BY CHRISTINA M. SEILER, Rochester Sentinel News Editor
Whether its proposed ethanol plant is built in Marshall County or Fulton County, Indiana Renewable Fuels is still on schedule to meet a targeted build date, President Glen Bode said.
He declined to reveal that date.
The group has rezoning requests pending in both Marshall and Fulton counties. It also has groups of neighbors upset in both counties.
Bode said Friday that recent attention being paid to the Marshall County site does not indicate Fulton County is eliminated from the plant siting process.
"Our position hasn't changed, in that we're continuing to evaluate both sites," he said.
A hearing on the rezoning of a 173-acre piece of land south of Argos - bounded by Old U.S. 31 and the Fulton County Railroad and 19th Road and 18th Road - is at 7 p.m. Sept. 11 at Argos High School. Marshall County and Argos plan commissions will jointly hear the request for rezoning from agriculture to heavy industrial.
A hearing on the Fulton County Plan Commission's recommendation for a Fulton County rezoning from agriculture to industrial is at 10:30 a.m. Monday in the Fulton County Office Building. It will be conducted by Fulton County Commissioners.
The Fulton County rezoning request involves 127 acres west of County Road 100 East and 330 acres east of County Road 100 East, all south of Indiana 110.
Both sites are along the Fulton County Railroad, a key component to the plant planning, Bode said.
"Transportation in general is extremely important," Bode said. "When you look at siting an ethanol plant, the first thing you need is feed stock, which in this case is corn. The second thing you need, in moving commodity products, is good transportation."
The privately-owned Fulton County Railroad is the only railroad that runs from the south side of Rochester north to the Norfolk Southern Corp.'s line at Argos.
Argos opponents say the plant will require seven sidings. Bode said he could not confirm that.
"I've never heard it's going to be exactly seven. When you look at constructing the rail configuration for a plant like this, there's a lot of variables that come into play that might influence the number you need," he said.
There have to be at least three, he said. Two for outgoing ethanol and distillers grain and one for inbound corn. The final number is subject to final plans by rail and site engineers, Bode said.
An ethanol plant needs a steady supply of water.
How much water varies from season to season, Bode said. Demand for water is higher in the summer than winter.
"A large portion is used in the cooling process," Bode said. He referred The Sentinel to Andy Perdue, a civil engineer with the firm of Weaver Boos, Chicago, for an exact figure on water usage for a 100-million-gallon ethanol plant.
The plant will require 1.44 million to 1.58 million gallons of water day, according to Perdue's figures of 1,000 to 1,100 gallons per second.
"Irrespective where the final site location is, there will be a thorough testing process for the water system," Bode said.
That testing will include the installation of test wells to determine how much water can be produced and whether it will be enough to meet the plant's needs.
"We're not going to be able to dry up anybody's well to do this," Perdue said. "It's a very controlled situation."
He said Indiana Department of Environmental Management becomes involved and will monitor the water table and condition offsite from the plant, as far as miles away.
Concerns by Argos area resident Julie Grzesiak that the plant could draw leachate from the County Line Landfill into the aquifer, and subsequently, into residential drinking wells, are unfounded, Perdue said.
"That landfill is so heavily regulated," he said. "The landfill's not leaking now."
His company does work at County Line Landfill, Perdue said. "Things from a groundwater standpoint are operating as they should," he said. "I'm not aware of any concern with the landfill and the water."
Bode said work on a Tax Incremental Financing District for the proposed Fulton County site stopped because it wasn't needed yet.
IRF brought legal and financial consultants to a joint meeting of Fulton County officials and asked for the district to be formed as a financial incentive for the plant.
The investors wanted the district so the property tax money they pay could be recaptured and turned into working capital, in the form of bonds, for the plant construction
"With respect to the TIF district ... we're not interested in having those TIF bonds issued here this early. We don't want that process to continue to the point of issuing those bonds. We don't need those funds yet and we don't want to be paying interest on money we don't need," he said.
Bode said the issue of timeliness is always on his mind as plant development and planning occurs.
"Timeliness is an important issue. We have a build date which we definitely want to achieve," he said, declining to reveal that date or the project schedule.
"To the extent we can achieve that build date we are not delaying our project," he said.
Bode was asked if there's a chance IRF's plans will fall through.
"I think we're extremely optimistic this project's going to go forward, with site selection being the big issue at this point," he said.
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