If built, the plant will be located just north of the old county home in Wapello County.

“No one else that deals with us is interested in it now,” Parker said.

He said the county has also taken a somewhat active role in the facility by selling some of the land to the Wapello Rural Water Department in order to build an extra water supply system for the facility.

“They need to put in bigger tanks, and to do so, they needed more land. I don’t think they have put them in yet, but they will probably do that this summer,” Parker said.

Egli said if the financing is complete, officials hope to have construction initiated by the third quarter of this year.

Speculation over a possible ethanol glut and the lower yields this year will not impact the Wapello County facility, officials insist.

“The economic conditions will not affect this plant because it will be two years before we get into production. We think these things will be straightened out before then,” Fullenkamp said.

Scott Niles can be reached at (641) 683-5360 or via e-mail at sjniles@mchsi.com.