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RISING
Virent: The Madison-based bioenergy firm announced its largest federal award to date late last week, landing up to $13.4 million in grants from the Energy Department for a process that converts corn leftovers to jet fuel. The award is the largest of six grants totaling $36 million doled out by the department, and caps two weeks of good news for the firm. Earlier this month, Virent announced that it has successfully produced biogasoline from corn stalks and pine harvest forest residuals. And the company also announced it has created Paraxylene — a chemical used in packaging usually derived from petroleum — entirely from plant sugars.
MIXED
Economic outlook: As lawmakers take up his controversial state budget bill, Gov. Scott Walker says Wisconsin’s economy is going in the right direction despite some economic indicators. Walker tells the Wisconsin Real Estate and Economic Outlook Conference in Madison that $1.27 billion in budget cuts over the next two years will yet produce $1.44 billion worth of savings and that 25,000 new private sector jobs were created in Wisconsin from January through April. And his advice to potential investors in Wisconsin is that they shouldn’t be put off by the political uncertainty of the last few months — the administration’s working for long-term sustainability. But UW Foundation President and CEO Michael Knetter counters that while Wisconsin’s economy is faring pretty well in the short term, its long-term outlook is shakier. Knetter tells the conference that the state has been swimming too slowly as global tides shift to technology-based economies. In addition, the latest economic outlook from the state Revenue Department projects Wisconsin will add 183,400 jobs through 2014, which would leave Walker well short of his promise to create 250,000 jobsduring his first term. The report projects the state’s unemployment rate, which was 7.3 percent in April, should decline to 7.2 percent in 2011 and 6.7 percent in 2012 before hitting 5.5 percent in 2014. That would still be above the state’s pre-recession unemployment rate of 4.3 percent during the first quarter of 2008. Revenue also projects personal income will grow 4.6 percent in 2011 and 3.4 percent in 2012, behind the national forecasted growth and slower than in previous recoveries. The state’s business lobby, however, is much more optimistic. One year ago, just one in ten respondents to a Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce survey of company leaders in Wisconsin believed the state was going in the right direction. In this year’s survey, that number stands at 88 percent.
FALLING
Craft brewers: Legislation inserted into the state budget that backers say is designed to prohibit large breweries such as Anheuser-Busch from establishing brewery branch distribution centers in Wisconsin will harm small craft brewers, says Deb Carey, founder and president of New Glarus Brewing Co. The legislation would exempt brewers that manufacture less than 300,000 barrels per year from many provisions and allow them sell their own beer directly to retailers and to individuals at an off-site outlet, but it would take away separate wholesaler’s licenses and class B retail licenses. Instead, brewers would be issued brewer’s permits by the Department of Revenue that would permit brewing, direct sales to retailers, and certain retail sales as part part of the brewery. Carey says having a standalone wholesaler’s license that allows the distribution of many brands and class B licenses is an important asset for brewers. Carey, who’s on the legislative committee of the Craft Brewers Guild, said craft brewers are not pleased with the provision and have been denied meetings with the governor and legislative leadership on the issue. Tim Roby, spokesman for the Wisconsin Beer Distributors Association, said the provision is aimed at streamlining the regulatory process and preventing large brewers like Anheuser-Busch from monopolizing the market and restricting the brands they sell. He said the legislation ensures that craft brewers will be able to continue to grow and ensures their products can get to market through direct distribution or through independent distributors.
