Lake Crystal residents hear about ethanol plant

Plant could boost corn prices,

provide jobs

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

LAKE CRYSTAL -- After it's finished, the Northstar Ethanol plant in Lake Crystal could help increase the price of corn and provide jobs for local residents.

But its proponents must iron out the details of what will be done with the discharged water from the plant and how its emissions will be controlled.

These were the main points of contention at the first of a series of public meetings held in Lake Crystal to discuss the city's $60 million project.

According to Lake Crystal Economic Development Authority Director Jerry Rollings, a draft for each of every kind of permit needed to build the facility has been submitted to state and federal agencies. He said construction could start as early as this summer.

Northstar Ethanol plans to build the plant about 2 miles west of Lake Crystal. The plant is funded by a mix of private investors, city bonds and state assistance.

It will be one of the first major projects built in a Job Opportunity Building Zone, a state program that gives tax breaks to businesses that build in economically depressed areas.

"We're excited because this is the first project in a rural JOBZ zone," Rollings said. "We've always had pressure for a plant, since many farmers around here sell corn to the plants in Winnebago and Winthrop."

Ron Kibble, owner of Mankato Implement, said he though starting an ethanol plant will substitute for a declining livestock industry in Minnesota, which has largely moved to Iowa and South Dakota.

"If you're losing the livestock industry, you have to replace it because you can't ship your corn by train," he said. "So the next-best thing is an ethanol plant."

Once built, the plant is expected to raise corn prices by 7 cents a bushel within a 30-mile radius, including the New Ulm area, Kibble said. That increase could bring $4 million to the area and keep farmers in business while helping to reduce U.S. dependence upon foreign oil, he said.

The Northstar Ethanol plant will use a newer, simpler method of distilling corn into ethanol, according to Larry Ward of Broin Cos. of Sioux Falls, S.D., which is designing, building and managing the plant.

The plant is expected to generate about 400 tons of carbon dioxide, which won't be captured and remarketed because "this area has a large enough supply of that already," Ward said.

The exhaust from the plant will go to a thermal oxidizer, which will act like an incinerator. Ward said most of what comes out of the stacks will be water vapor, which won't be visible in temperatures above 60 degrees. He said the plant will use natural gas to operate.

The water used in the plant will come from Lake Crystal's wells and will be pumped to a storage tank at the plant, where it will then be routed to the ethanol production process or to a cooling tower or to a reverse osmosis water treatment facility, where it will be discharged into either Minneopa Creek or the Watonwan River. The plant will use 150 gallons of water continuously, which will be the same temperature as well water, Ward said.

The City of Lake Crystal is going to charge Broin Cos. for water services. The addition of a new well won't mean a water rate hike.

A few of the people at Monday's meeting voiced concerns about the possible effects of the water on Minneopa Creek, saying that the creek is used to having a dry season and disturbing the creek could have an effect on wildlife.

Others questioned why Broin didn't design a pond to collect the water or why Broin isn't simply going to recirculate the discharged water back into Lake Crystal's water system.

State Rep. Tony Cornish, R-Good Thunder, replied that the water temperature should stay the same.

"I've toured a couple of these plants and I don't think it will influence a creek as much as a one-inch rainfall," Cornish said.