Updates
July 24, 2015: up and running. Huge story.
June 25, 2014: The Jamestown Sun is reporting:
The North Dakota Department of Health issued an air pollution control permit to construct for the proposed CHS nitrogen fertilizer plant at Spiritwood on June 20.
the permit covers construction and operation of the plant but requires construction to begin within 18 months.
The proposed plant would utilize natural gas produced in western North Dakota to produce nitrogen fertilizer. The original cost estimates for the plant totaled about $1.2 billion but have increased to nearly $2 billion. The project would be the largest ever constructed in North Dakota, if built.February 7, 2014: Construction begins on the Spiritwood ethanol plant.
February 11, 2013: The Bismark Tribune reporting the same story. It appears that any project with the word "ethanol" in it will be approved by the EPA. Maybe the TransCanada folks should lay a parallel ethanol pipeline alongside the Keystone XL. The Bismarck Tribune does note that folks are starving overseas, and Californians are fueling their SUVs with foodstuff. The Tribune didn't say it exactly like that, but close enough.
Original Post
North Dakota’s congressional delegation applauded Friday the Environmental Protection Agency’s certification of a new ethanol plant planned for the Jamestown area.
The EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard-2 certification for the plant clears the way for Great River Energy to begin seeking financing for the Dakota Spirit AgEnergy facility planned for the Spiritwood Energy Park about 10 miles east of Jamestown. The plant has a construction estimate of about $130 million and will convert 23 million bushels of corn into 65 million gallons of ethanol per year.North Dakota: still on a roll.
Agree to disagree on ethanol, but as long as "they're" spending money on ethanol plants, they might as well build them in North Dakota. For newbies, Jamestown is not anywhere near the oil patch.
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Also in that story:
Also planned for the Spiritwood Energy Park is the CHS Inc. nitrogen fertilizer plant. That $1.2 billion facility will produce anhydrous ammonia commonly used as a farm fertilizer. Construction completion of that plant is slated for 2016.
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Background
A bit more background to the ethanol story, assuming I interpret everything correctly.
In the Jamestown area there is a 99-megawatt coal-fired power plant which has sat idle since completion of testing after construction in 2011. The plant is now scheduled to come online in January 2015.
When that coal-fired power plant (Spiritwood Station) comes on line, providing electricity, it will divert its waste steam to a) the ethanol plant mentioned above; and, b) the Cargill Malt plant in the area.
Approval for the ethanol plant was delayed because the processes proposed were at variance to "predefined pathways."
