Wisconsin Ethanol Plant Faces Uphill Battle

By RYAN J. FOLEY

The Associated Press
Monday, July 9, 2007; 3:51 AM

SPARTA, Wis. -- Farmer David Rundahl looks around a field of pine trees and weeds on the edge of this western Wisconsin city and sees the perfect location for an ethanol plant.

He points to nearby railroad tracks and Interstate 90 _ ideal for shipping corn and fuel, making some farmers rich and reducing the country's dependence on foreign oil.

But the $115 million project proposed by Rundahl and others might come at a high price: Sparta's largest employer, a dairy processor located less than a half-mile down the tracks, is threatening to leave along with its 350 jobs if the plant is built. That would be an economic blow to Sparta, a town of 9,000 in the heart of dairy country.

Century Foods International, a subsidiary of Hormel Foods Corp., says its dairy-based food products would be contaminated by the ethanol plant's pollution. Worried workers and others opposed to the location are trying to kill the project.

While many towns have faced similar fights as ethanol plants pop up across the Midwest, Mayor John Sund Jr. said nobody's seen anything quite like this.

Washington Post, June 9, 2007