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The
Official Newspaper of Manchester and Delaware County, Iowa
Tuesday,
October 24, 2006 | |
Over 200 attend input meeting
by Latisha Sand |
Over 200 Delaware County residents got some answers about the proposed ethanol plant during the Citizen Input Meeting, which was held in the West Delaware Middle School cafeteria on Wednesday, Oct. 18.
During the almost three-hour meeting, residents heard presentations from James Broghammer of ALL-Energy, City Manager Tim Vick, Council member Darrell Hanson, who was also with the Iowa State Extension office, and Mike Wade from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR).
“Obviously this is a very big project for Manchester,” said Broghammer, who is the CEO of ALL-Energy. He explained that the plant will convert about 40 million bushels of corn into ethanol and will produce 360,000 tons of feed products. The process is kind of like distilling alcohol but they add denaturant, or gasoline, at the end of the process. What is left is silage, which will get turned into livestock feed.
ALL-Energy is a fairly new company but has over 150 years experience between the employees.
Broghammer said that the investment in an ethanol plant is permanent.
“This isn’t a business that is going to take all the taxes and then leave,” he said. “It’s here, they are very permanent in nature.”
The plant will have 50 full time jobs ranging from $11 per hour to $120,000 per year with six salary positions making between $40,000 and $80,000 a year. And most of those employees would come from the Manchester area.
“We want to be a corporate citizen,” said Broghammer. “We want to be involved in the community.”
There were a few residents concerned with the water coming from the plant and the storm water.
According to Broghammer, the water from the corn is reused and the storm water will be captured in the storm water retention pond. The cooling water would either go into the river or through the wastewater treatment plant.
Rural Manchester resident Ann Sperfslage was concerned about the waterways, especially the trout stream Spring Branch Creek, which would be near the ethanol plant. Broghammer said that the water would go west instead of east and end up in the storm water retention pond.
“In my way of thinking, that would be better than what is there now,” said Broghammer.
Wade also tried to reassure residents that the ethanol plants being built now are more
environmentally safe than the older ones.
“There is no other type of facility that needs more permits than ethanol plants,” said Wade. “And no permits or applications have been filed for this proposed plant.”
He also said that ethanol plants tend to want to comply with the rules because they are not only watched by the state but also by the federal government.
“We just can’t do what we want,” said Wade. “The EPA (the Environmental Protection Agency) will be watching over it closely. We (the IDNR) have an office close and most of us (DNR’s) live around here.”
Wade said that if there is a problem with anything, ALL-Energy will have to find a solution to that problem before a permit would be granted.
The main concern during the meeting was the plant’s proposed location.
According to Broghammer, who is a Manchester native, the plant would be located a little over a mile east of Pizza Hut.
“It’s near the scenic byway and fish hatchery,” said Kathy Petchalon, who lives east of Manchester. “Do people really want to see that?”
Broghammer said there would be a total of 125 to 130 trucks per day going to the plant but most of the ethanol will be hauled away by railroad to Chicago, the east coast or Canada. There would only be about three additional trains per week going through Manchester.
“No matter where you build it, someone is going to live by or near the plant,” said Kenny Hempstead, who lives south of Manchester. He also said that the same 30 or 40 trucks would be making multiple trips to the plant instead of 150 different trucks.
Broghammer doesn’t think there would be a problem with roads or trucks parking on the side of the road. They plan to have turning lanes installed on old Highway 20 for the entrance of the ethanol plant and it would only take about a minute and a half to unload the trucks.
“The 155 acres gives us a lot of room,” said Broghammer. “We will have a truck parking lot because we don’t want (the trucks) to be on the street.”
According to Vick, there are, on average, 360 trucks going through the Franklin and Main street intersection every day.
“Most of them are going to Cedar Rapids,” he said.
There was about 30 million bushels of corn planted in Delaware County this year and almost all that corn was transported out of the county by trucks, according to Broghammer.
He said the east end of town was picked because there is not enough room at the industrial park and a federal law is in place that doesn’t allow plants to be constructed near airports.
If the Dyersville plant is built, ALL-Energy will reconsider the proposed ethanol plant in Manchester.
“It will affect us because the plants will be the same size (100 million gallons),” he said.
Diane Ogden, another Manchester resident, had read a news article that stated that the new ethanol plants were emitting “harmful chemicals from their smoke stacks.”
But Wade said that he is amazed at the water vapor that is discharged from the new plants versus the older ones.
Ogden asked the people in attendance to raise their hands if they were for the plant and then if they were against it. Out of those who raised their hands, about 75 percent of the attendees were for the plant and 25 percent against it.
