No Due Process, NO Development Plan, No Problem

[Made in the USA]

Colwich plant is trying to expand, and is catching alot of flak from local residents, also. Anybody looked at the price of corn lately?? Higher than hell, which is causing higher prices to feed cattle. Grow more corn? Use more water? A never ending circle!!

[Value Pack]

Ethanol plant's opponents seek restraining order (from the Daily Globe of January 20.)



The opponents of a proposed ethanol plant in Ford County are seeking a temporary restraining order and injunction, which would block construction until a judge rules on whether Boothil Biofuels LLC should have received a conditional use permit for the plant.
The plant's opponent have already filed a lawsuit asking the court to void a county resolution granting a permit for the project.

"I think they should follow the rules," said plaintiff Cletus Helfrich when asked why he decided to participate in the suit.


Filed Jan. 16, the lawsuit argues that the Ford County commissioners violated county zoning regulations when they granted a conditional use permit to Boothill Biofuels. According to the petition on appeal, the company did not follow the zoning laws when it filed an application and development plan for the plant.

"I'm hopeful that the judge will approve the action of the Board of County Commissioners," said the county's legal counselor, Glenn Kerbs.
Commissioner John Swayze said he hopes for a favorable ruling, but he recognized that the outcome it will depend solely on whether or not the commissioners followed the law.

Commissioner Terry Williams said, "I felt with our lawyer saying everything looked like it would be OK, I went ahead and voted for it (the resolution granting the permit.) If it had looked like we didn't do it by due process, I would not have voted for it. I still think it's a great project, and it saddens me that we have to go to court."

A hearing concerning the request for a restraining order has been set for Jan. 29, and the commissioners may receive support from an outside source.

Boothill Biofuels attorney David Rebein said the company plans to ask the judge for permission to participate in the lawsuit.

"This is about our project, and we're obviously very interested in the outcome of the litigation," said Rebein. "We feel like we should have been involved in the litigation from the beginning. ... We're ready and eager to defend the project."

Whether or not the courts will agree remains to be seen, but Rebein seemed optimistic Friday.

"We anticipate that that will be granted," he said.

So far, the lawsuit has not put a damper on the plant's progress.

"Our timeline has not been affected at all," said Gary Harshberger, president of Boothill Biofuels. "We're moving along, and we're going to start talking to investors in a couple weeks."

Even if the judge denies the request for a temporary restraining order and injunction, hearings to decide whether or not the resolution was lawful will continue, although a date has not yet been set.

"I would hope that the proceedings would be expedited and that the matter could be heard by the court in a rather quick fashion," said Kerbs.

Attempts to reach Commission Chairman Kim Goodnight, the remaining eight plaintiffs and plaintiffs' attorney Jack Shultz for comment were unsuccessful.



Well Glenn, I am hoping that the Judge finds you wrong. I for one am just plain tired of our County Commissioners thinking they are God Almighty. They should be required to follow our laws just like anyone else. Further, unlike the rest of us, they have you to explain what those laws are.

Yea, Glenn is hopeful but he is not going to hold his breath.

[K C Muffin]

I never was a Glenn Kerbs fan............didn't like seeing him try to get away with this either......

[Value Pack]

One month wait instead of 9 months to a year. That is fast.



Trial set over paperwork for ethanol plant construction

DODGE CITY - The lawsuit stemming from plans to build an ethanol plant near Wright has been set for trial.

The various sides met Monday in Ford County District Court, agreeing to an expedited trial and setting March 1 as the date, said Lowell Brakey, an adviser to the plaintiffs in the matter. Judge Dan Love will preside.

A group of landowners who live around the proposed ethanol plant site, about a mile east of Wright, filed suit earlier this month against Ford County commissioners.

They charge that Boot Hill Biofuels, the project developer, didn't file all the required paperwork with county authorities in the lead-up to the commission's Dec. 18 vote granting the firm a special permit to build.

Accordingly, the December decision should be voided, they maintain, and Boot Hill be made to start the application process over.

Commissioners have said they were advised that everything was in order before voting 3-0 in Boot Hill's favor, while company representatives have indicated they did everything county officials told them to do.

Some of the plaintiffs have decried plans for the 110-million-gallon per year ethanol plant near Wright owing to the truck traffic it would generate and the water it would use. But those issues didn't figure in the lawsuit.

Brakey expects the trial will take one or two days.

