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."
Recycling.
ReplyDeleteThe plants and a zillion trucks coming and going emit CO2.
The corn plants consume the CO2.
Repeat.
Anon 2
Wow, isn't that the truth. I guess the corn plants are consuming just a bit more CO2 than the plants/trucks are emitting to get the EPA folks to approve.
DeleteToo bad this ethanol plant will go ahead. Sure it is another investment for North Dakota. However with it taking food away from the most venerable and starving of the world makes it not a good thing. If we really needed the energy one could make a weak argument for doing it. However that is not the case. I still stand on the principle that food is for human consumption and not to be used for an ineffective silly way of producing energy. Direct subsides for production of ethanol may have ended for now but the renewal fuel standards are still there and it increases the percentage of ethanol in the fuel as time goes by.
ReplyDeleteI could go on about this travesty but I think you get my drift. Besides North Dakota isn't dirt poor any longer.
As you said once "if the starving people of the third world knew we were doing this they would be scratching their heads and be wondering why this is happening".
I hope you are getting your snow removal under control and your power stays on.
!. With regard to the ethanol plant, I was a bit conflicted. Folks know how I feel with regard to ethanol. Nothing has changed. I'm trying to be more fair and balanced in my blogging (at which I will fail). And I was being a bit cynical and flippant, I suppose, when I wrote "if they're going to spend money on ethanol, they might as well spend it in North Dakota."
Delete2. On another note, I am quite happy with the shoveling we did. I budgeted four hours to manually shovel the snow (no snow blower; no paid snow plow removal service etc) and I think I finished in about three hours. The opening to the driveway has to be re-done every time a city snow plow drives by but that's the only occasional set back. No complaints. No loss of power. Granddaughters had a great day.
ReplyDeleteKind of interesting story, although a lot less intense than Williston, Minot, Dickinson, etc.
http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/256061/group/homepage/
"According to North Dakota Tourism Division, 57 new hotels with 4,900 rooms have opened in the state since 2008, and 39 hotels with 3,600 rooms are under construction or development. New construction is even happening in small towns outside the Oil Patch, such as Langdon, Harvey and Carrington, all in the eastern half of the state."
Great story; it's nice to see Grand Forks doing well; it always seem to be in the shadow of Fargo.
DeleteThank you for taking time to comment.