I would like to get
local citizens thoughts, ideas, questions and opinions on the proposed
Ethanol Plant to be located approximately 4 miles east of town.
In the Survey taken in 2005 Citizens were ask to
prioritize 6 areas of 
developments.
As you can see,retail/commercial development ranked with the highest
priority followed by industrial development which was close behind.
As I’m sure you are aware – getting a large industrial
development project to locate in a rural area is no small task. But with
the nature of this type of industry, local talent help from other business (NPPD)
and state agencies, we have a real shot.
As
far as where economic development efforts should be focused, the survey
points out the highest rated area were “attracting new business & industry”.
This being the case, the City has spent funds to
secure land options allowing the City the OPTION to purchase approximately
200 acres of ground with highway frontage and railroad access for the next
two years. The cost of this option was $4,000.00. With this option in
place the City now has something tangible to offer any potential retail,
commercial or industrial development project which may want to locate in the
area.
At this time there is a development group interested
in the site and the local area. It is my understanding with the information
provided to me that they have been working on the feasibility of locating an
Ethanol Plant on this site. According to the latest information that I have
which indicates that a representative of this development group has been in
Minneapolis working on plant issues, permits, insurance, builder etc. They
have preliminary info from their feasibility study that recommends a minimum
of 50 million gallons per year. They are still preparing a business plan,
looking at the feasibility study, interviewing design/construction teams,
and hoping to be in Alma soon with the idea of talking with interested
parties and updating us with their progress.
This being the case, I think we as a community have to
seriously think about both the positive and negative impacts of having an
Ethanol Plant located in the local area.
As the graphic indicates below, the economic benefit
of an Ethanol Plant can be huge. Approximately 45 new living wage jobs,
substantial increase in local valuation helping with costs in property tax,
helping area producers with the availability of the plants by-products and
possible increase in price of corn. Increases in retail and housing sales
just to name a few. I have heard no one disputing the benefits of the
Ethanol Plant and I think that everyone is pretty much aware of what a big
impact it could have on the area but I have heard from some on the possible
negative impacts.
The problems that have been told to me are as follows:
1.
Water quantity needed to operate an Ethanol Plant.
a.
“It’s going to suck all the water in the area and we will not have
any to flush our toilets”.
b.
“It’s going to use millions of gallons of water per minute”.
2.
Air quality around the Ethanol Plant.
a.
“It’s going to smell terrible”.
b.
“The smell is going to drive people off the lake”.
3.
Visuals.
a.
“No one is going to want to look out their window and see a big
production facility”.
b.
“Who is going to want to come to the lake if they have to look at an
Ethanol Plant bellowing large plums of white smoke”?
4.
Waste pollution.
a.
“It’s going to pollute the lake”.
After some of these concerns were raised, the same
questions were put to the people who should know. In discussions about
water with the company proposing the building of the Ethanol Plant it was
reported that they could actually be looking at inputs as low as 200 gallons
per minute and also recycling the waste back into the system. Presently
according to Hugh Stirts with the Nebraska Department of Environmental
Quality the older plants use approximately 6 to 7 gals of water per 1 gal of
ethanol produced. He also mentioned that they have been told the newer
plants can use 4 gals or less of water per 1 gal of ethanol produced.
As far as visually with the large plums of white
smoke, again, Hugh Stirts stated that the smoke or any emissions from the
plant are regulated by the air permit not only for the contents but also the
opacity (how dense the omissions are). The air permit would regulate
anything that is emitted into the air which could affect human health,
environmental quality or property.
As for the waste pollution, when this questions was
put to Mr. Stirts his response was “there is no hazardous waste”.
Again, I would like to get local citizens thoughts,
ideas, questions and opinions on the proposed Ethanol Plant. Please click
the link below and let me know what you think.
Thanks in advance for your input.
CITIZEN
INPUT
(click)