[lurker]

Commissioner Swayze seems concerned about water depletion when it's near his land:

Farmers decry plan for new irrigation wells

By Tim Vandenack

The Hutchinson News

tvandenackAThutchnews.com

A decision by state officials to allow four new irrigation wells in Ford County is angering some area farmers, who worry about slipping levels in the underground aquifer and the possible upshot to existing wells.

"Our water's going down, down, down in this area, and I don't know why they're approving new wells," said Dustin Clevenger, a Bucklin-area farmer and rancher who fears any new wells will impinge on his.

The Kansas Department of Agriculture's Division of Water Resources late last December approved applications to put in four new wells amid the farmland and grazing fields of southeastern Ford County.

Though the area was closed to new wells in 2003 because of dipping water supplies, the original applications had been filed before the restriction was put in place, according to Lisa Taylor, a department spokeswoman. Moreover, she notes that the wells will be "very closely monitored" and that the permits have a preliminary duration of only 10 years.

If an existing water right is being impacted, state water officials "can change the terms of the permit or take action to stop the pumping," said Taylor. Galen Fields, who lives in the Bucklin area, applied for two of the wells while Tom Bradshaw applied for the others.

Nonetheless, the turn of events doesn't rest easy with critics like Clevenger and John Swayze, who along with several others, unsuccessfully petitioned the Department of Agriculture last month to reverse course.

Clevenger has a well about a half-mile from one of the proposed sites "that isn't that great" and worries that any addition will exacerbate the situation.

Swayze, who ranches in northern Clark County near where the new wells would go in, says his plot had four springs and three ponds when he bought it in 1974. Now, with continued extractions from the aquifer underneath, it has just one remaining spring, which only flows part time. Then there are the miles and miles of pipeline he and others have had to install to assure their cattle a source of water.

"I've been around 70 years and I can see what's happening," said Swayze, a Bucklin resident who's also a Ford County commissioner. "It's scary." Edit: So are you, Mr. Swayze.

Fields acknowledged the concern the situation could cause but declined further comment.

The four successful applications were part of a pool of 32 from Ford, Clark, Comanche and Meade counties filed before the area was closed to new wells. The Division of Water Resources initially rejected all of them in 2004, but 18 of the applicants appealed, leading to the approval of the quartet last month.

Another Ford County applicant seeking permission to pump his annual allocation in a shorter period also received a green light while 10 more appeals from Meade and Ford counties have yet to be ruled on, according to Taylor.

02/08/2007; 02:39:31 AM

[Made in the USA]

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!! It is different when it happens to you!! By the way, I thought new wells were not permitted!! Only "wells and water rights already exisiting", is what the ethanol outfits were stressing!! Yeah, you bet!!! We keep getting "bent over" so much, I am starting to feel like a MLB catcher!!

How much water

Ethanol and Corn Need of Water to Grow


174 Bushels of corn to one acre plus or minus 25 bushels

350,000.00 gallons of water to grow that corn on that one acre per a 100 day growing cycle.

350,000.00 divided by 174 bushels equals 2011.4943 gallons of water per bushel.

2011.494253 gallons of water per each bushel of corn needed just for growing.


The proposed ethanol plant in Wright, Kansas will require 39 million bushels of corn to make 110 million gallons of ethanol.

2011.494 times 39,000,000.00 bushels equals 78,448,275,862.07 gallons of water for that one growing season.

Please note that that is 78 billion, 448 million, 275 thousand, etc. gallons of water.

Where is that water going to come from and not hurt each and every one of us and our children?

[Bubba]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

How much water

Ethanol and Corn Need of Water to Grow


174 Bushels of corn to one acre plus or minus 25 bushels

350,000.00 gallons of water to grow that corn on that one acre per a 100 day growing cycle.

350,000.00 divided by 174 bushels equals 2011.4943 gallons of water per bushel.

2011.494253 gallons of water per each bushel of corn needed just for growing.


The proposed ethanol plant in Wright, Kansas will require 39 million bushels of corn to make 110 million gallons of ethanol.

2011.494 times 39,000,000.00 bushels equals 78,448,275,862.07 gallons of water for that one growing season.

Please note that that is 78 billion, 448 million, 275 thousand, etc. gallons of water.

Where is that water going to come from and not hurt each and every one of us and our children?

Excellent post!! Too bad you aren't registered, that post would definitely get some big rep points.

[TexKan]

It amazing that cornmeal is so cheap then!

[Made in the USA]

Do ya know how many boxes of corn meal that they can make from a bushel of corn, Texie?? ALOT!

People complain about the fuel situation and the fuel price. Wait until your water costs more than your gasoline!! We can live without gasoline, we can't live without water!!