Land near Hallam may house county's first ethanol plant
Lancaster County may be in line for its first ethanol plant. Loren Schwaninger of Martell said Thursday he sold an option on 80 acres across the road from Nebraska Public Power District’s Sheldon Station near Hallam.
Schwaninger said the buyers are Steve Clabaugh and Clay Rawhouser, partners who have proposed ethanol plants in other parts of the state. The two men plan to form a company called Hallam Ethanol LLC, he said.
Other than providing the land, Schwaninger’s involvement in the project would be minimal, he said.
“I hope to own some shares and sell them some corn,” he said.
Clabaugh, president of the Commercial Bank of Nelson, declined comment Thursday.
“We are not ready to make any kind of press release at this time,” he said.
Lancaster County Commissioner Larry Hudkins said during a County Board staff meeting Thursday he had heard the plant would have a capacity of 50 million gallons. Schwaninger said that’s what he was told as well.
That would be similar to an ethanol plant Clabaugh and Rawhouser have proposed in the Clay County town of Fairfield.
Steve Sorum of the Nebraska Ethanol Board said he had not heard about plans for an ethanol plant in Hallam, but he is familiar with Clabaugh and Rawhouser.
“I believe they have proposed (ethanol plants) in three or four parts of the state,” Sorum said.
He said with a 50-million-gallon capacity, the plant would be about average size. There are 12 plants operating in the state with a combined output of 600 million gallons, he said.
The location near a power plant may be significant, Sorum said.
Power plants generate excess steam, he said, and ethanol plants run primarily on steam.
“It can be a natural marriage,” Sorum said.
Jeanne Schieffer, a spokeswoman with NPPD, said the company works with potential customers all the time ranging from call centers to ethanol plants, “but we don’t discuss our customers’ business.”
Reach Matt Olberding at 473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.
Schwaninger said the buyers are Steve Clabaugh and Clay Rawhouser, partners who have proposed ethanol plants in other parts of the state. The two men plan to form a company called Hallam Ethanol LLC, he said.
Other than providing the land, Schwaninger’s involvement in the project would be minimal, he said.
“I hope to own some shares and sell them some corn,” he said.
Clabaugh, president of the Commercial Bank of Nelson, declined comment Thursday.
“We are not ready to make any kind of press release at this time,” he said.
Lancaster County Commissioner Larry Hudkins said during a County Board staff meeting Thursday he had heard the plant would have a capacity of 50 million gallons. Schwaninger said that’s what he was told as well.
That would be similar to an ethanol plant Clabaugh and Rawhouser have proposed in the Clay County town of Fairfield.
Steve Sorum of the Nebraska Ethanol Board said he had not heard about plans for an ethanol plant in Hallam, but he is familiar with Clabaugh and Rawhouser.
“I believe they have proposed (ethanol plants) in three or four parts of the state,” Sorum said.
He said with a 50-million-gallon capacity, the plant would be about average size. There are 12 plants operating in the state with a combined output of 600 million gallons, he said.
The location near a power plant may be significant, Sorum said.
Power plants generate excess steam, he said, and ethanol plants run primarily on steam.
“It can be a natural marriage,” Sorum said.
Jeanne Schieffer, a spokeswoman with NPPD, said the company works with potential customers all the time ranging from call centers to ethanol plants, “but we don’t discuss our customers’ business.”
Reach Matt Olberding at 473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.
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