Carthage biofuels plant expected to open again

CARTHAGE, Mo. (AP) - A Carthage biofuels plant that closed after years of complaints about its odors will resume limited operations sometime in late March.

Carthage Mayor Mike Harris says Renewable Environmental Solutions has obtained funding to reopen the plant, which converted poultry byproducts into fuel oil and fertilizer products. Residents complained about the odor for years, and the city joined the Missouri attorney general's office in a public-nuisance lawsuit. That lawsuit was settled when RES installed odor-control equipment.

Plant manager Jim Crum says workers are being hired and the plant could be operating by the end of March.

He says 26 workers will be hired initially, with the work force eventually growing to around 40.

The plant closed in March 2009 after its parent company, Changing World Technologies, filed for bankruptcy.

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Information from: The Joplin Globe, http://www.joplinglobe.com