Utica, New York, ethanol plant resumes operations under new ownership

An ethanol plant based in the town of Utica, New York, US, is producing again under new ownership, a year after mounting debts and foreclosure forced an end to the previous owner's operations.

The former Utica Energy plant, rebranded as Fox River Valley Ethanol by new owners Ace Ethanol, began grinding corn for production in October. The plant can produce about 50 million gallons of ethanol per year for blending into vehicle fuel, roughly doubling Ace Ethanol's production capacity to about 100 million gallons in a worldwide, 13 billion gallon industry.

Ace Ethanol submitted the top offer of $16.5 million (€12 million) over summer to purchase Utica Energy's ethanol plant, Green Bay grain elevator and dryer plant in Pickett after Dougherty Funding foreclosed on Utica Energy in December 2012. At the time of foreclosure, the company owed creditors more than $30 million.

The company has also invested about $1 million in plant repairs and upgrades, mostly general maintenance, in order to keep operations running smoothly. Ace Ethanol president and GM Neal Kemmet says the company worked with the

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to ensure previous environmental concerns about discharge into local waterways and air permit violations would not be repeated.

'All the past issues are cleaned up and we plan to run a clean shop here,' he says. 'We did our environmental due diligence and spent a lot of money to avoid any liabilities.'