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Ag audience gets ethanol plant update
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[MARCH 24, 2005]
Sara Wilcox, the
manager in charge of project development for Illini Bio-Energy, gave
an update Wednesday morning at the Logan County Ag Breakfast.
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She reported that $25,325,000 in
investments has been obtained to date for the project -- an average
of about $33,000 from each of their 700 members. Other separate
sources indicated that this was the largest amount to date obtained
in the shortest period of time for the development of an ethanol
production facility. She
stressed that the purpose of the Illini Bio-Energy facility is to
convert surplus grain to ethanol, a renewable fuel source. The
company aims to benefit area farmers by increasing corn prices some
4-5 cents per bushel.
Wilcox also pointed out that some
service stations in the area were already selling E85, an 85 percent
ethanol gasoline blend for flexible fuel vehicles. She said the
advantage from E85 was clear, since the price of E85 was about 60
cents lower than regular unleaded gasoline this morning.
The Illini Bio-Energy plant will
produce ethanol, low-cost carbon dioxide and livestock feed from the
corn they buy locally. They expect that the economy of the area will
be increased by about $1.5 million per year. Wilcox added that
although the plant would directly employ about 38 people, they
expected that there would be about 70 ancillary jobs created in the
county because of the plant's presence.
In preparing for this project,
Illini Bio-Energy surveyed the whole Midwest south of I-80 from
Indiana to Missouri. The area north of Lincoln returned the best
statistics for success. Access to railroads, availability of water,
available grain sources and access to multiple highways placed
Lincoln at the top of the list. The other available site which suits
the needs of an ethanol plant is not in Logan County.
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 Several weeks ago Illini Bio-Energy
signed an option contract on the proposed property, and since that
time has employed experts to determine if site is appropriate for
the company's use. They are awaiting that final determination. There
are currently 16 of these plants in operation around the country.
Wilcox finished by thanking the
local news organizations for their balanced reporting on the ethanol
plant issues. She remarked that there is a great deal of
misinformation out there in the media and on the Web. She
recommended their website at
www.illinibioenergy.com
and www.ethanol.org as sites
that stick to the facts.
[Jim
Youngquist]
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