BioEnergy construction process progressing well

"We're moving ahead on a schedule that thanks to the help of winter takes us to completion by April of next year," said board chairman Robert Ferguson of the BioEnergy plant being constructed outside of Heron Lake. So far, construction has been on schedule, with no major setbacks.

"We're just putting the sheeting on the office building," Ferguson said, adding that the next major project is work on the tank farm. Roads, gravel at this point, have been in for some time, the mild winter has allowed plenty of dirt work to be done. The only downfall of the warmer temperatures is dealing with the mud. Cement footings will soon be poured for the process center building, as well as the main floor of the office building. A maintenance building is also going up. "It's a lot" of changes, Ferguson said. "We look at it every day" and see the progress, he added.

On the management end, BioEnergy "finished contracts on marketing ethanol and distillers grains," Ferguson noted, and awhile back purchased the Lakefield Farmer's Coop elevator and the branch in Wilder. The company is currently involved with acquiring a general manager, and has been conducting phone interviews. Onf February 24, the city will accept bids for the municipal water treatment plant. The BioEnergy board meets every two weeks to resolve issues. "There are a lot of things that come up on a daily basis," Ferguson remarked, but so far things have been going pretty smoothly.

Ferguson said construction will progress at a much faster rate once BioEnergy acquires all of its permits. Currently an appeal has halted that step, but Ferguson is hopeful that matter will be resolved in the next 30-60 days. The timetable is "being driven by the courts," he said, but is looking for a ruling favorable to BioEnergy since a similar coal-fired plant in Goldfield, Iowa, is up and operational, and said "things look good."

"Our timing is good," Ferguson noted of BioEnergy, since a 20% ethanol mandate by 2010 passed in the state legislature last year, and Congressman Gil Gutknecht is pushing for a nation-wide 10% mandate on a federal level.
Minnesota is a forerunner in ethanol and continues that process through legislation and plant expansions. Ferguson stated that HLBE is part of that process, and will provide an economic value to the surrounding area.