Citizens against the ethanol plant location to meet tonight       

[MARCH 17, 2005]  Concerned Citizens of Logan County, a group against the ethanol plant location in Lincoln, will meet again Thursday at the West Lincoln Township building at 7 p.m.

Dan and Marilyn Meyer, Ron and Sharon Pierce, Gary and Ruth Freeman, and Brad and Angie Sheley are neighbors who live on 1200th Avenue behind the Eaton plant. The proposed ethanol plant would be across the street from their front yards. They hatched this fledgling organization as concerned neighbors getting together to talk about how the proposed ethanol plant might change their lives. While their initial concerns seemed to surround the value of their property, the list of their concerns has grown to include safety, environmental and financial issues.

The first meeting, which took place on March 7, drew a crowd of about 75 people from Lincoln and the area surrounding the proposed plant. The agenda at that first meeting was to alert concerned citizens that the proposed ethanol plant might endanger lives and affect property if it was located close to residential areas, schools and other facilities.

Dan Meyer spoke at the first meeting, citing the group's list of concerns and asking those in attendance to consider the risks. Meyer turned over the meeting to Brian Wrage of Atlanta, a member of the board of directors of Illini Bio-Energy. Wrage was invited to the meeting by Bill Sahs, a member of the Logan County Board. Wrage attempted to calm the fears of those in attendance, answering their questions to the best of his ability. The meeting ended with a straw vote among the audience confirming the concerns of the committee, and they pledged themselves to oppose the plant.

The proposed agenda for Thursday night's meeting is to get more people directly involved and bring about more organization to the group's efforts. The eight-person panel will again present the growing list of issues and concerns and hope that new people in the audience will hear and react to the message. The group has pledged to do everything out in the open and strive to keep the people of the county "in the loop."

Meyer reaffirmed that they were not against an ethanol plant locating in Logan County. He said that their only concern was the proposed location of the plant on Nicholson Road. They are currently circulating a petition to gather signatures opposing the Nicholson Road location for the ethanol plant.

Since the last meeting, the panel has drafted and sent a letter stating the issues to the EPA. They have gathered more facts about this type of plant and the results of locating this type of plant adjacent to their property, and adjacent to a town the size of Lincoln. Meyer said the group was currently working hard to gather factual information and has invited Illini Bio-Energy to send a spokesman to an open meeting in order to help confirm or dismiss the information they currently have about the proposed plant.

The CCLC has a website stating the issues and illustrating the information that they have gathered. You can surf to it on the Web at www.lincolnethanol.com. 

[Jim Youngquist]

Previous articles

• Residents say, 'Not in our backyard'
• Ethanol production: good for the community and the farmers?