Ethanol plant finds a home

~ The $205 million project will be built at the Sikeston Business, Education and Technology Park.

SIKESTON, Mo. -- A local group of farmers who vowed last year to bring an ethanol plant to Southeast Missouri have picked its site.

Bootheel Agri-Energy LLC announced its decision to purchase the option on approximately 160 acres at the Sikeston Business, Education and Technology Park, during a recent news conference.

The land will be used to build a coal-fired 100-million-gallon-per-year ethanol plant, according to David Herbst, president of Bootheel Agri-Energy. The project's estimated price tag is $205 million, he said.

The plant is projected to use 35.6 million bushels of corn per year to produce the ethanol, a grain alcohol that will be blended with gasoline and distributed at fueling stations.

"We're really delighted," said Mayor Mike Marshall. "Missouri is known as the 'Show-Me State.' With this new project, we're going to be known as the 'Show-You State' as we show neighboring states and the rest of the nation how to reduce our dependency on foreign oil."

Scott County Commissioner Dennis Ziegenhorn, agreed, calling the project a "win-win situation."

"In this situation, we have several that win: the consumer, Sikeston, Scott County, Missouri, and the nation, in addition to investors in the plant," he said. "Everybody wins with the new project that's coming. It's a very exciting day in Sikeston and Scott County."

The project consists of two plants that will be located side by side: the ethanol production facility and a coal-fire boiler. Herbst said the project will be an "energy center," and the coal-fire boiler will make the heat required for the ethanol process.

The boiler plant is designed to also run on natural gas in the event that coal is not available or gas prices drop below coal prices. Natural gas is presently more than five times more expensive than coal. Herbst also said the project would add 55 to 65 "fairly well-paying"" jobs.

In addition to providing a new market for corn farmers and producing an alternative fuel product, the plant will also produce a product for livestock farmers, distilller's grains. Herbst said distiller's grains are the leftovers after the starch is extracted from the corn during the ethanol production process. He expects the plant to produce 320,000 tons each year of the feed product.

The Bootheel Agri-Energy LLC board of directors was formed Sept. 26, and is made up of 20 individuals from St. Genevieve, Mo., to Portageville, Mo., who are either agricultural producers or otherwise involved in agribusiness, Herbst said. After announcing the project in November, a feasibility study narrowed possible locations down to two sites in Sikeston and one river site at the SEMO Port near Scott City.

A final decision was delayed by measures to ensure the project would meet state seismic requirements, Herbst said.

The plant will be built on a 158-acre plot located north of Atlas Cold Storage and CTS Trailers on the west side of the Burlington Northern Railroad tracks, according to Ed Dust, director of the Sikeston Department of Economic Development. "I'm very pleased we were able to convince the people of Bootheel Agri-Energy LLC to build this in Sikeston," he said.

Plant construction should begin sometime in November, according to Herbst.