Currently, Missouri has four ethanol plants in production, and by 2008, the state hopes to triple the number of plants they have now, from producing about 160 million gallons of ethanol to 480 million.  

Jamey Cline is the director of Value Enhancement for the Missouri Corn Growers Association. He says this is a postive economic step for Missouri rural towns.

The cost for a small ethanol plant to produce 50 million gallons annually costs close to a hundred million dollars.  Hundreds of individual farmers front that money.

Currently, Missouri's largest plant is a 50 million gallon facility; However there are plans to start constructing next spring a one hundred million gallon producing plant in the bootheel.

From the state Capitol, this is Fanna Haile-Selassie