Riverstone Holdings, The Carlyle Group and Green Earth Fuels to Build Two Biodiesel Facilities in Houston and New Orleans

New York, NY – Riverstone Holdings, LLC ("Riverstone"), The Carlyle Group, and Green Earth Fuels, LLC ("Green Earth Fuels") today announced plans to build two biodiesel facilities located on the Gulf Coast. Each facility will have the capacity to produce forty-three million gallons of biodiesel per year and is expected to be in production by mid to late 2007. Construction on the first facility, in the Houston Ship Channel, is expected to begin in August 2006. Construction on the second facility, in New Orleans, is expected to begin in October 2006. Carlyle/Riverstone Renewable Energy Infrastructure Fund I, L.P. ("CRREIF") will own a controlling interest in Green Earth Fuels, with management and minority shareholders owning the balance. Green Earth Fuels will in turn own 100% of the Houston and New Orleans facilities.

The facilities are each expected to create 14 jobs as well as an additional 30 indirect jobs in service of the plant. Construction-related jobs are expected to range from approximately 50 people, to a peak of 150.

Biodiesel is a renewable diesel equivalent, and is derived from biological sources such as vegetable oils and animal fats. Biodiesel is non-toxic, contains minimal or no sulfur, and has significantly fewer emissions than petroleum-based diesel when burned.

"We are very excited to partner with the team at Green Earth Fuels. They bring a professional level of discipline and energy industry experience necessary to excel in this growing segment of the energy industry. We expect to see large growth in the biodiesel industry in North America and look forward to building additional facilities beyond these initial two plants with Green Earth Fuels. Biodiesel and ethanol will play an increasing role in reducing emissions and helping to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels." said Stephen Schaefer, Managing Director of Riverstone.

"With its extensive experience and capability in the energy sector and its dedication to commercializing renewable energy, Riverstone is the perfect partner," says Gregory L. Bafalis, CEO of Green Earth Fuels. "Green Earth Fuels is pursuing a strategy that provides the requisite scale, product quality and streamlined logistics necessary to reliably supply biodiesel to leading energy industry participants. Riverstone’s financial backing and strategic position in the energy industry will enable us to rapidly execute our plan."

Trinity Capital LLC, a boutique investment bank based in Los Angeles, acted as financial advisor to Green Earth Fuels.

About Green Earth Fuels
Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Green Earth Fuels, LLC is focused on the development of petroleum-friendly biodiesel infrastructure that provides the requisite scale, product quality and streamlined logistics necessary to reliably supply leading energy industry participants. The company is led by a management team with over 50 years of collective experience in developing, financing, building and operating energy production facilities throughout the world. Green Earth Fuels biodiesel facilities will be embedded within the existing petroleum complex and will employ the rigorous quality standards and processes necessary to conform to both ASTM-D6751 and BQ9000 biodiesel specifications. For more information see, www.greenearthfuelsllc.com/ .