Moose Creek — The dream of an ethanol plant in Cornwall is dead, says Seaway Valley Farmers Energy Cooperative president and crop farmer Alain Leduc. Seaway is closing shop and winding up operations, he told Farmers Forum.

"There is no future for Seaway," said Leduc, after a board meeting in late June. "The writing is on the wall. The end is near."

As it stands, Seaway will be returning $7.6 million to investors, mostly eastern Ontario farmers, who bought shares on condition that the money only be used when construction of the corn-fed ethanol plant begins.

Seaway spent about $11 million on its Cornwall land purchase, administration building, consultants and lawyers over its 14-year history. Those big expenses gobbled up the money paid out by the initial investors in the project, as well as most of a $3 million provincial loan. Seaway is waiting now to see if the province will write-off the provincial loan as a grant, Leduc said.

Some Seaway costs were painful to make. Seaway paid out huge fees to its Hartford consultant, Lee Williams, who earned $22,500 plus out-of-pocket expenses per month, which is considered the going rate among ethanol deal makers.

There are about 2,800 Seaway investors, who were shocked to learn earlier this year that the city of Cornwall planned to exercise a contract option and buy back land in its industrial park from Seaway, where the ethanol plant was to be built. Since environmental permits were tied to the land, the move by city council effectively squashed hopes for a farmer-owned ethanol plant in Cornwall. It also deflated the Seaway board members, exhausted by the years of grappling with obstacles, negotiating and renegotiating contracts and fighting government delays.