Plant backers take case to Sherman
By Brent Zell
Posted online: December 12, 2006
SHERMAN – Key members linked to a group considering Sherman
as a site for an ethanol plant discussed their plans with members of the
community at the City Council meeting last Tuesday at the Town Hall.
The group members – Kathleen Showalter of PlanScape Partners, an economic
planning company; Matt Sederstrom, vice president with Fagen Inc., which would
be involved in the construction of the proposed plant; and Greg Van Zanten,
board chairman of Buffalo Ridge Energy Group – gave a presentation and
answered questions from an audience of more than 20 people.
Sherman is on a short list of possible sites for Buffalo Ridge’s plant, which
would produce about 50 million gallons of ethanol per year, create about 35
on-site jobs, and is expected to be operational by the last quarter of 2008. The
area near Sherman being surveyed for a plant is a 300-acre plat of land that
starts near the city’s limits on the east and extends north and east toward
the Minnesota border. Sederstrom said that about 35 to 40 acres of the land
would be used for the plant’s equipment.
Some of the concerns stated by audience members focused on the traffic the
proposed plant would create and the issue of noise and air pollution.
Sederstrom said that the plant would process 50 semi truckloads of corn per day
and send out about five to seven rail cars of ethanol per day.
Sederstrom said that the plant would be running 24 hours a day and have only
about eight down days per year.
“A plant like this never shuts down,” said Sederstrom.
One audience member who lives near the site raised concerns about the traffic
that would create, saying that that many trucks going in meant that the roads
around that area would see at least 100 semis per day. Another audience member
said that only rarely does a truck drive in that area currently.
One Sherman resident asked how bad the noise was in the plant. Sederstrom said
that federal safety regulations require people wear hearing protection when
working at a facility where noise can reach 100 decibels. He said an ethanol
plant built by his company would top out at about 85 decibels. Sederstrom
described that level of noise as being the same as “a good, loud
conversation.” Van Zanten gave further illustration by comparing the noise
level as being similar to what one would encounter sitting in the cab of a
tractor.
Sederstrom said that odor at Fagen’s plants are controlled by a thermal
oxidizer similar to those used in the rendering industry and “virtually
eliminates 100 percent of the odor of a typical plant.”
Another concern by the audience was what a proposed plant would do to the values
of nearby properties. Showalter cited the example of one community that had 15
parcels of land around its ethanol plant. She said that 14 of the 15 parcels saw
their value stay steady or go up, while one parcel’s value declined due to the
owner not taking care of the land.
“If you talk to some property owners (near ethanol plants) that had the same
fears, you would probably be reassured,” Showalter said to audience members.
As far as the plant’s impact on the area’s water levels, Sederstrom said
that analysis was being done in that area. A plant similar in size to that of
the one being proposed uses about 500 to 700 gallons of water per minute. In a
comparison, Sederstrom said that a golf course uses about 500 gallons of water
per minute.
One resident asked if local truckers would have a chance of hauling the
plant’s products. Sederstrom said yes, adding that the plant would not
“bring in our own people.” He also said that previous ethanol plants have
had “good working relationships” with local elevators and that area
residents would be able to invest in the plant.
In a previous interview with the Weekly, Van Zanten said that his group hoped to
have a site selected by the end of December.
Copyright © 2006, Garretson
Weekly