Emissions from ethanol plant cause residents to worry

ALEXANDRIA, Ind. – People living near a central Indiana ethanol plant said they are worried about the company’s request to operate without one of its two pollution control devices.

The request pending with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management would allow Poet, a South Dakota-based ethanol plant, to increase pollution emissions from the plant it opened last year in Alexandria.

State environmental officials told residents during a public meeting that the revised permit would still put Poet’s emissions within the state guidelines.

But some residents complained of seeing black smoke from the plant along with white flakes in the air.