Council approves ethanol plant

By Phil Fairbanks NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Updated: 05/02/07 6:38 AM

Buffalo’s entry into the world of ethanol making — an $80 million plant on the Buffalo River — received final approval Tuesday.

By an 8-1 vote, the Common Council gave the project its final approval and set the stage for an operation that will turn bushels of corn into gallons of alternative fuel.

Developers said the Council’s action allows them to begin construction this summer and start manufacturing ethanol by June of next year. The facility will employ about 67 people.

The plant, located in the city’s Old First Ward, will reuse a cluster of dormant grain elevators left over from Buffalo’s heyday as a flour and grain manufacturing center.

“This is the final approval,” said Rick Smith III of River- Wright Energy, the firm developing the plant. “We wanted to make sure we addressed all the community’s concerns, and I think we have.”

The Council gave its approval, required because the Childs Street plant is in a Coastal Review District, after the city Planning Board ruled the project would not have a harmful impact on the community.

The one Council member who voted against the project said he believes the board was hasty in reaching that conclusion.

“I think it should have had a full environmental assessment review,” Council President David Franczyk said.

Franczyk said he remains concerned about potential odor, noise and pollution problems and suggested the city is simply rubber-stamping the project.

His colleagues disagreed, and so did the neighborhood’s largest community group, which came out in favor of the project.

Mayor Byron W. Brown told The Buffalo News on Tuesday he supports the ethanol plant and is satisfied the Planning Board and Zoning Board have adequately addressed all issues.

“With everything appearing to be in order, I intend to sign it,” Brown said, referring to the item the Council approved Tuesday.

Once up and running, the plant is expected to turn 40 million bushels of corn into 110 million gallons of ethanol each year.

News Staff Reporter Brian Meyer contributed to this report.