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Company Abandons Plans For Ethanol Production At Port

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By TED JACKOVICS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 18, 2008

TAMPA - A controversial plan to build an ethanol production facility at the Port of Tampa has been shelved in favor of seeking financing to build an ethanol storage facility there instead, the project's sponsor said in an interview Tuesday.

Bradley Krohn, president of Port Sutton EnviroFuels, cited previous delays created by litigation brought by a neighboring business at the proposed port site and current unfavorable conditions for financing ethanol plants as reasons to shift the project's focus.

"Nobody is financing the construction of ethanol plants today," Krohn said. "The delay from the litigation prevented us from getting financing earlier and now we are in a position where market conditions are preventing the financing of a plant."

However, Krohn said he was confident that a new set of investors would be interested in backing a plan for an ethanol storage site before the EnviroFuels lease option with the port expires Aug. 25.

EnviroFuels has obtained a series of port authority lease extensions as it sought to interest investors in what at one point appeared to be part of a national solution for an alternative fuel.

Krohn said that plans for ethanol production at the site at Port Sutton, near U.S. 41 and Pendola Point Road, could be introduced in the long term if the financial conditions involving the ethanol industry changed.
Port officials said they had no further information about changes in plans for the 22-acre site, and possible use of additional land left vacant by a neighboring environmental testing company that relocated from the port in April.

"We expect the storage of ethanol would be a normal activity on the site," port spokesman Andy Fobes said.

These days, ethanol is being mixed in proportions generally smaller than 10 percent with conventional gasoline to create blends sold to motorists.

Residents Protested Possible Odor

For the foreseeable future, it would appear that concerns residential neighbors, in particular some on Harbour Island and Davis Islands, raised about possible odors from ethanol production, have been allayed. The odor issue is one Krohn and other EnviroFuels officials and backers disagreed with.

In addition, the switch from ethanol production to ethanol storage would serve to quench a contentious issue involving an initial need for 350,000 gallons of reclaimed water a day to refine ethanol. EnviroFuels officials consistently rebutted those concerns with a proposal for a highly efficient plant that eventually would use less than 200,000 gallons a day.

Location Was A Problem

In addition to the concerns raised by some residential neighbors, which city and port officials listened to before siding with EnviroFuels in approving the lease option, an environmental testing company objected to the location of an ethanol production plant adjacent to its operation with several dozen employees.

However, PEL Laboratories Inc., settled out of court with EnviroFuels and the Port of Tampa in November in a case that went before an arbitrator. PEL Laboratories moved in April to a site north of Tampa International Airport.

"I hope they succeed in getting someone to finance a storage and mixing plant," PEL president Kevin Dunham said. "It seems there's a big demand for it."

Ethanol manufacturers in recent months have faced a national backlash as they are being blamed for high corn prices and ultimately some higher food prices. Other critics have challenged federal tax credits that oil companies and blenders get for mixing ethanol and gasoline.

The United States has about 150 ethanol refineries in operation, but Tampa is not the only location to experience obstacles to adding more.

VeraSun, which operates 11 ethanol plants in the Midwest, said last week is delaying the opening of two plants because of poor market conditions, The Wichita Eagle reported.

"The best plant to shut down is the one you haven't opened yet," project designer David Vander Griend said.

Tribune reporter Ted Jackovics can be reached at tjackovics

@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7817.

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