SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – CSX Transportation (CSXT) today announced that POET was one of the winners of its annual Chemical Safety Excellence Award (CSEA) – an award that reflects a commitment to rail car maintenance and safety as well as continuous safe tank car loading.

“This award reflects the combined efforts of many dedicated POET team members,” said Jeff Broin, CEO of POET. “The award is particularly meaningful considering that 2007 was the first year our plants produced more than one billion gallons of ethanol.”

For 2007, CSXT will recognize 64 shippers. To be eligible for the award, each company must ship 600 or more railcars per year on CSXT and have no non-accidental releases during the entire year. This year’s total of 64 winners is an increase from 62 winners in 2006 and 50 winners in 2005. Shippers include companies from the Chemicals, Fertilizer, Emerging Markets, Agriculture and Metals Merchandise commodity markets. One hundred CSX shippers are eligible to receive the award.

“The goal of the CSEA is to reward those shippers who keep their rail fleets well-maintained and repaired and who provide safety training for their employees,” said Dean Piacente, CSX Vice President-Chemicals & Fertilizer. “At CSX, Safety is a Way of Life. We need the support of our customers to help keep our employees, our communities, and our customer’s employees as safe as possible and these customers accomplished that without fail in 2007.” A complete list of award winners is available at http://www.csx.com.

About POET
POET, the largest ethanol producer in the world according to the Renewable Fuels Association, is an established leader in the biorefining industry through project development, design and construction, research and development, plant management, and marketing. The 20-year old company currently operates 22 production facilities in the United States with five more in construction or under development. The company produces and markets more than 1.25 billion gallons of ethanol annually. For more information, go to http://www.poetenergy.com

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