We could be 'Saudi Arabia of Ethanol'

Wisconsin State Journal:
by Jason Stien -- 10/24/05
"Welch is also a spokesman for, though not a principal in, Jefferson Grain Processors, which recently announced an ambitious plan to buy the Cargill Malt plant in Jefferson and convert it to an ethanol plant, tilapia fish farm and an electricity plant that would employ 150 and produce 140 million gallons of ethanol a year - more than the rest of the state's plants combined.
In the past, ethanol groups in the state have had to enlist farmers and other small-time investors to finance plants of some $60 million. The Jefferson investors group is led by Paul Olsen of Utica Energy, which owns an Oshkosh ethanol plant. Welch said the group hopes to invest some $200 million in renovating the Cargill plant - and that's not even counting the price of the plant itself.
'I think a lot of the (ethanol) plants are looking at expanding,' Welch said.
Nationwide, ethanol production is expected to rise from 3.4 billion gallons last year to nearly 4 billion this year. The Doyle administration figures that Wisconsin's ethanol production capacity could rise from 120 million gallons a year to 210 million gallons a year once plants under construction in Milton and Wheeler come on line. "