Rotary Report 9/25/08

Marianna Rotary Club Activities, September 17 Meeting
By Sid Riley & Byron Ward, Club Media Representative

At the regular Wednesday, September 17, 2008 meeting of the Marianna Rotary Club held at Jim’s Buffet and Grill in Marianna, this week’s program was introduced by club member Don Nowell whose speaker was Lee Hatch, Executive Director of East Coast Ethanol. Mr. Hatch delivered a power point presentation informing the club members about the proposed ethanol plant that would be constructed on a site just outside of Campbellton, near the Bay Line Rail line and Highway 231.
The company is being formed to meet an existing market that has been identified for ethanol production in the southeast. Four plants are in the planning phase, each designed to produce 110 million gallons of corn-ethanol per year. The Campbellton plant would be the second plant of the four to be built, once final formation of the company and financing arrangements are completed. When built, the plant would provide 40 – 50 high paying jobs, and would create a county tax base increase three times larger than that of the new Green Circle plant that has just opened south of Cottondale.
Hatch also described the processes involved in converting corn into ethanol, and the side product feed grain for cattle. He also described the marketing strategy and cost components of the venture. Earlier this year the Florida legislature enacted laws that will require that all gasoline sold in the states after 2010 contain at least a 10% ethanol blend. Last week’s winner of the football pool was Scot Paramore. Harry Fuqua announced that every third grader in Jackson County had been given a personal dictionary by the Marianna Rotary Club.