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Questions about industrial park
Posted: Friday, December 4, 2009 4:14 pm
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Change is in the air in Le Sueur. Construction for a north industrial park is slated to begin in early 2010.

Leaders from the City of Le Sueur and Le Sueur Development Inc. are welcoming their first prospective tenant with clear enthusiasm. With the current economic times, they’re just happy to have a new tenant. Who will be the city’s newest member?

A power plant with energy generated from truckloads of manure and ag waste. The process of energy generation is anaerobic digestion, which is a technology that’s commonly used on farms and the ag sites that are the sources of the fuel.

In the quest to learn more about our proposed new neighbor, fellow Le Sueur residents and neighbors like me have many questions for our city and economic development leaders. In fact, 63 of us made the request of those leaders for an early December community conversation, to learn more about the proposed project. We learned at this week’s Le Sueur city council meeting that our request has been denied. We were told that our timeline was too aggressive and a public conversation is on the docket for early to mid January.

In the meantime, we have received some answers.

Q: Who has toured anaerobic digestion facilities like the one proposed, to see what is actually being endorsed?

A: No one.

Q: What would happen to byproducts from the plant and how would odor from the operation be managed?

A: We don’t have all of the answers. This is the domain of the MMPA (MN Municipal Power Agency) and we trust them due to a long standing alliance with the city.

Q: Would the trucks hauling manure be enclosed?

A: This is the domain of the MMPA.

These answers are a red flag. Since this industrial park project is within Le Sueur city limits, it is incumbent upon our leaders to know the answers to these questions at the onset of the proposed project. Our economic and elected leaders have a responsibility to ensure that the change that’s in the air won’t make prospective businesses and residents plug their nose and flee.

Michelle Burns

LeSueur area business owner
 
 
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Member Opinions:
By: kevinsprague on 1/9/10
I don't think we would even have to truck in any manure to power the electric generator. We've got enough B.S. coming out of City Hall.

Kevin Sprague

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