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We don't want it ruined'--opponents fear ethanol craze will brin
TOWN OF DOVER, Wis. (AP)--Barney Lavin ought to be the poster child for ethanol. A fifth-generationcornfarmer, working the land his family homesteaded in 1842, Lavin should see dollar signs over a proposed ethanol plant in this small southeastern Wisconsin town. Instead, Lavin put down his pitchfork and picked up his cell phone, joining the ranks of other unlikely opponents organizing against ethanol plants, fearing air pollution, increased traffic and groundwater depletion. "I'm unwilling to give up the obvious quality of life we have here for some added income," said Lavin, who growscornon a 300-acre farm on rolling hills that include a recently restored wetlands. "We feel very strongly about this area and we don't want it ruined." Across thecornbelt and beyond--from Minnesota to Missouri, Illinois to Pennsylvania, Kansas to Indiana--residents in areas targeted for ethanol plants are refusing to go along with politicians who say it is a more sustainable alternative to foreign oil and a way to save dying Main Streets. There are 115 ethanol plants operating in the U.S.--most of them are in Midwest states including top producers Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois and Minnesota. Another 79 are under construction or planned, according to the Renewable Fuels Association trade group. Debbie Krogh lives next door to one of two proposed sites for the Dover plant. "I can't tell you how sad this has actually made me," Krogh said. "We have had to fight for our lives here." In most places, ethanol plants are welcomed, said Robert Dinneen, Renewable Fuels Association president. According to the association, the ethanol industry created more than 153,000 jobs as of 2005 and boosted U.S. household income by $5.7 billion. The association also said ethanol industry operations and spending for new construction added $1.9 billion in federal tax revenue and $1.6 billion for state and local governments. When ethanol plants are properly sited, and the benefits explained, opposition disappears, said Josh Morby, executive director of the Wisconsin Bio Industry Alliance, a group consisting primarily of businesses and labor organizations that benefit from increased ethanol production. "Those of us in the industry are excited and encouraged by the technology and developments that are taking place, but it's important to remember the average citizen still doesn't know what ethanol is, where to get it, or the benefits of ethanol," Morby said. Lack of community support was one reason South Dakota-based VeraSun Energy Corp., backed out of plans in March to build an ethanol plant in the town of Milford, Ind., population 1,500. Residents argued the proposed location was dangerous, would increase trucking truck traffic and posed a threat to the environment and quality of life. In South Dakota, Davison County officials want an ethanol company to help pay for some $2 million in road repairs blamed on increased truck traffic. In Illinois, a citizens' group filed a federal lawsuit to block further construction of an ethanol plant, and there are ethanol plant challenges elsewhere across the Midwest. Lisa Glon, a 39-year-old stay-at-home mom who sells soaps and other products at a farmers' market, said she and other opponents thought the Indiana plant would be too close to residents and a school. "We never took a stand against ethanol production," she said. "We simply said this site was bad. An ethanol refinery is a fuel refinery. And I don't believe that fuel refineries belong in back yards." Ethanol is alcohol made from plants, usually corn, and it is blended with fuel to make it burn cleaner. In the process, pollution-causing chemicals and compounds are emitted along with a smell that supporters liken to popcorn but critics compare to manure. Ethanol can help rural communities, said Chuck Hassebrook, executive director of the Center for Rural Affairs, a nonprofit farm advocacy group in Lyons, Neb. But he said policy makers must address the impact of ethanol facilities on the environment and dangers of overproduction. "The nearly unlimited demand for liquid fuels cannot become the basis to simply rape our land and water," he said. Christa Westerberg, a Madison, Wis., attorney whose firm has helped opponents fight ethanol plants since 2002, said the backlash is coming from people with no common thread--young and old, environmentalists and farmers. People like Lavin. The 56-year-old Lavin growscornon about 150 acres and feeds about 70 percent of it to cattle he raises under the shadow of a 127-year-old red barn with the family name painted on the side. He said opponents to the Dover plant include farmers, longtime residents like Krogh and people who left the nearby cities of Milwaukee and Chicago. The town board recently voted against the plant, 836-291, though the developer is still looking for a location in Dover or elsewhere in Wisconsin. A group of residents in Cambria, Wis., successfully fought a plant plan, but the developer simply moved to a site just outside the village's borders. It is scheduled to open in November. "I think almost every plant that's been proposed in the state has been opposed," attorney Westerberg said. "They realize ethanol plants make pretty poor neighbors."
0 None Date: 5/24/07
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