Report: GBE scraps Monroe City ethanol plant

In January 2007, Gulfstream Bioflex Energy announced it would build a $220 million plant in Monroe City, about 20 miles west of Hannibal, and that the facility would employ about 65 people.

But Monroe City Administrator Jim Burns told KHQA that high corn prices were among the factors that have derailed the proposed plant, according to a Monday report on the station’s Web site, www.khqa.com.

GBE is also behind a proposed ethanol plant on 252 acres east of Rogersville – a proposal announced in August 2006 that was met with fierce opposition from surrounding property owners concerned about the potential impact on their groundwater supply.

Several Webster County residents sued GBE in October 2006 to block the proposed plant, but a judge ruled in May 2007 that the company could move forward with its plans. The plaintiffs – known collectively as Citizens for Groundwater Protection – appealed to the Missouri Court of Appeals, where the case is pending.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources issued an air pollution permit for the Webster County plant April 24 after GBE paid nearly $17,000 in fees for the 330-hour permit review process. GBE has two years from the permit issue date to begin construction at the plant site, which is northeast of U.S. Highway 60 and Porter Crossing Road. Click here to read the full air permit.

In a brief interview with Springfield Business Journal in December, GBE Vice President Charles Luna discounted widespread news reports about a national slowdown in ethanol plant financing and stumbling stock prices for producers of the alcohol fuel.

“There is no slowdown,” he said at the time. “It’s going full blast.”

GBE is led by Luna and Greg Wilmoth, a first cousin once-removed to Gov. Matt Blunt, who signed new ethanol standards into law in 2006 that required gasoline sold in Missouri to contain at least 10 percent ethanol by Jan. 1. Both Wilmoth and Luna have experience in the trucking and oil industries.[[In-content Ad]]