Cilion & CRC set sights on Caledonia for ethanol plant

   With gasoline prices inching up near $3 a gallon, Americans are reminded of the consequences of U.S. dependence on foreign oil and our country’s need to develop alternative fuels. Ethanol fuel is one making the headlines quite a bit these days. President Bush spoke of increasing federal funding for the research and development of ethanol facilities to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil. One company has the Town of Caledonia in Livingston County in its sight for a possible ethanol production facility.

   Cilion, Inc., a California based company, teamed up with Commodity Resource Corporation to select Caledonia as an ideal site for a corn ethanol production facility. CRC’s president and founder is Leslie Cole, who also owns Lakeville Transfer in Livonia, NY. Cilion is a partnership between the largest milling company in California, Western Milling, and four capital investors: Khosla Ventures, Virgin Fuels, Yucaipa Green Fund and Advanced Equities.

   The ethanol plant would be constructed on 14.4 acres of industrial property within the Commodity Resource agribusiness site, located on Route 5 west in the Town of Caledonia. Land O Lakes and Agriliance lease and operate a dry fertilizer production plant at the CRC location.

   "Cilion believes the Caledonia site has many of the attributes that make it a desirable location for an ethanol plant," commented CRC’s Director of Business Development Matt Cole.

What makes the Caledonia site a good place for ethanol production?

   Ethanol is produced from corn. Livingston County has a significant number of farms that could produce up to 20 percent of the corn supply needed for production at the facility. The ethanol facility would provide a ready made local market for farmers. At a January 2007 informational meeting held at J.W. Jones Hall in Caledonia, Nathan Rudgers, former Commissioner of Agriculture under former NY Gov. Pataki, said that the ethanol plant could buy from about 36,000 acres of locally grown corn.

   The byproduct of corn ethanol production is distiller’s grains, a highly nutritious and inexpensive feed source for dairy cattle. Local farmers could benefit from buying their dairy cattle feed locally, Rudgers added.

   In addition, CRC is located on an operational rail yard, and already has in place a truck staging area and weight scales. Cilion would import the remaining corn supply needed for production from the Midwest by rail.

Corn ethanol production process

   Matt Cole was before the Livingston County Environmental Management Council at their March 28, 2007 meeting and gave an overview of the proposed project and described the ethanol production process.

   The corn is finely ground, water and enzymes are added to produce a mash. The mash is allowed to ferment for approximately 40-50 hours to produce alcohol. The distillation process separates the alcohol out and the remaining grains go through an evaporation process to thoroughly dry them. The alcohol is distilled and dehydrated to 200 proof, put through a molecular sieve, producing ethanol. Before the ethanol can be shipped off site, it is mixed with 3-5 percent of gasoline (denaturing) so that it cannot be consumed or be subject to the alcohol tax. The remaining distiller’s grain is sold to dairy farmers as a highly nutritious cattle feed.

   The ethanol would be stored on site in one million gallon tanks, protected by concrete secondary containment bunkers able to hold 110 percent of the largest tank’s capacity, Cole explained to the LCEMC. Gasoline would be stored on site, as well, in two 30,000 gallon above ground tanks, also protected by secondary containment. The plant expects to produce 60 million gallons of ethanol per year.

Environmental Impact

   On site containment is not the only concern among local residents. At a public hearing in March 2007, about 20 people addressed their concerns about the location of the ethanol plant and several other issues impacting the public’s health and safety. Namely, there is concern that the facility is located directly on top of a sensitive aquifer that produces the Village of Caledonia’s water supply and also feeds Spring and Oatka Creeks. Air emissions were another significant concern discussed at the meeting. The plant’s proposed location is directly upwind of the Village of Caledonia and the Caledonia-Mumford Central School. Odors, noise and increased truck traffic were also named concerns.

$80 million Cilion ethanol facility eligible for Empire Zone benefits

   Patrick Rountree, director of the Livingston County Industrial Development Agency, attended the January informational meeting to explain that as an alternative fuel, the proposed ethanol plant is eligible for Empire Zone benefits. The agency estimates that the combined annual tax revenue on the $80 million project would be between $719,000 and $897,000, distributed as follows:

  • Caledonia-Mumford Central School - $479,000 - $599,000
  • Town of Caledonia - $85,000 - $105,000
  • Caledonia Fire District - $21,000 - $26,000
  • Livingston County - $134,000 - $167,000

   Cole said the plant would operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week and provide about 30 new full time jobs. The construction phase would add about 100 jobs. Local farmers would benefit from the increased demand for corn and from the availability of inexpensive cattle feed from the distiller’s grain.

The SEQR process

   The proposed ethanol plant is subject to the State Environmental Quality Review process. The Town of Caledonia Planning Board is lead agency in the SEQR process. Cilion and CRC prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Study and presented to the CPB in December 2006. After collecting public comment at the March 7, 2007 public hearing and receiving written comments, Cilion must address each question and concern raised in this process in preparation for the Final Environmental Impact Study.

   Cole said no date for completing the FEIS has been established and added that it may be several months before the FEIS is complete. During this time, Cilion plans to investigate recent advances in ethanol production technology that may improve the efficiency and competitiveness of producing corn-based ethanol. Construction equipment needed to build ethanol plants is in high demand right now and Cole estimates that it will take nine months to receive it from the time the project is given the green light to proceed, moving the construction date into 2008, at the earliest.

