By DAVE KITCHELL, Pharos-Tribune staff writer
Joe Needham says his company doesn't want to play a waiting game.
"It could be fatal," said Needham, who is one of the lead players in the construction of a new ethanol plant by The Andersons near Clymers.
Needham told the Cass County Council Tuesday his company could wait another year to determine whether a new process called dry fractionation will be more efficient in extracting key elements from corn for ethanol production. But as the old adage goes, time is money. In a year, The Andersons could determine the technology is either too expensive or that the loss of a year in ethanol production could be a negative for the operation.
"This is a new and emerging technology," Needham told six council members attending a special meeting. "Assessing technology could lose a year."
The council voted 6-0 to reaffirm a July 1 vote to create an Economic Revitalization Area near the existing grain operation owned by The Andersons near Clymers. The vote was taken because the first vote was not done within the two-week legal advertisement time required under state law.
In approving a resolution, the council also approved a 10-year tax abatement for the new plant, and the plans have changed for the better since the July 1 approval. The Andersons has since decided to add operations for a carbon dioxide processing facility. CO 2 is used in the manufacture of dry ice, which is used by companies such as Tyson in Logansport and Indiana Packers in Delphi to ship meat. While The Andersons may not directly employ the workers at that plant, it will indirectly employ them through a contracted agreement.
The only concerns about the ethanol plant pertained to odor. In response to a question from Dr. Ralph Anderson, a spokesman said the technology used in the new plant will reduce the smell to a level less than can be sensed at older corn processing plants. Noise also will not be noticeably different, the spokesman said.
Bill Shepler, who was hired by The Andersons to perform some analysis of the plant, said the smell residents near the plant will be able to detect will be similar to the smell of yeast rolls.
Nolan "Skip" Kuker president of the Logansport-Cass County Economic Development Foundation, said plans for the production at the plant have increased since the original proposal was considered. The plant will produce 110 million gallons a year and employ up to 42 people.
Groundbreaking for the plant should happen sometime this fall, Needham said.
Jim Scheetz, a representative of the Plumbers and Pipefitters Union of South Bend, said at a hearing on the revitalization area that qualified workers who built the South Bend Nu Energy ethanol plant can add value to the construction of a plant here if workers from the first project are hired for jobs on this one.
© 2005 The Logansport Pharos-Tribune.