Ethanol company GBE eyes Neosho

Gib Garrow, Neosho director of economic development, said Gulfstream Bioflex Energy LLC officers and the company’s engineers have visited the Newton County city four times in recent months. Garrow said they have toured locations in Neosho and negotiated with city leaders regarding the company’s infrastructure needs.

Neosho is one of several plant sites throughout the state that GBE is considering, said CEO Greg Wilmoth, who declined to comment further. Wilmoth said he was unaware of a recent article in the Quincy (Ill.) Herald-Whig that publicized Neosho as a future plant site.

Last week, GBE announced it would build a $220 million plant in Monroe City, a small town about 20 miles west of Hannibal in northeast Missouri.

In August, the company unveiled plans for a $185 million corn-based ethanol plant on 252 acres east of Rogersville, but surrounding property owners concerned about their groundwater supply filed a lawsuit to block the plant. Both sides are preparing for a March 6 trial.

Neosho’s industrial park near Camp Crowder would be an ideal location for such a facility, Garrow said. The park adjoins the Missouri National Guard installation and other industrial facilities. Railroad links are available to the north-south Kansas City Southern and east-west Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway lines, he said.

Newton County’s average corn production is far less than the home counties of Missouri’s four existing and six proposed ethanol plants; however, Garrow said that Neosho’s rail and highway accessibility offsets its lack of local corn production.

“(GBE) can bring corn in cheaper than transporting the fuel,” he said.

U.S. highways 71 and 60 intersect in Newton County, and Interstate 44 passes through the northern part of the county.

Garrow described his conversations with GBE as “preliminary” and said many details will have to be negotiated before an agreement is announced.

“Any type of investment like that is significant, and we will continue to work with them,” Garrow said.