Monday, July 10, 2006 Report from the Letterkenny Industrial Development Authority (LIDA) Board Meeting
Scott Welsh, representing Penn-Mar Ethanol LLC, requested that the LIDA Board extend the time for closing on its Agreement of Sale to purchase 55 acres of land at the Cumberland Valley Business Park (CVBP) until one month after the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court decision or until December 31, 2006, without paying more money to hold the land off the market.  The LIDA Board discussed the proposal and set a Special Board Meeting for July 17th at 8:30 AM to respond to Penn-Mar's request.

"...as we've looked at biofuels more closely, we've concluded that they're not a practical long-term solution to our need for transport fuels. Even if all of the 300 million acres (500,000 square miles) of currently harvested U.S. cropland produced ethanol, it wouldn't supply all of the gasoline and diesel fuel we now burn for transport, and it would supply only about half of the needs for the year 2025. And the effects on land and agriculture would be devastating...." 
The False Hope of Biofuels For Energy and Environmental Reasons, Ethanol Will Never Replace Gasoline by James Jordan and James Powell, Sunday, July 2, 2006; Page B07, WashingtonPost.com (Click)

Does Mr. Welsh claim Penn-Mar has any financing commitments now?  (Click here to read article)
 
"...This month, he (Fred Antoun) faulted the LIDA board for keeping the property off the market. “They have no money. They have very little possibility of ever getting money ... It seems unlikely to us that this project’s ever going to get funded.”
Penn Mar has not secured state or federal funding to support the project, either, Antoun said, “because if you can’t get private funding, it would be very stupid for Gov. (Ed) Rendell to give them public funds.”
Do ethanol developers lack funds for project? by Marijon Shearer, Dec 08, 2005 (Click to read)

"Plans to build an ethanol plant in Wells County (near Fort Wayne, Indiana) are dead....
...Wells County leaders say they would have to pay $800,000 a year for 26 years if the plant went under."
Ethanol Plant Plans in Wells County Scrapped from WANE.COM, Fort Wayne, Indiana, June 28, 2006 (Click)

RE: Ethanol Distillery Financing:   
"...Today, the land purchased to build the Northeast Iowa Ethanol plant is bare, and Schulte, Bishop and other cooperative officials are involved in a prolonged legal battle to recover funds the limited liability company and farmer cooperative raised for the project...."

"...The project attracted 252 members and raised $2.356 million. They met with bankers, but were having difficulty finding a lender for the $21 million project because the banks required 40 percent equity...."
Iowa farmers ponder what went wrong with investment by Jean Caspers-Simmet, Agri News, January 31, 2006  (Click)
 
"...Jerry Drizin, 76, of Clearwater, Fla., "played fast and loose" with $3.8 million raised by the group of 250 Delaware County farmers for an ethanol plant in Manchester..."
Ethanol consultant defrauded farmers DesMoinesRegister.com, By ASSOCIATED PRESS, February 8, 2006 (Click)
 
Click to read Scott Welsh, Penn-Mar Ethanol's testimony that Penn-Mar Ethanol has never had financing.