By Josh Kastrinsky, Reporter-Times
jkastrin@reportert.com
A group of Morgan County residents is seeking investors in an ethanol production project in south central Indiana.
Led by Morgan County resident John Webster, the group is incorporated as Heartland Renewable Fuels LLC. Webster is the spokesman for the group, which includes a three-member board of directors. Each board member represents a prominent farming family from the county, Webster said.
Ethanol is an alternative fuel to fossil fuel gasoline. Some critics have wondered if it takes more energy to produce than it creates and if the mileage per gallon is as good as fossil fuel. Webster's group is betting ethanol production will take off despite this debate.
The company's goals are to help ease American dependence on foreign oil and keep the workforce and profits local, Webster said. The more corn and other plants with high sugar content that Americans can use for ethanol production, he said, the more freedom from dependency.
In launching the project, the board members have been researching what requirements they have to fulfill to begin building a plant and hope to use local engineers to conduct feasibility studies, Webster said. The state might prefer bringing in outside officials to conduct the studies, but engineers educated in central Indiana can perform the task just as well.
The group envisions using local labor and investment to build the ethanol plant, Webster said, the plant might not be in Morgan County, though they do want it in south central Indiana.
Through their professional contacts in the area, Webster said the board hopes to develop a business plan for financing the project through local funds.
"Many professional friends will be volunteering," he said. "They just don't know it yet."
To increase public investment in the project, Webster said the company wants to make shares of the company available to any interested resident. Volunteers doing pro-bono work for the company will be compensated with stock options, he said, but the average investor should have the opportunity to own part of the project.
"The average person should be involved and have stock in this," Webster said. "If a guy working on the line at Harman-Becker wants stock in this, he can own a share of this company.
"If we sell stock in small blocks, it will be like the lottery...(but) I think the odds here are better than 10 million to one."