Update: Loomis Ethanol Plant Making Improvements

Several months ago the Madville Times commented on noise pollution issues at a new Poet Biorefining ethanol plant in Loomis, north of Mitchell. Last Saturday's Mitchell Republic reports that Poet Biorefining is finally catching up with meeting the requirements of the conditional use permit the Davison County Commission granted it two years ago. Poet Biorefining was supposed to have all the improvements done by the time the plant opened in December 2006. The county commission cut Poet some slack (why doesn't our county commission ever cut me some slack?), let the plant open, and gave the company until last month to meet the remaining CUP requirements.

The ethanol plant has, among other things, planted trees (about a thousand!) and shrubs for dust and noise suppression, obtained air and water quality permits, put up fencing, and added streetlights to the main rail crossing the plant uses. The company still hasn't conducted emergency drills with neighboring residents, but the Madville Times has faith that if the plant catches fire, the good folks of Loomis will have the common sense to run the other way. If there is a fire nearby, the plant has installed a hydrant that will allow the town to use water from the plant.

There are still noise issues: neighbor Bruce Alexander says the plant still raises a ruckus that has pushed him to buy white-noise equipment to drown out the sound. Still, even though noise levels aren't formally regulated, the plant has "put up noise baffles" and is "designing an insulated wall for the hammermill," says Loomis resident Larry Gromer.

The upshot: ethanol plants do impact quality of life. Communities looking to draw ethanol plants need to look ahead to those impacts and plan accordingly. Big corporations will take action to mitigate environmental impacts, but citizens and elected officials need to hold the corporations' feet to the fire.