Jim Vermazen said that he has talked to several farmers and all of them were 100 percent for the plant.
“This town wouldn’t run if it wasn’t for the farmers,” said Vermazen, a Manchester resident. “I would rather live across from an ethanol plant than from Simon’s Grain. There is a lot of dust and noise coming from there.”
A Fayette County resident, Tim Burrack, said that he wishes his county could have this type of opportunity.
“I grow crops and I haul them myself to Cedar Rapids,” said Burrack. “If you build one here, I will bring my corn here, I will buy fuel here and I would even get my trucks repaired here.”
The ethanol plant would allow farmers to bring their own corn, even with tractors and wagons, to the plant instead of hauling it to a grain elevator.
“I support the ethanol plant,” said Ann Grant from Delhi. “I don’t care where it’s built as long as it’s in Delaware County so we can reap from the benefits.”
There will be four other public hearings concerning the plant but the dates and times have yet to be determined. |
Brothers visit China with ski group
by Latisha Sand |
Two Delhi men recently returned from a 10-day skiing trip to China.
Doug and Paul Bauers traveled with the Tampa Bay, Fla., ski team to various towns in China to perform four times in two cities and to do a little sight seeing.
“Every city had it’s own culture,” said Doug, 32.
On Sept. 30 the group of 15 flew to Beijing, then to Chongqin and rode a bus to Wan zhon.
“We were up for 36 hours,” said Paul, 30.
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PHOTO SUBMITTED
The men did a total of four shows in two cities. Here the team performs a pyramid. Paul is the third from the right and Doug is on the far left. |
“And it was daylight the entire time because of the time changes,” added Doug. “We flew out of Chicago on Friday (Sept. 30) and got there on Saturday morning.”
Their teammates consisted mostly of Tampa Bay residents but also included one from Alabama and other states. The ages ranged from 18 to mid 40s.
“It was a good group,” said Doug. “I would do it again if it was with a group. I don’t think I’d go over by myself.”
The China government funded the entire trip and treated the Americans very well.
“In each city we ate a traditional meal,” said Doug. “In one city we had pigeon soup and fish.”
But the soup contained the entire pigeon and the fish still had the scales. “I think we lost about 10 pounds while we were over there until we found a McDonald’s,” said Paul.
They said the hardest thing, which actually they were laughing about, was trying to communicate with the Chinese people.
“It would take 15 minutes or longer to try and communicate,” said Doug.
“It was just like playing charades,” said Paul.
They remembered walking into one shop and asking what the t-shirts said. The owner would just say, ‘right size,’ or other English words instead of what the shirt actually said.
“It got confusing,” said Paul.
When they did go sight seeing, the 15 members either had a tour guide or went in groups of four.
They visited a Panda research center, a silk factory, historical and ancient areas and other places in the country.
During their first performance, the group estimated that 300,000 people watched them ski.
“People were all over,” said Doug. “They were lined on both sides of the river.”
The only practice they got was the day before a show. The two cities they performed in were Wan zhon and Shang Hai. The performances were a part of a celebration equivalent to the United States Independence Day.
“They were off the entire week and then went back to work on that Sunday,” said Doug.
Their flight home started around 7 and they returned to Chicago at about 7:30 that same day.
“The guy in charge joked that it was only a half hour flight,” said Diane, the Bauers’ mother.
But overall, they had a wonderful time and won’t mind going over again, if there was a group involved.
Paul and Doug, who help run the family business, B and B Sports in Delhi, have been skiing for over 20 years. Paul has traveled around the country and world skiing professionally, including Taiwan and Australia. They both give skiing lessons during the summer months.
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Counties join for grading project
by Jamie Smith |
The Delaware County Board of Supervisors, at the Oct. 16 meeting, approved plans for the Delaware County and Jones County line grading projects to be let through Jones County on Nov. 14.
The joint project between the two counties involves a bridge replacement east of highway 38. The bridge deck is now complete and the guardrail is set to be finished by Nov. 1.
Delaware and Jones County are equally splitting the 3-mile clearing, grubbing and grading project on the county line. The first one-forth mile section of the project is graded and open.
Delaware County Engineer Mark Nahra explained both counties determined the section of road was in need of repair.
Also, in secondary road news, the culvert extension on 180th Ave. is done. Earthwork remains to be completed.
In addition, the decking is finished on the Robinson Rd. bridge on W63.
In other county news, the board approved the treasurer’s report. The Delaware County Treasurer submitted the investment report of $11,164,103.92 through Oct. 3 to be deposited in the bank.
In addition, the board approved the second reading and waived the third reading of Ordinance #28.
The ordinance becomes effective as soon as published. The board must renew ordinances every five years.
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