Chenoa (Illinois) getting ethanol plant

CHENOA -- Construction of a 50-acre ethanol plant in Chenoa could begin as early as April. Representatives from the New York-based firm U.S. Ethanol met the City Council in a special meeting Wednesday to announce the plant, which could employ up to 65 full-time employees.

“I have to say I’m ecstatic,” said Mayor Walt Hetman. “This will produce jobs and be a real boost to our economy. We have everything they need and we’re ready to build here in Chenoa.”

U.S. Ethanol has hired AGAR Industries of Merrill, Wisconsin to design and build the facility, which will be built in the newly formed 500-acre industrial park on the city’s south side.

Chenoa is a small town located along good ol' Route 66 (now I-55) in central Illinois. Population 1,845. So a company that employs 65 people is a big deal here. This will affect the school district in a good way as well.

More fossil energy is used to produce ethanol than the energy contained within it.
End result.....more polution and CO2 in the atmosphere than if you just burned gas in your car.

if you had done your homework, you would know that for every unit of energy that is put in to making ethanol, there is a 1.3 unit return. that is not a large gain, but it is a gain nonetheless. it is far from what you are writing in your little rant. furthermore, the new ethanol plants being built today, are being built with the technology to not only extract ethanol from the seed, but also the biomass of the entire plant, from which 1.8 units of energy are extracted for every unit put in. that is nearly doubling the energy, and doing so from what is considered waste out the back of the combine. this will give the farmers a way to get additional income from nothing, and at the same time, not deplete the corn supply for other products. the net result is cleaner air, less independence on foreign fuel, renewable energy, more jobs, more tax revenue for midwest america, and more jobs for construction workers. i don't know what there is to dislike about renewable fuel that is grown in the usa.

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