JCDC has done its job (06/15/06)

Test wells are still being drilled, and The Andersons hasn’t backed away from plans to establish an ethanol plant at its site just east of Dunkirk.

Meanwhile, The Broin Companies are at work to do the same thing at a site southwest of Portland.

Will both projects fly?

Probably not.

But Jay County is in the enviable position of having two of the most credible companies in the country, when it comes to ethanol, in a horse race to build a plant here.

Some critics have sniped that Jay County Development Corporation hasn’t done enough to help The Andersons. All it takes is a phone call, however, to learn that isn’t true.

Officials at The Andersons say JCDC executive director Bob Quadrozzi has done everything they’ve asked of him. They’ve been in weekly contact for months on this project.

JCDC, of course, has also been in regular contact with Broin.

That simply makes sense.

The mission of JCDC is to promote economic development in the county, not to favor those companies which are already here over those from outside the county and certainly not to hinder other companies from coming in.

It’s all about encouraging growth. It’s not about protectionism on the local level. — J.R.[[In-content Ad]]