By DAVE KITCHELL, Pharos-Tribune staff writer
A few years ago, Joe Needham posed in the middle of a cornfield for a Pharos-Tribune story about the potential of an ethanol plant in Cass County.
On Monday night, he stood before the Cass County Planning Commission asking for approval for a designation that can secure only the second ethanol plant built in Indiana.
Needham, general manager of The Andersons, an agribusiness company with offices near Logansport and Delphi, saw the commission vote 8-0 to approve an Economic Revitalization Area designation for 5 acres of The Andersons' facility in Clymers southwest of Logansport on Ind. 25. The designation clears the way for the Cass County Council to grant tax abatement for an $86 million plant for up to 10 years. The council meets at 9 a.m. Friday.
The possible Cass County plant was first reported in the Pharos-Tribune earlier this year. Other locations mentioned for Indiana plants are in Marion and Rensselaer. State Sen. Tom Weatherwax, R-Logansport, who is employed by The Andersons, carried energy legislation in the 2005 session of the Indiana General Assembly.
Needham told the commission that a new plant would create at least 33 jobs. The average wage for the positions is $45,000, but depending on the size of the plant, up to 46 jobs may be added.
"We're excited to see it has a possibility of happening in Cass County," Needham said.
What will definitely be added if the plant opens is more money for area corn producers. Skip Kuker, Logansport-Cass County Economic Development Foundation president, said the plant would increase prices 15 to 20 cents a bushel. Kuker said part of the value added aspect of the plant are the additional jobs for what is a trucking-based industry.
"Cass County has been a good place for us to do business," Needham said.
Plans call for the plant to be larger than the only other ethanol plant in the state, Nu Energy in South Bend. That plant opened in the 1980s. While Nu Energy has filed for bankruptcy twice, Needham said the economics of ethanol plants have made it more viable for companies such as The Andersons to enter the market. The Andersons, which is publicly traded, has had stock prices rising from $8 to $32 a share in recent years. What could start out as a facility producing 40 million gallons annually could eventually produce up to 110 million gallons. Needham said the plant may not be the first one The Andersons builds in the Midwest.
There is potential for expansion of the Clymers site for biodiesel production. Although ethanol is made from corn, biodiesel utilizes soybeans. Needham said the ethanol operation would only take up about 5 of the 160 acres The Andersons owns in Cass County and there is ample room for a soy diesel facility.
Needham, along with Nick Conrad of The Andersons' Maumee, Ohio, office, said the Clymers location is well-suited for an ethanol plant because of its access to rail and highways. The facility, which was operated as a Bunge grain plant before it was sold in 1994 to The Andersons, is served by Norfolk Southern. Ind. 25 has a short access to the plant off Cass County Road 325N.
"This appears to be the right place to do ethanol," Needham said.
Charles Wilson, a southeastern Cass County farmer who serves on the commission, said the move is a strategic one for ethanol production in the United States.
"East of here, there's nothing," he said. "I've said for years that would be the place to put it."
Needham said his dream is to make the Clymers plant the first ethanol plant opened by The Andersons, but he said the company is moving ahead with plans in Michigan and Ohio.
Craig Williams, a Cass County Extension Educator who serves on the commission, said a byproduct of ethanol also is being tested for use as an animal feed.
The Andersons does plan to move forward with steps to secure an air emissions permit for the plant.
Ethanol production technology has improved in recent years, Needham said, stretching the amount of fuel that can be produced with a bushel from 2.4 gallons to 2.7 gallons.
Aside from the jobs created, the sales tax revenue from a 20 million-gallon a year plant would be approximately $700,000 during construction and $350,000 annually once in operation.
Kuker said in his analysis that a facility similar to the one The Andersons is considering for Cass County was built in Buffalo County, Neb., three years ago. Indirect economic impact for the plant was estimated at $3 million, with direct taxes generating $1.2 million and indirect taxes generating another $400,000.
A typical plant producing 40 million gallons a year generates revenue of $60 million annually with up to 70 percent of the dollars spent in a 75-mile radius. The one-time construction impact is $150 million, employing about 1,500.
© 2005 The Logansport Pharos-Tribune.