Rogersville ethanol plant still moving forward, company says

More than two months have passed since a judge ruled that Gulfstream Bioflex Energy LLC could proceed with the $185 million plant despite objections from property owners who sued the company over concerns about their groundwater supply.

But GBE’s lead attorney, Bryan Wade of Husch & Eppenberger LLC, said his client still intends to build the plant on 252 acres east of Rogersville. Wade said he recently filed a response to post-trial motions filed by the plant opponents’ attorney, Bill McDonald of McDonald, Hosmer, King & Royce PC.

“We would certainly like to know what the court’s feeling is on it before any significant activity occurs, but as far as I know, everything’s a go,” Wade said.

Wade said he didn’t know if his clients had closed on the property under contract with owners William and Linda Jo Porter, but a clerk at the Webster County Recorder of Deeds office said she found no documents indicating the parcel had changed hands.

GBE Vice President Charles Luna would neither discuss the impending sale nor the plant’s construction timeline. He did, however, say that the company expects to have an approved air permit from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources no later than Sept. 30.

When asked whether other Missouri cities have attempted to woo GBE, Luna said that Seymour – several miles east of the existing site – previously expressed interest. The Rogersville site, however, remains GBE’s top pick for a plant, he said.

McDonald suggested that the longer GBE takes to start work on the plant, the less attractive corn-based ethanol will become to potential investors. In the year since GBE announced its plans for the plant, he said the drawbacks of corn-based ethanol have received significant coverage.

“Time is on our side, I think, from a practical standpoint,” McDonald said.

Luna disagreed, suggesting the rest of the country has embraced the alternative fuel.

“The majority of the United States is well behind this ethanol movement, and it’s a good thing,” he said.

Luna said the ethanol plant will create more than $3 million annually in property tax revenue as well as 40 jobs.[[In-content Ad]]