TodayExtension denied for ethanol plant
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Article RatingBy Marijon Shearer, June 26, 2006
Penn Mar Ethanol has to come up with more than $2 million by Thursday or abandon its plan to build a plant west of Shippensburg to manufacture the corn-based alternative fuel.
The executive board of the Letterkenny Industrial Development Authority, which manages the site Penn Mar targeted for its 50 million-gallon-a-year plant, refused at a special meeting Monday to grant the farmers' cooperative more time to close the deal on a 55-acre site in the Cumberland Valley Business Park in Greene Township, Franklin County.
The York-based cooperative penned a sales agreement with LIDA Feb. 7, 2005, offering $2.2 million for the industrial site after abandoning plans to build a plant in Conoy Township, Lancaster County.
Penn Mar has already paid $60,000 in non-refundable deposits for prior extensions. The last one set a final deadline of July 20 to complete the sale.
The cooperative said in its latest extension request it has already spent more than $2 million on the project. It offered another $30,000 for an extension to Jan. 19, 2007, plus an additional $30,000 for another extension until July 19, 2007, if needed.
Penn Mar's written request blames the delay on a zoning appeal coming up before Commonwealth Court. Penn Mar officials told LIDA last week they need time to bring in another investor.
The cooperative faces a claim from Greene Township that it owes the township more than $40,000 for engineering and other costs. Greene Supervisor Dave Jamison, also a LIDA board member, said Monday the township still wants to collect those fees.
