CLEARFIELD – Clearfield County is set to become the site of the first ethanol plant in the state, a plant that will employ 110 people.
Gov. Edward G. Rendell was in Clearfield Thursday afternoon to make the announcement about the plant, to be constructed by BioEnergy International LLC.
“Today this governor’s vision of a new Pennsylvania shines squarely on Clearfield County,” said state Rep. Camille “Bud” George, with whom Rendell credited with bringing the plant to the area.
The plant is to be the first in Pennsylvania, being built and operational by the summer of 2008.
About 110 new jobs will be created, according to Stephen Gatto, president and CEO of BioEnergy International. That is in addition to 300 temporary construction jobs also needed to build the plant.
The plant, a $250 million project, includes $17.4 million from state investments. The package includes a $400,000 grant through the Opportunity Grant Program, $500,000 in Job Creation Tax Credits, $2.5 million in loans and grants from the Infrastructure Development Program and $14 million through the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program.
“The commonwealth is gaining a return on our investment of nine private dollars for every dollar we’re investing,” Rendell said.
Gatto said there are a number of places the company has in mind to construct the plant within the county, but the location has not yet been decided.
“We’re in the process of analyzing at least a half a dozen locations,” Gatto said, adding that a short list of potential sites will be identified in the next several weeks. For now, the project is being referred to as “The Clearfield Project.”
The plant will also include a pilot project to use cellulose to produce ethanol. That project accounts for $70 million of the $250 million total project.
Unlike the typical ethanol plant, which uses corn to produce fuel, the plant that uses cellulose could use wood chips, wood fibers, grass and even household garbage to make fuel.
The BioEnergy project is separate from that proposed by Sunnyside Ethanol LLC. The Sunnyside project is planned to be constructed on the site of the former Howe’s Leather Co. in Curwensville and includes a $110 million ethanol plant, a a $60 million power plant and a $6.5 million carbon dioxide plant. No time line has been set for the construction of the Sunnyside plant to date.
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