Commissioners approve larger ethanol plant

Red Willow County commissioners approved a request Monday morning for a conditional use permit that would allow a proposed ethanol plant at the Perry Elevator site west of McCook to increase its capacity from 40 million gallons a year to 120 million gallons a year.

Steve Lipetzky of Springfield, Minn., director of SW Energy LLC, told commissioners that lenders like to see at least 100,000-gallon plants. "That's what we need to do to get financing," Lipetzky said.

The proposed plant, on 71 acres, won county zoning approval in 2003 to produce up to 40 million gallons of motor fuel grade ethanol a year. The larger capacity plant would expand onto an additional adjacent 60 acres and would ultimately create approximately 45 direct and 150 indirect local jobs.

Darcy Eckhardt of McCook, director of the county's zoning/planning commission, said planning commission members unanimously approved their recommendation to commissioners. She said the planning commission's concerns about increased traffic in the area have been answered with the State Highway Department's plans to widen the highway and create a turning-lane system that will improve drivers' visibility at the location.

Mark Friehe, manager of Frenchman Valley Co-Op, which owns the elevator at Perry, said seven to nine trucks will be able to stage safely in turning lanes located south of the highway for eastbound traffic and in the center of the highway for westbound traffic.

Friehe said that because of the lack of progress on the ethanol plant, the state put these plans on a back burner for inclusion with a McCook-Culbertson road project in 2011. He said the plans would probably be updated as much as possible to accommodate progress on the plant and traffic at the site.

Lipetzky said that if the highway upgrade is not done, trucks will have to come around on county gravel roads.

Unfortunately, he said, the road cannot be done in advance of the plant, but added that a proposed decreased speed limit in the area would help, especially during construction.

A 120-million-gallon capacity plant must adhere to the same air-quality standards as a 40-million-gallon plant, Commissioner Leigh Hoyt said.

Commissioners unanimously approved the request for the capacity increase. Commission Chairman Earl McNutt said, "We've supported the plant in the past. It will be a great project for Red Willow County. I've often thought, 'Hurry up and get going'."

Hoyt said, "There's no doubt it will be good for the community and the county."