By ANN HINCH
Assistant Editor

ARGOS, Ind. — A pending lawsuit isn’t halting preliminary work on a proposed ethanol plant north of Fulton County.

Indiana Renewable Fuels, LLC (IRF) – purchased last May by Advanced BioEnergy, LLC of Minnesota – has an option on land in Argos, which is in Marshall County, within five miles of the County Line Landfill in neighboring Fulton County.

According to The Pilot News of Plymouth, Ind., in late January the Argos Town Council voted to rezone 250 acres in Marshall County for the refinery.

Preliminary engineering is complete for a 100-million-gallon-a-year dry mill ethanol facility, original capital estimated at $160 million. It is estimated to use approximately 37 million bushels of corn annually. The other closest Indiana plants, said IRF President Glen Bode, are in Rensselaer, South Bend and Clymers.

Testing is beginning, and if all goes well, contractor Fagen, Inc. of Minnesota could begin construction this year.

“The time schedule we’re on, the plant could be operating by the end of next year,” Bode said.

It would siphon methane gas via pipeline from the landfill for power, and process corn purchased from a 40- to 50-mile radius. Bode figures the ethanol will be shipped by nearby rail to cities up and down the East Coast.

Opposition

Before looking at land in Argos, IRF considered building closer to Rochester in Fulton County, where Bode lives.

Fulton County Commission Chairman Richard Powell said the county and investors were in talks for about a year before the decision was made to move north to Marshall County. “The railroad is extremely critical to their function,” he said of the investors’ decision.

As Powell understands the situation, two Norfolk and Southern Railroad lines cross at Argos, and building near that requires less of a financial investment than locating in Fulton County at the end of a railroad spur.

Argos attorney Ted Ummel added the spur is privately owned by the heirs of Wilson Coal and Grain, and was used to transport from its Rochester, Ind., elevator to the main rail lines. He said IRF and the heirs were unable to come to an agreement about use of the spur.

Tom Tucker, director of the Fulton Economic Development Corp., said the Argos site has eight sideline switching tracks, providing more maneuverability for railcars. Still, he pointed out the Fulton site would have been closer to the landfill and wouldn’t have involved getting rights-of-way to build the pipeline for nearly five miles.

“That seems very expensive to me, when they could’ve just gone across the road in Fulton County,” he said.

There was a time when the proposed plant site was across the road from Ummel’s house just south of Argos, prompting him to protest.
“The old NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard), I guess,” he said of his involvement. “In this case, it’d have been in my front yard.”

He added he is opposed to the plant’s new proposed location – the land town council rezoned in January – because of the truck traffic it will bring through town. Argos is a town of 1,300 with only one stoplight, and neither Ummel nor resident Barney Beers thinks it should have to handle the proposed increase of traffic necessary to plant operations.

In addition, Beers, who lives 600 feet from railroad tracks, said he and other residents are worried about transport of chemicals in case of derailment. They’re also concerned about possible health effects from plant emissions, as well as the ability of the local volunteer fire department to handle any incidents at the plant.

Lawsuit

A lawsuit brought by six Argos residents and a local land LLC was filed in Marshall County Circuit Court on Feb. 6, against the Argos Town Council, the town itself and the Argos Planning Commission. Plaintiffs’ attorney Robert Eherenman of Fort Wayne, Ind., said it challenges both the planning commission’s and the town council’s votes on rezoning in December 2006 and January 2007 – that appropriate notice was not given and that the town did not follow its own ordinance in the process.

“I would imagine the case would be pending for at least the remainder of this year,” he said, adding there are no injunctions to prevent Advanced BioEnergy or IRF from building because to obtain any would require an expensive bond from the plaintiffs. On the other hand, if they decide to build, it’s at their own risk.”

Plymouth, Ind., attorney James Clevenger represents the defendants, who maintain they followed correct procedure on the rezoning process, even appointing a committee last year to examine the matter before it ever came to a vote.

“It feels like it did everything it could and substantially complied with everything,” he said of the town council. “Most of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit not only had notices, but were there (at the public meetings) and spoke.”

Ummel said opposition to the plant in Fulton County was “very little” compared to that in Argos. Tucker agreed “without a doubt” this was true, though he added the town of Argos and its general citizenry seem to welcome the plant “with open arms.”

Even if the plant locates in Argos, Tucker said it’s not bad for Fulton County, since it will still need local employees and grain, and during construction he’s certain workers will patronize Fulton-area hotels, restaurants and other businesses.

“It’s not like there’s a big curtain between Fulton and Marshall counties,” he said, adding it simply would have been nice to have the plant as a notch on Fulton County’s belt.