Jul 23, 2008 11:46 am US/Pacific
New Lancaster Ethanol Plant Approved
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
A $30 million ethanol plant planned for Lancaster got zoning approval from the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission Wednesday.
The county's first ethanol plant would be operated by Irvine-based BlueFire Ethanol, which plans on making ethyl alcohol out of biowaste -- wood chips, grass cuttings and other organic waste diverted from a nearby landfill.
"They take material that we throw away and turn it into useful products," said William Davis, BlueFire's vice-president of project management.
Construction on the plant, to be built next to the Lancaster Landfill, will likely begin this fall and should be complete by late 2009, according to
Davis.
Plans for two other Southern California plants are in the works, one near Mecca.
"The location of the other one has not been decided," Davis said.
"We really are seeing something which is going to take pressure off of
landfills," said Commissioner Esther Valadez, who voted to approve the permit.
Ethanol is a gasoline supplement, though its benefits are debatable.
One popular formulation, E85, is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.
Anyone opposed to the project has until Aug. 6 to file an appeal of the
zoning permit.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
