PACIFIC ETHANOL BREAKS GROUND IN BURLEY, ID

FRESNO, CA--Pacific Ethanol Inc. announced that it will soon begin construction on a 50 million gallons per year ethanol facility in Burley, ID, mid-way between the fuel markets of Boise, ID, and Salt Lake City, UT. The company also said that it expects to begin construction on the 12 month project by February 15, 2007.

The Burley, ID, site is located on a parcel of 177 acres, with direct access to both the Union Pacific Railroad and Interstate 84. Burley, ID, is in the Magic Valley region of the state, where a resident population of over 300,000 dairy cattle and 100,000 feedlot cattle will be sufficient to consume all wet distiller's grain from the new ethanol facility. A fuel blending rack is within eight miles of the plant site.

CEO Neil Koehler observed that "The Burley, ID, plant expands our production footprint to new markets in the Western United States, from existing markets in California, Oregon and Colorado. Moreover, the Burley plant fits well with our destination model and will serve local markets for both fuel and feed with significant production cost advantages over products imported from the Midwest.

"We would like to thank the city of Burley for being so helpful to us in the development of this project. We look forward to bringing new jobs and economic growth to the local community."

Pacific Ethanol owns and operates an ethanol plant in Madera County, CA, is constructing a second plant in Boardman, OR, and owns a 42 percent interest in Front Range Energy LLC, which owns and operates an ethanol plant in Windsor, CO. Pacific Ethanol's goal is to become the leading marketer and producer of renewable fuels in the Western United States.

In May 2006, Pacific Ethanol completed an equity funding of $138 million which provided the Company with sufficient cash to accelerate its stated goal of completing five ethanol production facilities totaling 220 million gallons of capacity per year by the middle of 2008 and its plans to complete additional ethanol production facilities, increasing total capacity to 420 million gallons per year by the end of 2010.