(Spirit Lake)– Plans to build an ethanol plant just west of Superior cleared an important first hurdle Tuesday.
The Dickinson county board of supervisors voted unanimously to approve a 15-year tax abatement for the project. They approved a new proposal brought to the table Tuesday by Project Developer Brian Peterson of Lawton resulting in a 100 percent abatement for 12 years and a 50 percent abatement on improvements the last three years. A stipulation was attached to the resolution giving the county authority to cancel it in the event anything other than ethanol or ethanol-derived products should ever be produced at the facility.
Peterson was obviously pleased with the supervisors action, but he says a number of other hurdles, including zoning issues and permits, need to be overcome for the plant to become reality. Most important among those is financing. Peterson says he’ll need to collect 30-some million dollars in capital, then borrow an additional 40 to 50 million from a senior lender.
Supervisor Chair David Gottsche asked for a show of hands at Tuesday’s meeting as to who was in favor of the ethanol plant project. Everyone in the crowd that overflowed the Dickinson county court room raised their hand.
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