June 19, 2008

Bad harvest for Waverly ethanol plant

I've gotten many google searches about the Waverly ethanol plant since I wrote about it several times and I've been contacted by people fighting similar plants in Wisconsin and Indiana. The SJ-R reports that Heartland Ethanol dropped plans for the Waverly plant and six others.


ethanolplant1.jpg


The plant was controversial for the odd zoning change to place it in a rural, non-industrial area; the company's reputation for hiring cheap, non-union labor from out of state; few details from the company about the environmental impact; and unanswered questions about where the massive amounts of water needed to run the plant would come from and how local wells might be effected.

If the press listed the names of local investors it might tell us why the county board was in such a hurry to approve the plant despite opposition from neighbors. The fact that it was rushed through with so many critical question unanswered was a case study in poor planning.