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An ethanol plant proposed for construction at the southwest edge of Bluffton has not yet received a key state regulatory clearance.
The Wells County Board of Commissioners learned Tuesday that Indiana Bio-Energy LLC has not yet received its requested air-quality permit through the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
The company must have the permit in hand before construction work on emissions structures can begin for the planned 100 million gallons-per-year ethanol facility, according to an IBE official.
Indiana Bio-Energy originally had planned for construction to begin around Jan. 2. That date later was revised back to Jan. 22.
The air-quality permit has been put out for a new 30-day public comment period by IDEM, Edgar Seward, IBE’s general manager, told The News-Banner this morning.
The new notice period ends March 2, according to the IDEM Web site.
Seward said an apparent administrative snafu resulted in an appendix not being included in the materials put out for public comment for the original period, which ended Jan. 14.
IDEM has made a copy of the IBE air-permit application and IDEM’s preliminary findings available for public review at the reference desk area of the Wells County Public Library’s main branch, 200 W. Washington St. in Bluffton.
“It hasn’t delayed us and I don’t foresee that it will,” said Seward this morning.
Project leaders talked with IDEM officials to understand the types of work that could proceed pending final action on the IBE air permit.
“There are lots of things onsite that we can do,” said Seward.
Earth-moving site preparation work has been under way since Nov. 13 at the site, located at 1441 S. Adams St. Outside of the city limits, the road is County Road 100E.
Maurisio Ayala, project engineer for Fagen Inc., met with the commissioners Tuesday to discuss coordinating the Indiana Bio-Energy project’s construction traffic with planned road improvements along Adams Street.
The Minnesota-based Fagen company is well-known nationally for its ethanol plant design capabilities.
Because the City of Bluffton is handling the Adams Street improvement project, commissioners president Paul Bonham referred Ayala to city officials.
Commissioners Scott Mossburg and Kevin Woodward each told Ayala the county will become involved through an expected upcoming decision regarding a proposed south leg of a traffic bypass around Bluffton.
The commissioners have considered several proposed routes that would help relieve expected heavy truck traffic in the southwest Bluffton industrial area.
The proposed east-west connector road would help traffic in the area gain access to Ind. 1 more easily.
While no time frame has been identified for the county’s decision on a preferred route for the south leg of the bypass, Woodward said, “we’ll be pursuing that shortly on what we want to do.”
Ayala indicated that much of the construction traffic for the ethanol plant is expected to come to the construction site from the north via Ind. 124 and Adams Street.
A member of the audience asked whether Fagen would be hiring any local labor for the ethanol plant project.
Ayala said no on-site hiring is done. Interested people should contact the Fagen corporate headquarters in Minnesota for possible referral to the job site.
The timing on when additional employees will be needed depends on the individual’s craft, Ayala noted.
gfrank@news-banner.com
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