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Ethanol Plant Planners Near Water Deal to Ease Concerns

Posted on: Wednesday, 3 August 2005, 18:00 CDT

Aug. 3--MANATEE -- The company trying to bring an ethanol plant to Port Manatee is talking to a permitted water user to secure the rights to 1.2 million gallons of water per day.

Tampa-based U.S. EnviroFuels told The Herald on Tuesday that it is negotiating for the legal rights to the water for use in manufacturing ethanol, a gasoline extender.

U.S. EnviroFuels intended for the last-minute talks to remove one objection to the proposed plant - water usage. That and the reported odor coming from ethanol plants are likely to be two subjects discussed at a Manatee County Port Authority special meeting Thursday.

Port Manatee neighbors and port authority members are concerned about the odor and nearby air quality.

The company's plan is to make 500,000 gallons of that water available daily for Manatee County Utilities; it also would send 200,000 gallons back to the water resource and would keep 500,000 gallons on standby in case the company could not use the 500,000 gallons of reclaimed water it needs daily.

The water is one ingredient in producing the corn-based ethanol, which is mixed with gasoline to preserve fuel and lower the cost at the pump.

U.S. EnviroFuels needs to find an existing, permitted user because the plant would sit in an area of the Southwest Florida Water Management District's Southern Water Use Caution Area that is in a most-impact-area limit, or one that does not allow any additional water users.

U.S. EnviroFuels essentially would pay rent for the ability to use water that already has been permitted to someone else, said Michael A. G. Burton, vice president and senior scientist with Palmetto-based Environmental Affairs Consultants Inc., which U.S. EnviroFuels has hired.

"In order to transfer water from an existing permitted user, you must demonstrate a net benefit of water," Burton said. "By giving back water to the county and sending a portion back to the resource, 27 percent of the water will go back to the water resource daily."

The name of the user will not be released until a deal has been made, said Brad Krohn, president of U.S. EnviroFuels.

"We did not anticipate the water supply being a weakness for this project when we submitted our plan," Krohn said. "But the ability to transfer this amount of water daily from an existing user would solve the problem."

The downside to the concept could be that water officials could counter that water use permits are only issued to the permitted source and should not be transferred or rented out.

"But it's been done before, and we are not anticipating it to be a problem," Burton said.

U.S. EnviroFuels has revised its land-lease option agreement for the third time and will take the proposal before a special Manatee County Port Authority meeting Thursday.

This water concept would seem to alleviate one of the two major objections that Port Authority members have expressed. The other is the odor issue.

U.S. EnviroFuels officials have said they will do all they can to make sure the odor -- a light bakery type smell -- is kept on-site, but can't guarantee that a minimal odor won't occasionally drift off-site because of prevailing winds. Port authority member Joe McClash has said he won't approve of the plant if the odor leaves the facility.

"Water is not the issue. It's the odor that continues to be a problem," McClash said.

The company must first receive approval for the lease option agreement, which would be the first step toward building a $65 million to $70 million ethanol facility on port property and eventually creating 30 to 40 jobs in the $50,000 pay range.

IF YOU GO: The Manatee County Port Authority will meet 9 a.m. Thursday on the third floor of the Port Manatee Intermodal Center, 1905 Intermodal Circle, Palmetto. The meeting is open to the public.

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Source: The Bradenton Herald (Bradenton, Fla.)

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