Ethanol Opponents Question Pike Co. Plant
By: Import User
Updated: August 6, 2007
Opponents of a proposed 50 million gallon per year ethanol plant and attached 30 megawatt bio-fuel power plant. The Ripatti Group wants to burn corn stalks, poultry bedding and wood chips to power the plant.
The spot picked by the group is just northeast of Oakland City, near a rail line, on reclaimed mine land. Ripatti says the plant will employ 100 people and have an annual economic impact of more than $200 million. They plan to use 10 million gallons of water each month, drawing only from water pits on the property.
But opponents of the plant question the location and the environmental impact. The site sits directly next to a federal wildlife habitat area. Ripatti says its plant wont produce any harmful pollutants, saying the bio-fuel power plant will be among the cleanest of its kind in the world.
Still, residents who live nearby say they cant be sure the plant wouldnt begin burning other, dirtier fuels if traditional bio-fuels were in short supply.
They have launched a petition drive to stop plant construction, which they say has more than one thousand signatures.
