Des Moines Register:
The line of headlights begins close to 6 a.m. as trucks and other
vehicles file into the $250 million construction project south of this
northwest Iowa town of 3,900.
Some of the 300 construction workers
come from Iowa. But most — with license plates from Nebraska, Texas and
Minnesota — fill about every apartment, hotel and trailer in a 30-mile
radius. The workers pack the local Casey’s for breakfast pizza, line up
at Fareway’s meat counter and drop by Don Jose’s for dinner.
“I’m
pretty sure it’s the biggest construction project Emmetsburg has ever
seen,” said Daron Wilson, general manager of the plant being built by
Poet-DSM. He points out six cranes on the prairie skyline, a sight
little seen in Iowa outside of Des Moines or Cedar Rapids.
Poet’s
Project Liberty is one of three large-scale U.S. plants that will begin
making cellulosic ethanol this year, using corncobs and husks collected
from area farmers’ fields. It has taken a decade of research and $120
million in government subsidies at this plant alone to bring the
ultra-green fuel to commercial-scale production.
But just as a new
industry for Iowa is about to take root, a proposed change in
government policy could limit demand for ethanol and send new plants and
jobs to other countries. Think Brazil, China or European nations.....T
he proposed change in the federal government’s Renewable Fuel Standard
turns the company’s financial plan on its head. Makers of
next-generation ethanol will “lose money on every gallon that it sells
in the United States” under the EPA proposal, Poet-DSM wrote the agency......
Taxpayers have a lot invested in the plant. The federal government
provided $100 million — and Iowa taxpayers, $20 million — to help with
developing the technology behind Project Liberty. Royal DSM is investing
$150 million in the plant.
Personally, I'm guessing this is a black hole of unprofitable, difficult-to-scale technology. Hopefully, I'm wrong.
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