Was INEOS Bio plant shut down for “technology upgrades” or is the halt in production due to poisonous gasses?

The $130 million INEOS Bio plant on Oslo Road, partially funded with $52.5 million in federal and state grants was shut down last summer and re-opened in November. Production has again been stalled, reportedly do to an excess production of a deadly gas. — The $130 million INEOS Bio plant on Oslo Road, partially funded with $52.5 million in federal and state grants, was shut down last summer and re-opened in November. Production has again been stalled, reportedly do to the presence of a deadly gas.

MARK SCHUMANN

TCPalm.com’s newly appointed investigative journalist for Indian River County, Colleen Wixon, reported today the INEOS Bio plant on Oslo Road is currently shutdown for “additional electrical and technology upgrades.” VeroNews.com reporter, Samantha Baita, tells a different story. Baita reports production was halted at the INEOS plant due to the presence of excessive amounts of hydrogen cyanide, the same gas used in the Nazi death camps.

Wixon quoted INEOS spokesman Dan Cummings as saying the plant would resume operations soon, but Cummings declined to be specific. In the past, Cummings has also refused to be specific about how much ethanol bio fuel the plant, completed in 2012, has actually produced. At this point, no one knows what taxpayers are getting in return for $52.5 million in state and federal grants used to build the plant.

Indian River County is giving INEOS additional grants and tax credits for having met employment targets. INEOS’s more than 60 employees are making an average of $63,000 a year, nearly twice the county average. According to Cummings, none of INEOS’s employees have been laid off due to the shutdown.

If and when “technology upgrades” resolve the issue with the poisonous gasses, the plant should produce some 8 million gallons a year of ethanol from vegetative yard waste and demolition debris. The plant is also designed to produce 6 megawatts of electricity per year. Vero Beach’s current electric demand peaks at close to 200 megawatts.