By MIKE SNYDER, Commercial Review

GREENVILLE, Ohio - Preliminary site work has begun on an ethanol plant here by a company which had initially expressed interest in a rural Dunkirk location.

The Andersons Inc., which operates a large grain terminal in Richland Township just east of Dunkirk, announced in a press release today that it has broken ground at an industrial park site in the Darke County city about 35 miles southeast of Portland.

The Andersons had initially said it hoped to build a plant along county road 1000 West across from the grain terminal operation.

The Greenville plant, which could begin operations in the first three months of 2008, is expected to have up to 40 employees. It is scheduled to produce 110 million gallons of ethanol annually, along with 350,000 tons of dried distiller's grain, which is used as a supplement in animal feed.

The company has received a draft air permit for operation of the plant. Last week, the Greenville City Council approved zoning changes permitting operation of the plant, and also extended an enterprise zone which will allow tax abatements to be granted on the project.

The Andersons, which is based in Maumee, Ohio, currently owns or has a stake in three ethanol plants. The Greenville site would be the company's first plant in Ohio.

The Greenville plant would put one plant in each of four contiguous counties in eastern Indiana and western Ohio (Jay, Randolph, Mercer and Darke).

Premier Ethanol is building a plant southwest of Portland, while Cardinal Ethanol plans a plant midway between Winchester and Union City.

Mercer County Ethanol's site is east of Celina, Ohio.
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