By ROBERT BANSER, Commercial-Review

DUNKIRK — Discussions are continuing regarding the possible location of an ethanol plant in the Dunkirk or Redkey area, a Jay County Development Corp. official told city council members here Monday night.

JCDC director Robert Quadrozzi said three different companies are still considering such a project and periodically asking him for information, which he considers to be a good sign.

“I’ve got a good feeling we’ll put an ethanol plant in this area,” Quadrozzi said.

The project is “still alive,” Quadrozzi said, adding that he was not able to give council members any sort of timetable at the present time. In December there was an indication that something would be announced by the end of January.

Quadrozzi said the companies are still studying their options and asking questions of local officials.

Dunkirk councilman James Doughty asked Quadrozzi if there was anything that city council members could do to help him out.

“The biggest thing is to remain positive about it (the proposal for an ethanol project),” Quadrozzi said.

So far Cardinal Ethanol of Winchester and The Andersons Inc., which operates a grain terminal just outside of Dunkirk, have both expressed interest in investigating the possibility of locating a large ethanol plant in this area. Also Quadrozzi said last week that a third company with facilities in South Dakota and Minnesota has also expressed an interest in locating an ethanol plant in this area.

Ethanol is a 200-proof alcohol produced from grain. It is blended with gasoline, normally in combinations of 90 percent gas/10 percent ethanol or 85/15 percent.

All three companies are studying their options and reviewing information relating to the selection of a site in this area, Quadrozzi told council members Monday evening.

He said no commitments have been made.

In other business Monday night Quadrozzi reported that the city’s tax abatement advisory committee was in agreement that Saint-Gobain Containers Corp. and S.D.P. Manufacturing Inc. were in compliance with their previously granted abatements.

Council members consequently voted to approve the companies’ annual compliance reports.

Also the advisory committee recommended and council approved a new abatement request for the purchase of additional manufacturing equipment by S.D.P. Quadrozzi said this would be a five-year tax abatement on machinery valued at $196,000.
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