BY CHRISTINA M. SEILER, Rochester Sentinel News Editor
Indiana Renewable Fuels would rather build its ethanol plant near Argos than in Fulton County, Fulton Economic Development Corp. Director Tom Tucker told county commissioners Friday.
Reason: The Argos site is adjacent to the Norfolk Southern rail line.
Tucker said Advanced Bioenergy LLC President Revis Stephenson III "told me, point blank to my face, given the two sites ... their preference is the Argos site," Tucker said during a year-end wrap-up session with the Fulton County Commission.
A Fulton County site, southeast of Indiana 110 and Old U.S. 31, has been rezoned industrial at the request of the plant.
Rezoning of 250 acres of agricultural land adjoining the Norfolk Southern Corp. rail yard is being considered by Argos officials.
They approved a rezoning request Dec. 18 but will start the process over on Jan. 8, with a second hearing Jan. 24, because of public notice shortcomings.
The Argos site is south of 17th Road, between Juniper Road on the west and Ironwood Road on the east. Argos resident Ted Ummel, an attorney and opponent of the plant, told town officials Dec. 20 he did not believe ethanol plant officials notified enough neighbors for the rezoning action to be legal, area news agencies reported.
"As I said all along, it's a poker game," Tucker said. He met a few times in the past couple months with the ethanol investors, he said.
"We have things in Fulton County to offer them they can't get in Argos," Tucker said. One is the ease with which methane could be piped from the Four County Landfill, which is across Old U.S. 31 from the Fulton County site.
"In Fulton County, it's just punch under the road and go," Tucker said. To bring the methane to the Argos site would mean obtaining easements and more legal work, he added.
He acknowledged Fulton County can't compare to Argos when it comes to the cost of rail service. "We don't even stack up in any shape or form when it comes to that site up there," Tucker said.
Rail and transportation are big budget items for any grain operation, he said.
A lack of rail service is a competitive downfall for Fulton County at all times when it comes to development, Tucker said. "We're not likely to compete with others if rail is a differentiation," he added. "We shot ourselves in the foot when we tore the rails out."
"Rail service is increasingly important because of the cost of gasoline and because of a shortage of semi-truck drivers," Tucker said. "They can't put more trucks on the road. They can't find enough drivers. It's just by necessity they have to put more cars on the rail."
Tucker said he anticipates the ethanol investors will be making a decision about their plant location within a month. The investors have until the first week of February to record the rezoning of the Fulton County land and make it official.
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