Deal near for Fulton County biodiesel plant

The Rochester Sentinel

Greenfuels LLC plans to close on property for its proposed biodiesel plant next week.

The location is southwest of Indiana 110 and County Road 200 East.

Greenfuels, a Delaware limited liability corporation with an office in Indianapolis, received rezoning in March for 32 acres owned by Jimmy and Suzanne Swan.

Since they came to county officials for the rezoning, company officials have decided to build a plant capable of producing 20 million gallons of fuel per year, said board member Len Robinson. They originally planned to start at 10 million gallons a year and work their way up to 20 million.

Robinson, who also is the company's general counsel, said Greenfuels' board is "meandering our way through the process to get it all done."

He said the main emphasis right now is raising capital. "We are continuing our efforts to lock down the financing required," Robinson said.

"This is not the best time to finance," he noted. "Our underwriter brought us his awareness of the tremendous liquidity and credit crunch back in July."

He said they expected it would take 30 days to gain financing. "He came back after 45 days looking like a whipped puppy," Robinson said.

He believes a formal announcement about the status of the plant will be made in about six weeks.

"We are confident enough we are closing on the land," Robinson said.

The plant is expected to operate around the clock and employ eight people at $15 or more per hour.

The Fulton County Plan Commission approved the Greenfuels rezoning with nine special conditions, including the installation of a passing lane on Indiana 110 and the main truck entrance being off Indiana 110.