Caledonia family tour ethanol plant in California

   There has been much talk about the impact on public health and safety the proposed ethanol plant in the Town of Caledonia could have. Cilion, Inc., a California based company, selected the Commodity Resource Agri-business site located on Route 5 west in the Town of Caledonia, as its prime location for a proposed ethanol plant. Situated adjacent to a rail yard and in an area brimming with crop and dairy farms, the Caledonia site seemed the perfect location for a new ethanol production facility.

   As soon as word got out that Cilion planned to build a plant there, some residents became concerned about its impact on the environment and public health. There were noise, odor and traffic concerns and anxiety that the plant could produce contamination to the village water supply and the waters of Spring Creek where the fish hatchery propagates trout for stocking in many Western New York lakes and streams.

   The Caledonia Town Planning Board conducted several informational meetings for residents and invited Cilion executives and several professional representatives to answer their concerns. Planning Board member Mark Callan listened to all of the evidence on both sides of the issue. He reviewed the Draft Environmental Impact Statement prepared by Cilion and followed up on all of the recommendations made by concerned agencies in the process. For Callan, however, a family trip to California in the spring of this year, led him to tour a nearby ethanol production facility and find out for himself, what living with one of these plants is like.

   Callan, his wife Veronica and three sons, Ryan, Colin and Martin, operate Callan farms in Caledonia. The farm produces dried beans, wheat and corn and milks a 160 head herd of dairy cows. Callan also owns and operates Genesee Valley Bean Company, located on his Caledonia farm, which produces dry edible light red kidney and black turtle soup beans. Their primary buyer is Goya.

   The family spent 12 days last April traveling around California, first in San Francisco, then on to Santa Cruz, Yosemite National Forest and then traveled the coastline to experience the waters of the Pacific Ocean. The Callans telephoned Ejnar Knudsen, co-founder of Cilion, Inc. and executive vice-president for business development, and asked if they could tour the nearest ethanol plant. Knudsen, who conducted a public meeting in Caledonia on the proposed ethanol plant, welcomed the family to Western Milling Company, Cilion’s parent company located in Goshen, California.

   The Callans found the ethanol plant located near dairy farms and residential homes. They followed the entire ethanol production process at the plant and report that they encountered no abnormally loud noises or odors nor did they witness any steam billowing out of the fermenters. They did see a lot of truck activity transporting the wet distillers grain but said even that did not emit an unpleasant odor, rather they described it as a "food" type of smell, similar to that of baking bread.

   Veronica Callan said the plant was situated in a residential neighborhood so she randomly asked some of the neighbors of the facility what their experience was like living next to the ethanol plant. None of the neighbors reported any negatives such as odors or noise and many of them said they were barely aware that the plant was in their neighborhood.

   Mark Callan said the touring the ethanol plant gave him a much better idea of the size and the processes of the plant. He has a much better understanding of the production process after having seen it first hand and in his opinion; Caledonia is a good location for the proposed Cilion ethanol plant. Callan said the adjacent rail yard, the byproducts of the facility and the existing feed grain plant on the site, make the proposed ethanol plant a good fit for the CRC location.

   While these are the Callan family’s own perceptions of ethanol production plants, it is at least, an opinion based on experience. Other town officials expressed at one time, their plans to visit an ethanol plant in production before giving Cilion the go ahead on the project.

   Cilion has placed its plans for the Caledonia project on hold because of equipment delays. They are in the process of building six other plants in the U.S. and are trying to learn new ways to improve the process as they go along. They must also research and provide answers to all of the written and verbal concerns and questions raised at the public hearing and during the public comment period.