Ethanol as a fuel additive for automobiles

   Ethanol is blended in varying amounts with gasoline to reduce consumption of petroleum based fuels, reduce U.S. dependent on foreign oil and to reduce air pollution. Ethanol-blended fuel is available at most gas pumps today and most automobile engines operate equally as well using it. Ethanol is credited with raising the octane levels of gasoline. Ethanol can be produced from corn, sugar cane, wheat and a number of other agricultural feedstocks.

   Cole says CRC is in the planning stages of developing two other projects for construction this year at the Caledonia site: the Empire Transload Corporation Liquid Fertilizer plant and a Diesel/Biodiesel Blending and Transload Facility.

 

Public speaks to TPB on proposed ethanol plant

Cilion announces it will delay plans for plant by 6-12 months

   The public was given an opportunity to speak their opinion of the proposed Cilion, Inc. ethanol plant, planned for construction on the CRC agri-business industrial site on Rt. 5 in Caledonia. The Caledonia Town Planning Board conducted a public information hearing on March 7, 2007 in the CM Middle School auditorium. Concerned community members set up information and pictorial boards in the hallway for residents and visitors to learn more about ethanol production. About 100 people attended the meeting.

   The public hearing began with CRC’s Director of Business Development, Matt Cole, providing an overview of the proposed ethanol production facility and information about the environmental review process. Cole informed the audience that the plans to construct the ethanol plant have been postponed by several months due to current economic conditions such as increased corn and natural gas prices and a potential shortage of qualified contractors. He further explained that construction of a similar ethanol plant is underway in Shelby, Orleans County, where interested Caledonia board members and citizens can visit and inspect. Cilion, Inc., the California-based company who wants to build the facility, did not have a representative at the meeting.

   In a separate telephone interview, CRC President Les Cole said he had spoken personally with Cilion Executive Vice-President Ejnar Knudsen and was reassured that the project is only postponed, not stopped entirely.

   "Caledonia is a good site for an ethanol plant, that’s why they’ve invested so much time and money here. They (Cilion) wants the people to see an ethanol plant in Caledonia," Cole commented.

   At the public hearing, the TPB, chaired by Robert Sturm, allowed three minutes to each person from the audience that wanted to speak. He asked that Caledonia residents be heard first before others from outside of the town.

   About 20 people verbally presented their opinions of the ethanol plant in Caledonia. The majority of the speakers expressed environmental concerns with or was opposed to the ethanol plant coming to Caledonia.

   Richard Thomas, a Town of Caledonia resident who is opposed to the ethanol plant, expressed his concerns for the community’s environment, public health and safety. He also commented on ethanol’s future as an alternative fuel and Cilion itself for its decision to postpone the project when the current economic conditions threaten to impact their profit margin. He also took issue with the DEIS (Draft Environmental Impact Statement) not including consideration of the MacKay Nature Trail and comments from the Town Engineers. Thomas was still speaking when the three-minute bell sounded and Sturm interrupted him from continuing.

   Two time cancer survivor Jean Guthrie of Mumford and her husband Sean Sullivan, both spoke of what they believe to be strong evidence suggesting that the location of the proposed ethanol plant is a danger to the health and safety of the residents and the wildlife living in and around the natural resource of Spring Creek. They pointed to the conclusions documented in a 2004 hydrogeological study of the bedrock and aquifer that exists in Caledonia. Sullivan said he didn’t want to see anything come into the community that could threaten the residents’ health or contribute to any one of them having to go through what his wife has had to endure in her fight against cancer.

   Caledonia Fish Hatcher Manager Alan Mack reminded the TPB that Spring Creek and the hatchery, the oldest in the Western Hemisphere, are the important ingredients to a $90 million industry on Lake Ontario and that the board ought to carefully consider the proposed ethanol plant and any other project that could potentially threaten the hatchery and the industry it supports.

   There were several who vocalized their favor of the project, including an 18 year old Senior at Cal-Mum High School, Steve Geer, who told the TPB members that in his opinion, the good outweighs the bad in this situation. He believes that the increased revenue to the school and local municipalities, the impact on the auto industry and the increased corn market for local farmers, tip the scale in favor of the ethanol plant.

   Former Town Supervisor Jim Layland expressed his support for the ethanol plant, calling it a win-win project for Caledonia, Livingston County, New York State and the country. He cited the increased revenue that the plant would generate and the environmental benefit of reducing the use of petroleum products in automobile fuel.

   A man representing an organized labor union told the TPB that he had not seen any commitment from Cilion to use local contractors in the construction of the facility. He urged the Town to make Cilion commit to that agreement and not allow any of the bids to go to contractors outside of Livingston County.

   When everyone who had wanted to speak was finished, Sturm told the audience that written comments will continue to be accepted until March 21, 2007 and that the Planning Board will not make a decision on the ethanol plant until all the concerns and questions raised at the public hearing and in written form, are satisfactorily answered.

   Thomas, Guthrie and Sullivan later said they did not agree with the way the hearing was run and specifically, that the public was only permitted three minutes to make their comments. Sturm said that the PB followed standard procedure for public hearings, using the Livingston County Planning Board as an example, where the three minute comment rule is followed. He did, however, inform the audience that written comments will be accepted, reviewed and answered in the coming weeks. Thomas said that is appropriate for the written comment period, but not for the hearing, where the TPB is supposed to allow the public to be heard.

 

Residents placed plenty of information about ethanol production and its environmental impact on display in the hallway for viewing before and after the public hearing on the Draft Environmental Impact Study on the proposed Cilion ethanol plant in Caledonia.

 

The Town of Caledonia Planning Board hear from about 20 residents from Caledonia on the proposed ethanol plant.