Wisconsin ethanol tycoons $104M in debt

In Wisconsin, the Oshkosh Northwestern is reporting that Paul and David Olsen have racked up debts of $104 million in relation to the implosion of the family ethanol business, including the bankruptcy at the 110-million-gallon Renew Energy ethanol plant in January 2009. At one time, the brothers owned interests in two ethanol plants, a crops service, as well as several farms and grain mills in Wisconsin.

“Matters out of their control just went spectacularly against them. And they weren’t the only ones,” Wisconsin Corn Growers Association Executive Director Bob Oleson told the Northwestern.  “The ethanol business has been turned upside-down.”