SBJ.net Poll

Do you think Gulfstream Bioflex Energy should be allowed to build an ethanol plant near Rogersville, and why?

For poll results, click here.

What Readers Think

No

I think the only reason we support corn based ethanol is because it benefits Missouri farmers. If we really wanted to save energy we’d be buying sugar-based ethanol from Brazil. If we are going to approve a plant to support farmers, then it seems to me we should be sure the plant itself doesn’t end up doing the exact opposite. From what I’ve been able to understand from landowners in that area, the water demands of this new plant may create a water crisis for them and farmers. That would appear oxymoronic to the reasons suggested for building the plant in the first place. But then I may be missing the political point, I often do.

—Steve Eiffert, e2 Video Services

I live about 4 miles from the proposed plant and currently have the best water I have ever tasted. My wife and I are retired and moved to the Springfield area to get away from large populations and pollution. If this plant goes in, that will change. They cannot discharge 411,000 gallons of polluted water per day into our water supply and expect it to remain pure. Who are they trying to kid?

—R.M. Holloway, retired

I voted no because I would live within a half-mile of this plant. … Ethanol is not going to save the country from our dependence on foreign oil. If people would do their homework on ethanol, they would see how much energy it takes to make 1 gallon and when added to their gas at the pump how many miles per gallon they will loose. I am of the opinion that if something doesn’t directly affect people, they listen to whatever our politicians tell them. People need to look at this from the time the farmer starts his tractor until they pull in to the gas station and see how much of that ethanol has already been subsidized by our government.

—Kenneth S. Hall, St. John's Regional Health Center

Whose economic growth and direct benefit are we talking about here, anyway? I, along with a fast growing number of others, will stand against the current trend and say that this whole corn/ethanol program stinks from top to bottom. Check the information for yourself. Also, check to see who is paying for the particular research or study before accepting the results and see just who is to gain the most. Just follow the money.

—David E. Pitts, certified biologist

No. The owners and investors in the plant are not Webster County residents. Most of the corn needed for this plant will not come from Missouri farms. It will come from Illinois, Iowa and Kansas. There’s not enough corn grown in Missouri to satisfy the demand for the 580 million gallons per year under development in this state. … Food costs are on the way up because of the ethanol demand for corn. … How about the increased traffic congestion on our roads and at railroad crossings because of the hundreds of big trucks and long trains bringing in corn and taking out ethanol? … This doesn’t seem like much of a “boost” to the economy to me.

—Scott Pogue, Agrisa LLC

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