Proposed dual facility would be a first
Dial Energy, state, local officials meet
Saturday, November 18, 2006
ABINGDON - Dial Energy Corp. may add a biodiesel plant to its proposed ethanol plant on 300 acres just north of Abingdon. If that happens, it will be the first facility of its kind in Illinois.Sal Garza, senior account manager for the state's Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, said "it may be the first of its kind in the nation."
Garza, who scheduled a number of meetings for Abingdon city officials and officials from Dial to attend Thursday in Springfield, said he will have to do more research before he can say with certainty it's the first such complex in the U.S., but "it's a certainty it would be the first of its kind in Illinois."
Morning meetings included sessions with three of DCEO's bureaus - the Bureau of Business Development, the Bureau of Energy and Recycling "and we also had the point person for the enterprise zone program in Illinois."
Abingdon officials are considering either an enterprise zone or a tax increment financing district as an incentive it may offer.
Abingdon Mayor Steve Darmer said there also were meetings with the Department of Agriculture, the state department regulating coal mining and the Department of Transportation in the morning, as well as what he described as "a whole lot of people from DCEO. ... They (Dial's representatives) got a lot of answers. They know what the state can do for them, what grant money is out there."
State Rep. Don Moffitt, R-Gilson, attended a number of the meetings.
The 100 million gallon ethanol plant is expected to cost $200 million to build and employ about 45 people in high paying jobs. While no figures, or exactly what type of state financial assistance Dial may seek have been made public, Garza said "They're pursuing what the potential is and how the state could participate in this project. ... In terms of the Abingdon site, they stated it was the perfect property for them. They're very pleased with the beginning support they've received not only from Abingdon, but the surrounding area."
The afternoon consisted of meetings with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, a crucial component because applications for air permits and meeting other requirements is a costly process. Some of the permits take as long as a year to process, although Darmer said that is partly because of a backlog at the state level. An encouraging sign to both Garza and Darmer was how well the meetings with the IEPA went.
"Within the next week or two, they will start doing the permitting applications," Darmer said.
Garza was impressed by Dial's officials. He said the officials seem unusually open.
"I have the sense they are interested in building a quality, long-lasting relationship. It's just more in their nature, being pretty frank and pretty open," he said. "When they left all these different sessions, their remarks were it was highly productive and successful and a good number of questions were answered. They were very pleased by the willingness of local officials, as well as state officials in working with them."
