The Hourglass Foundation, 123 N. Prince St., is a nonprofit organization dedicated to studying the quality of life in thecounty. It clearly believes that corn-based ethanol will replace the federally mandated gasoline additive MTBE, as early as next year.
It cites a provision in the Energy Bill before Congress that would double the use of corn-based ethanol and require it to be pumped in every U.S. gas station within nine years.
Yet the report raises many questions, including:
Should Lancaster County take advantage of the economic benefit of producing ethanol?
From an environmental perspective, should the plant be built on 65 acres in Conoy Township, and will using ethanol improve the county's poor air quality?
Will farmers benefit from the plant's demand for more corn?
The Hourglass report cites a Lancaster Chamber of Commerce study that suggests ethanol production has helped local economies produce $5 for each dollar brought in by the plant.
That means if the plant creates revenue of $85 million, the county, state and Conoy Township could conceivably see an economic impact of $425 million.
It specifically advocates building the plant in Conoy -- rather than anywhere else in the county -- because water is handy.
If the ethanol plant is built where it is proposed, next to the county incinerator, it can reuse wastewater and reduce the amount of fresh water withdrawn from the Susquehanna River.
The report suggests that factories that produce ethanol also produce serious pollutants, and it says using ethanol in motor vehicles offers a "mixed bag" as far as air quality is concerned.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has said it wants to promote alternative energy but it is too early to discuss the Conoy Township plant. The report notes that the federal Environmental Protection Agency has recently allowed ethanol-manufacturing plants to ignore Clean Air Act standards.
It states that no independent study has been done to determine an ethanol plant's effect on corn prices, but it suggests the plant will require 34 percent of its corn, or about seven million bushels, from farmers in southcentral Pennsylvania and northern Maryland.
It cites a Lancaster County farmer's prediction that the plant could hike corn prices 3 to 5 cents a bushel at certain times and that it could require users of feed corn to depend more on Midwest corn.
A spokesman for the extension agent for Lancaster County is quoted as saying, "If you are a farmer who buys corn for feed, this will bump up the price a bit, and that's a negative; however, if you sell corn, it's a positive. I don't see this project being price neutral."
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