EPA OKs AgEnergy plant

Talk about it

The Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corp. Board of Directors learned at its monthly meeting Monday that the Renewable Fuel Standards for the Dakota Spirit AgEnergy plant in Spiritwood, N.D., has been approved by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The hybrid ethanol plant with a planned 75-million gallon per-year capacity will now officially be posted to the EPA’s Federal Registry for a mandatory 30-day public comment period prior to being approved for groundbreaking.

“It’s an important step for this project,” said Mayor Katie Andersen. “A lot of people didn’t necessarily think this step would happen before the election.”

Following the 30-day public comment period, the plant can move forward toward a planned December groundbreaking.

“As long as there is nothing major or out of the ordinary in terms of public comment, the groundbreaking is expected in the fourth quarter of this year around December,” said DeAnn Brunner, business development coordinator with JSDC.

Brunner said the plant is then expected to be completed by 2014 if it indeed breaks ground in December.

The Dakota Spirit AgEnergy plant would be located in Spiritwood, about 10 miles east of Jamestown, and is part of the Spiritwood Energy Park Assocation — an industrial park located near Great River Energy’s Spiritwood Station coal-fired generating plant and Cargill Malt.

The JSDC has invested $3.75 million into the 100 acres of land where the SEPA industrial park would be located.

The SEPA industrial park is a partnership between the JSDC and Great River Energy and includes a rail loop providing access to the BNSF Railway mainline.

At its August meeting, the board learned that three companies have shown interest in the SEPA industrial park.

The next step for moving forward with the SEPA industrial park will be legal agreements between Great River Energy and JSDC, according to Connie Ova, CEO of JSDC.

“The benefit to our community is that it (SEPA) would bring $98 million in personal income and tax revenues to the regional economy,” Ova said.

Sun reporter Brian Willhide can be reached at 701-952-8454 or by email at bwillhide@jamestownsun.com

Tags: local news, news, local, energy, agriculture, business