production capacity to more than 200 million US gallons (760,000 m3) per year. Not stopping with two facilities, VeraSun began other greenfield site developments in Iowa at Charles City and Hartley, in addition to a third location in Welcome, Minnesota. A fourth greenfield location was under development and halted prior to construction in Reynolds, Indiana – also referred to as BioTown USA. VeraSun Charles City began operation in April 2007, three months ahead of schedule.
On June 14, 2006, VeraSun became the first "pure play" ethanol producer to take its stock public when it listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The public listing was the first of several major announcements for the company over the next 18 months. In July 2007, VeraSun announced the first major acquisition in the industry when the company purchased three 110 million US gallons (420,000 m3) per year production facilities from ASAlliances Biofuels, LLC. The facilities, located in Linden, Indiana; Albion, Nebraska, and Bloomingburg, Ohio, doubled the company's production capacity to more than 650 million US gallons (2,500,000 m3) per year .
VeraSun's second major acquisition came less than five months later when it was announced that VeraSun and US BioEnergy would merge, creating a company with 16 biorefineries and a production capacity by the end of 2008 of more than 1.6 billion US gallons (6,100,000 m3) per year. The merger closed on April 1, 2008 and VeraSun was positioned as the largest ethanol producer in the United States with plants located in eight different states.
Less than a year later, VeraSun filed for bankruptcy.
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