Wayne Still Expects Ethanol Plant East Coast is Mum on the Project Turning Midwest Corn to Fuel.
By MIKE MORRISON
The economic outlook for corn-based ethanol might not be as high as an elephant’s eye, but plans for a plant in Wayne County remain on track.
The plant, proposed by East Coast Ethanol LLC, would distill 110 million gallons of ethanol a year from corn hauled by train from the Midwest. The finished product would be used as automobile fuel.
Officials of East Coast are tight-lipped about the project, but Wayne County Administrator Mike Deal said a timetable has been set.
“What they’ve told us is that everything is on schedule,” he said. “They said they’re going to start building in October, and that’s what we’re expecting.”
East Coast Ethanol has filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as it prepares to be publicly traded. A lawyer representing the company said federal regulations prevent company representatives from commenting while that process is under way.
Company representative Jeff Richardson said previously, however, that the company’s business model would make it economically feasible. It is much cheaper to transport corn than liquid ethanol, he said. Therefore, East Coast will transport the corn to plants in the region in which the ethanol would be used, rather than build plants in the Midwest and transport ethanol from there.
The savings in transportation costs would have to offset rising corn prices and a falling profit margin in the heavily subsidized industry.
Also, advances have been made in making ethanol from cellulosic materials such as pine tree tops and even corn stalks and cobs that are currently discarded. East Coast’s Web site says Midwestern corn will be used in all four plants it plans to build in the Southeast.
According to the Web site, plants are planned for Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina, in addition to the Wayne County facility.
Industry newsletter Biofuels Digest reported in February, however, that East Coast Ethanol has scrapped plans for a plant to be located in the Selma, N.C.
The Wayne County plant is to be built on Akin Road in the southeastern part of the county. In its permit applications, the company is asking the state for permission to withdraw 1.5 million gallons of water a day from the Upper Floridan aquifer and to discharge about 287,000 gallons a day.
Some Akin Road residents and environmentalists worry about the consequences of further withdrawals from the depleted aquifer, and of dumping such a large quantity of water into area creeks, which ultimately flow into the nearby Altamaha River.
Resident Kim Smith said a meeting with an official from the state Environmental Protection Division earlier this year eased her concerns that her well water would be adversely affected by the plant’s withdrawals, but said she’s still worried that the large daily discharges might cause the small creek in her backyard to flood.
She’s also worried about catastrophic accidents, such as the explosion recently at a Savannah sugar refinery.
“I don’t think this is a good thing for our community,” she said. “I don’t think corn ethanol is the way for us to go, period.”
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