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Ethanol plant weeks from productionLE MARS, Iowa (AP)--After two years of construction, a new ethanol plant near Merrill is about four weeks away from production. The Plymouth Energy ethanol plant will produce about 150,000 gallons of ethanol and 500 tons of cattle feed per day. Plymouth CEO Craig Arnold said the company will be cheaper and faster than some of its troubled competitors. "It's all about base hits, not swinging for the fences," Arnold said. "The guys that are aiming for the fences are swinging wildly and striking out." The recent liquidity crisis of VeraSun Energy Corp., the nation's second-largest ethanol producer, showed the dangers of locking into commodity prices when the company announced in mid-September an expected third-quarter loss of $63 million to $103 million. The price of corn was high when VeraSun locked into an average per-bushel price of $6.75 to $7 for the quarter, but by mid-August prices had slumped below $5 per bushel. Arnold said he will avoid a similar fate. "Speculating on the price of corn--that's where plants get into trouble," Arnold said. Plant workers are moving from construction to the testing phase, looking at everything from the computers that will manage the plant to the fermenting system. After that run-through, the plant will start "performance testing" with a smaller amount of corn. "Shortly after the harvest we'll be about ready to acquire corn in large volume," Arnold said. The plant will employ 36 full-time workers. The plant is run by an eight-member board who raised $98 million in capital from 300 investors. Local producers within a 50-mile radius of the plant will supply most of the corn. Arnold says the plant will go through about 20 million bushels a year, and said he plans for trucks to bring in about 50,000 bushels a day. Arnold said the plant will send most of its product to the West Coast by rail car. 11/24/08 Date: 11/18/08
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