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Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels was in Mount Vernon Friday to announce the construction of a new ethanol plant at the port.
The new ethanol production facility will be a joint venture between Consolidated Grain and Barge and Aventine Renewable Energy.
The plant is expected to cost $400 million. Construction is expected to begin in April of 2007. The new facility will be built on a 110-acre tract of land at the port, near CGB.
Production is scheduled to begin in September of 2008.
According to Gov. Daniels, the company officials expect to use 80 million bushels of corn annually and they plan to purchase the corn from local producers.
The plant is expected to produce 222 million gallons of ethanol a year at full capacity.
By September of 2008, they expect to product 110 million gallons a year. They plan to be at full capacity by the start of 2010.
The joint venture is expected to create between 50 and 70 new jobs.
“This is the largest single stride yet in a race Indiana has come to win. We are well on our way to being the leading producer of biodiesel in America and a top five producer of ethanol,” said Gov. Daniels.
The plant is projected to be the largest ethanol plant east of the Mississippi River.
Aventine runs one ethanol plant in Pekin, Ill., and one in Nebraska.
According to company spokeman James Redding, the Aventine plant in Pekin is about half of the size of the plant they plan to build in Mount Vernon. He added that the plant in Pekin means about $100 million a year to the local economy there.
With the construction of this new plant and the one that is in the final planning stages on the Westside of Mount Vernon, Indiana will have 12 ethanol plants within its borders.
The announcement was made in conjunction with a new energy plan Gov. Daniels unveiled to create new more energy sources.
“A little more than a year ago, we had one lonely ethanol plant. Fast forward 18 months. Today, we are announcing the 15th plant-we’ll have 12 ethanol and three biodiesel,” said Gov. Daniels.
His plan also calls for the formation of an Interagency Council on Energy. The task of the council will be to assist the governor’s office and the Indiana General Assembly on energy related matters and public policy.