Northeast Iowa's New Ethanol Plant

Northeast Iowa Ethanol Plant Representatives Give Progress Update
Clayton County Board of Supervisors was given a presentation by future Willmark Ethanol plant representatives.The plant will be in Postville.

"We are very excited about this location. We have had a lot of support but we are looking for a little bit more."

John Smaha, the 54 million dollar plant representative and Shawn Shmidt, plant owner's son, of San Diego, Calif., gave a presentation to the board and members of the public Wednesday, Feb. 27, at 1:30 p.m.

Smaha, done almost all of the talking, he took questions from the handful of people who turned out for the presentation, who were almost all local reporters.
Smaha also took time to point out that the owners of the plant are not big industrialists and that they are in fact landlords, involved in apartment renting.

"They are doing this to help the country become more self sufficient and also trying to help with global warming," he said.

Concerns voiced after the presentation were, how much water they will use and where it will come from, how many jobs will they create what they will burn at the plant and whether they will cause any run off water contamination and air pollution, will there be any chance of them switching to a more environmentally friendly cellulosic material in the future, can corrugated board be used to burn, is it a financially viable option as in how can the company hope to make any money?
"Money is made by getting a government subsidy," Smaha said.

Smaha explained that the price of corn is about $4 a bushel and the highest futures of corn recently closed at $5.35.
"The price of ethanol has not got to the stage of making it economically feasible," he said.

They are looking at a 28 million dollar loan and they are working on financing for the other aspects of it, he explained.

The plant is not a blender, they do not sell it at the pump, they sell it to the blenders, who in turn make the dollars from the cost at the pump.