Ethanol plant on hold

Construction of the ethanol plant at Spiritwood, N.D., is on hold, Harold Newman of the Newman Group told members of the Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corp. Board Monday.

Water issues and the high price of corn have slowed the project. Newman said he’s working with the City of Jamestown and the Stutsman Rural Water District on solving the lack of water at the site. Corn prices will need to go down for ethanol production to be feasible, he said. He gave no estimate on when construction will start.

The Newman Group is one of a trio of companies working on projects in the Spiritwood Energy Park. Cargill Malt is already on the site. Great River Energy is building a power plant to produce electricity and use the leftover steam to heat Cargill and the ethanol plant once it’s built.

Tags: jsdc, newman, ethanol, newman, group, gre, cargill