New European hope for Seaway ethanol plant

CORNWALL — Life is going "excruciatingly slow" for Bud Atkins, president of the Seaway Valley Energy Co-operative in Cornwall. A share offering was made to eastern Ontario farmers back in 1995 but the dream of an ethanol-producing plant is still out of reach.

But new hope is on the horizon. A European company, that owns four ethanol plants in the United States, has cozied up to work together with the co-operative. Accountants and analysts are still pouring through documents.

If all goes well the new investor would provide enough backing to cover letters of credit, added costs due to the September 11^th terrorist attack in the United States and the cost of Fox withdrawing as contractor to build an ethanol plant in Cornwall, Atkins said.

The co-operative has struggled with the stress of getting financing on numerous occasions and has to look to a European bank for most of the financing after a being denied loans from all major Canadian banks.

How much longer will it take before the plant is built? That is the question on the minds of many eastern Ontario corn producers who invested in the enterprise. "I won't be talking to you next year unless this thing gets done," said Atkins, wearied by the struggle and the frequent "hammerings" he gets on the telephone by investors with less patience than he has.