Ethanol plan sparks hope in Campbellton

The mayor of Campbellton hopes a new corn-based ethanol plant will add industrial growth to the Jackson County town.
“This is just what we need,” Mayor Aggie Curry said. “This is our jump start.”
Curry said she hoped people would move to Campbellton to fill the 40 to 50 jobs with East Coast Ethanol, whose company officials announced the plant’s arrival Tuesday at the town’s community center. Construction of the plant is expected to start at its near 300-acre location off Florida Highway 2 in spring 2009, with operation to begin sometime in 2010.
The announcement of the plant left one Jackson County resident with concerns about its impact on the community.
Richard Bibby, whose land is adjacent to some of the plant’s property, said the announcement left him concerned whether the town’s volunteer fire department could handle an emergency at the plant if something happened. Bibby serves as one of about a dozen fire fighters for the town.
“I’m keeping an openly optimistic mind about it,” Bibby said. “I moved out here because it was quiet. I would rather wake up to the sound of my neighbors cows than the sound of trains bringing in corn.”
Randy Hudson, the company’s chief executive officer, talked about how the plant’s ethanol would help amid a nationwide energy crisis.
“We have dedicated our lives to crude oil. We have to look at other areas of energy production,” Hudson said. “Our platform begins with corn. That is the transitional energy we’re all looking for and that’s grain alcohol.”
Plant officials said much of the corn would be shipped at least 2,000 miles into the plant using rail cars, which will be redirected to make a stop near the plant. Lee Hatch, a director with the company, said the company will also buy corn from local farmers.
“We plan to be good neighbors, and we plan to give back to the community,” Hatch said.
The plant will produce 110 million gallons of ethanol a year. Hudson said each bushel of corn makes 2.8 gallons of ethanol. The company also plans to build ethanol plants in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. The plants will have a combined production of 440 million gallons of ethanol a year, making it the sixth largest ethanol producer in the U.S, according to a statement released by the company.
Hudson said 30 percent of the processed product will also produce a dried grain, which will be sold as livestock feed.
Hudson said most gas stations across the country are already marketing a 90 percent to 10 percent blend of gas to ethanol. He said the country is working toward changing to an 80 percent to 20 percent blend.
“This will be by far the largest producer of ethanol in Florida,” Hudson said. “Currently there is not any ethanol produced in Florida.”