"CAN'T SEE THE FOREST, TOO MANY TREES IN THE WAY"

Hennepin Ethanol Plant Faces Lawsuit

An ethanol plant scheduled to get up and running in Hennepin this year is coming under fire from a citizens' group that says the plant eventually will produce more pollution than permitted.

The group also contends that the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency is deliberately issuing lesser permits to this and other ethanol plants, and ignoring potential future pollution violations, to fulfill Gov. Rod Blagojevich's desire to make Illinois a leading state for ethanol production.

The group, Concerned Citizens for Putnam and Bureau Counties, is planning to file suit in federal court, demanding more stringent pollution controls on the Marquis Energy plant in Hennepin

At issue is the plant's future expansion plans. Phase one, expected to be completed in December, is a 100-million-gallon-per-year natural gas-fired plant, for which the IEPA issued a "minor source" permit. But phase two, expected to be completed by January 2009, calls for the plant to expand to a 200-million-gallon-per-year coal-fired plant, which would require a "major source" permit that has not yet been obtained. Coal-fired plants emit mercury and other pollutants.

The group alleges that the IEPA ignored clear evidence that Marquis intends to build a coal-fired refinery when it issued only a "minor source" permit.

Sauk Valley News

Blunt Staunch in Support of Ethanol

Monday, February 19, 2007 By Brent Martin

Governor Blunt says pushing ethanol and bio-diesel doesn't just help farmers; it helps the state as a whole. Blunt couches support of ethanol not just in conservation terms, but terms of national security during an address to the Missouri Corngrowers Association. Governor Blunt has placed a high priority on ethanol during his time in office.

Missouri Net

Are these two governors, one from Illinois and the other from Missouri, so blinded by their pursuit of ethanol, that they are possibly cutting corners in the pollution permit processes? In their zeal to satisfy some of their constituents and in one governors case, help his brother's ethanol firm, are these governors blinded by the trees to the point that the people in both states will pay for this shortsightedness? While the ethanol corporations and their backers get "healthy", financially speaking, the people in and around these ethanol factories will be getting the short end of the stick in the form of polluted water to drink and toxic air to breathe. To add insult to injury, we'll be helping pay for this atrocious activity by being forced to support these ethanol factories with our hard earned money, given to these ethanol factories in the form of tax breaks and subsidies.