BY SUSAN ERLER, Times of Northwest Indiana
A planned $66 million ethanol production plant in Northwest Indiana could face competition from an even bigger plant planned for Cloverdale, southwest of Indianapolis.
Gov. Mitch Daniels announced Tuesday that Westmont, Ill.-based Putnam Ethanol LLC selected Cloverdale as the site for a refinery and ethanol plant capable of producing more than 60 million gallons of ethanol annually from more than 20 million bushels of corn.
The $120 million Putnam plant is expected to employ 40 in professional, skilled and semi-skilled jobs, according to Daniels' office.
Midland Impact LLP, a farmers co-operative with more than 5,000 members, will supply Indiana-grown corn to the facility, the governor's announcement said.
The Cloverdale plant is expected to be up and running in August 2006.
That won't hamper plans for an ethanol plant nearly ready to break ground on 69 acres near Rensselaer, in Jasper County, said Keith Gibson, general manager of Iroquois Bio-Energy, the company developing the distillery for making fuel out of corn.
"They're far enough away they won't affect us," Gibson said. "They shouldn't impact us at all."
The Iroquois plant is expected to process about 14.3 million bushels of locally grown grain annually into 40 millions gallons of fuel grade ethanol, an alternative to fossil fuel.
Iroquois is nearing the end of a years-long effort to gather equity for the project.
"We're just waiting on the bank paperwork to come in," Gibson said. "It should be any day now."
Iroquois turned to private investors late last year for nearly $10 million needed to secure loans for the project.
An initial public offering was terminated late last year and nearly $4.5 million returned to investors after the Securities and Exchange Commission determined an amendment to the original offering substantially altered it.
Maumee, Ohio-based agri-business Andersons Inc. invested $1 million in the Iroquois project early this year, according to the company's May 2005 quarterly report.
Gibson wouldn't say who the other investors are, citing privacy concerns.
The Iroquois plant is expected to be operational with about 14 months of the groundbreaking and employ about 30, Gibson said.
Several million dollars worth of tax and other incentives provided by state, local and Putnam County officials helped land the ethanol plant in Cloverdale, said Weston Sedgwick, spokesman for the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.
They include Hoosier Business Investment tax credits worth up to 10 percent of a qualified investment; Economic Development for a Growing Economy tax credits, and funds from an industrial development grant to help cover the cost of infrastructure.
Training grants will help prepare the work force.
"We're talking about several million of dollars in incentives," Sedgwick said.
The growing market for ethanol is able to support more than one production plant in the state, Sedgwick said.
"There's definitely a demand for it, especially with the high gas prices," he said.
Copyright © 2005 nwitimes.com.