Gov. Terry Branstad, Sen. Chuck Grassley, and other dignitaries were in smiling attendance in October 2015 for the grand opening of the ethanol plant in Nevada, Iowa — the largest plant ever to turn cellulosic material, such as corn husks, into fuel.

“[F]rom conception to commercialization,” Grassley bragged in an op-ed in the Ames Tribune, “Iowa’s newest ethanol biorefinery is a by-product of Iowa ingenuity, innovation and investment.”