LTE – Nancy Pustol – 7-10-2013

I am writing this letter to caution everyone on what they allow in to their communities because you will have to live with it for a very long time.

[emember_protected I just returned from an evening walk in the country outside of Boyceville.  I was alone except for the evening birds, the chirping crickets and oh yes, the mechanical drone of the Ethanol Plant.  Sure, it’s been several years since this monstrosity was shoved down our throats.  To say we are used to the sound would be appropriate but that does not mean we like the sound.  About a 1/2 mile in to my walk I met up with another unwanted companion “stink”!  This smell that comes from the fermenting process was described as an “appealing, your mother baking bread smell” from the pro-ethanol people.  It is in fact a nauseating stench that fills your nose and negates the smell of freshly cut grass and blooming flowers.

Over the years, we’ve made several calls to the ethanol plant about the noise only to be met with surprise (really it is that loud?) or yes we are working on some technical mumbo jumbo that will make it less noisy.  Well it isn’t.  Depending on the way the wind is blowing the noise can go from a nuisance hum to a roar.  The same goes with the stench.  Our “good neighbors” (as we were promised) not only never cared but have sold out to a different company.  Interesting that ethanol added to our gas has not lessened the price.  I can’t imagine our proximity to the plant has done wonders for our property value either.

Everytime I sit on my porch I wish that plant had never been built!

Sincerely,

Nancy Pustol

(Still a Concerned Citizen of Dunn County)