Orion Ethanol Acquires Wet Milling Facility and Other Assets of Dimmitt Ethanol



Company plans to develop integrated renewable fuels campus

PRATT, Kan., March 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/—Orion Ethanol (OTC
Bulletin Board: OEHL) announces that it has acquired a corn fructose wet
milling facility located in Dimmitt, Texas from Dimmitt Ethanol, L.P.
("Dimmitt") for $2.5 million in cash due at closing, a subordinated
promissory note of $2.5 million bearing 3.5% annual interest, and 8 million
common shares.

The Dimmitt facility, idle at the time of purchase, previously operated
as a corn fructose facility with a grinding capacity of over 60,000 bushels
of corn per day. Orion Ethanol plans to convert the facility into a fully
integrated renewable fuels campus in three phases over 3 years. The first
phase encompasses converting the corn fructose wet milling facility into a
60 million gallon per year ethanol plant and 10 million gallon per year
edible oil extraction facility. Phases two and three will consist of adding
a 10 million gallon per year cellulose-to-ethanol process, a 12 million
gallon per year bio-diesel plant, a 25,000 ton per year yeast plant, and a
60-75 Megawatt wind and biomethane based electrical generation facility.
The asset purchase brings with it approximately 1,200 surrounding acres and
a wind lease agreement. Orion is currently seeking strategic partners for
construction of a wind farm project at the site.

Mr. Patrick Barker, chairman of the board commented, “Dimmitt Ethanol’s
wet milling facility is the ideal platform upon which we plan to develop an
integrated renewable fuels campus that will include production of
cellulosic ethanol, biodiesel, biomethane, and wind power. This project
will help to horizontally diversify Orion across the energy spectrum,
building upon Orion Ethanol’s past success acquiring and developing our 55
million gallon per year dry-mill ethanol plant in Pratt, Kansas. Our
management team brings over 70 years of combined renewable fuels
development experience, including 12 successful plant start ups and
involvement in the development of cellulosic ethanol since 1992. We believe
this extensive experience will enable us to rapidly and cost-effectively
bring this new wet-mill facility on-line, the first step in launching our
renewable fuels campus.”