Ethanol and biodiesel plants across the country have struggled to recruit enough investors for their projects. Others have finished plants but don't have enough money to operate.

Cole Gustafson is a bioproducts specialist at North Dakota State University. He says the biofuels industry is "kind of at a standstill" and he predicts changes. There was a rush to build biofuel plants when gas prices spiked because corn and soybeans could be purchased cheap to make fuel.  Investors rushed into the market, but then commodity prices spiked.

Money for new and existing projects dried up.