DeWeese BioFuels, LLC, formally announced that it plans to build a 50-million gallon ethanol plant near Fairfield, Neb., which will use about 19 million bushels of corn and milo on an annual basis, and create 35 to 40 jobs.
DeWeese BioFuels is a newly-formed local company. Chairman of the company is Steve Clabaugh, president of the Commercial Bank of Nelson, Neb. Secretary of the company is Clay Rawhouser, a local entrepreneur.
Clabaugh said DeWeese BioFuels commissioned a feasibility study to analyze three sites for the ethanol plant. The site ultimately chosen is half mile southeast of Fairfield, Neb., and five miles from DeWeese, Neb. The 92-acre plot was selected due to the following:
Confirmed availability of 1 million head of cattle on feed within a 75-mile radius of the site.
Confirmed availability of more than 200 million bushels of corn and milo being produced within a 40-mile radius of the site.
Close access to a rail line, natural gas pipeline, a new electric substation, irrigation wells and state highways.
“While the project is subject to securing the proper permitting, and the appropriate incentives and financing, we are confident that we are taking all the necessary steps to ensure we will be successful,” Clabaugh said.
In addition to producing 50 million gallons of ethanol, the plant will produce an estimated 161,500 tons of distiller grainson an annual basis. Distiller grains are a byproduct of ethanol used for animal feed.
Fagen Inc., of Granite Falls, Minn., a leader in the development of ethanol plants across the country, will serve as the designer-builder of the DeWeese BioFuels ethanol plant. Permitting for the site is expected to take place in 2006, with construction beginning in the spring of 2007.
