Issues Forum
(Continued from Page A 22)
land, Dauphin, York, and Lan
caster counties, Welsh said.
Welsh was first hired as an ag
economic development specialist
by the York County Economic
Development Corporation. Penn
Mar Ethanol was recently formed
to move ahead with the ethanol
project.
In the spring of 2002, an out
side consultant performed a fea
sibility study for the project. The
study indicated positive econom-
Tom Baldrige urges agri
business leaders to help
“preserve the farmer.”
ic prospects for a plant in south
central Pennsylvania that would
produce 40 million gallons of
ethanol per year from corn. The
plant would also produce 131,000
tons per year of feed-grade dried
distiller grains, as well as 97,000
tons of carbon dioxide, potential
ly marketable to the region’s car
bonated beverage industry.
Welsh noted that such a facili
ty could add about $24.7 million
a year to the local economy and
boost the value of corn.
One of the factors that favor
strong future markets for ethanol
is the likely banning of MTBE
shown to be a human health haz
ard— as a gasoline additive.
Ethanol is a safe and environ
mentally sound replacement for
MTBE in gasoline.
California banned MTBE
within the past two years, and
the move toward banning it is ex
pected to come to the Northeast,
according to Welsh, who said the
additive is “headed down the
same path as asbestos.”
Another advantage of ethanol
is its potential ability to help
wean the U.S. off of foreign oil
dependency.
Most of the country’s 70 etha
nol plants are located in the Mid
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About 40 people from the agribusiness community attended the ag issues forum
Thursday morning.
west. None to date have been
built in East Coast states. How
ever, Welsh said that Pennsylva
nia’s proximity to major markets
for ethanol and its co-products,
as well as the positive com basis
here, help make the prospects
feasible.
While Pennsylvania’s corn
production varies widely from
year to year, “demand is always
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Railway infrastructure for
bringing in midwestern corn, plus
the fact that Vi of the com used in
ethanol production comes out as
distiller grain that could be used
to feed Pennsylvania livestock,
would help offset the fact that
Pennsylvania is a corn deficit
state, Welsh pointed out.
The Ag Issues Forum was or-
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 15, 2003-A23
ganized by Mike Brubaker of
TeamAg, along with Brent Land
is, ag coordinator at the Lancas
ter Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, and Bob Zook, vice
president of the Ephrata Nation
al Bank.
About 40 people from the agri
business community attended, in
cluding four members of the
Hans Herr FFA Chapter.
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