(Spirit Lake)– The Dickinson county board of supervisors Tuesday heard detailed plans to build an ethanol plant just west of Superior.
Representatives with Superior Ethanol, LLC, the company that’s proposing to build the plant, were on hand, along with Brian Peterson, the Project Developer and Steve Cohr of Fagan Contracting of Granite Falls, Minnesota…a design builder.
Cohr addressed several facets of the proposed project, along with potential concerns. He says high-tech equipment would be installed that would do away with any odors coming from the plant. He said noise shouldn’t be an issue, and no wastewater will be discharged from the plant.
Cohr added that all of the infrastructure needed for the plant is already in place, and that talks are under way with the Union Pacific Railroad to build a siding, as the plant will rely heavily on rail for shipping.
The project has a total estimated cost of 80 million dollars. Tentative plans call for construction to start in August of this year with production getting underway in October, 2007. The plant would process 18 and-a-half million bushels of corn and produce new taxable property values of between seven and-a-half and 10 million dollars. It would produce about 50 million gallons of ethanol annually along with 160-thousand tons of distiller grain.
The proposed project has support from the city of Superior, even though the plant would be built just west of its city limits. Mayor Everette Houge says it would be one of the best things to happen for that town in a long time.
Peterson says the only assistance he’s requesting from the county is a freeze on property value for 15 years. The supervisors have set December 20th as the date for a public hearing on the request.
Copyright GCI all rights reserved. Any republication or broadcast of this material is strictly prohibited.
