Shares of VeraSun Energy Corp. jumped more than 8 percent Thursday, bucking Wall Street's late-day nosedive in a possible sign that investors could be banking on an upcoming takeover.

No injuries or spills are reported in a train derailment near Dyersville in eastern Iowa.

Ethanol companies shares fell with the broader market Monday amid growing investor worries that the ongoing credit crisis will dampen the global economy.

Researchers attempting to make the production of corn-based ethanol more efficient may not have needed to leave the farm.

Ethanol companies, including the nation's second largest producer, are learning some difficult lessons about the downside of commodities hedging.

Ethanol maker VeraSun Energy said Wednesday it delayed opening a newly constructed facility because of weak margins for the biofuel, the third time in month the company has postponed a start-up.

The US move to biofuels has been a remarkably successful experiment in renewable energy promotion despite its inadvertent, and probably exaggerated, effect on higher agricultural prices.  But the industry's future lies in next generation, non food-derived  biofuels.

Senate Republicans asked environmental regulators to use their power to halt the country's ethanol output expansion plans amid rising food prices.

The ethanol industry, once highly touted as a home-grown, alternative energy source, is struggling to retain its diminishing luster.