Plans were disclosed for an 1,800-mile long pipeline, running across Indiana and north of Indianapolis, to carry ethanol made in the Midwest to new markets for the fuel in the eastern United States.
If financing can be secured, the $4 billion project proposed by POET Ethanol Products, based in South Dakota, and Magellan Midstream Partners in Texas would carry about 3.6 billion gallons a year of the fuel made from corn and cellulose products.
The ambitious project — the first long-distance pipeline to carry ethanol in the country — is projected to create 80,000 jobs in the construction, and then 1,100 permanent jobs to operate it.
It would be at least four years before the 20-inch diameter line, collecting ethanol from farms and regional ethanol plants from South Dakota to New Jersey, would be ready to operate.
The part of the pipeline that would cross Indiana would require the acquisition of some property but would largely use the existing route of the Buckeye petroleum pipeline. It would loop around the north side of the Indianapolis metro area.
