Port: Tharaldson Ethanol deserves your mockery and derision
MINOT, N.D. — In Casselton, North Dakota, there is hot local debate about a proposed soybean crushing plant to be built on the community’s edge.
Most of that debate has focused on perfectly reasonable zoning concerns. Will the plant be too loud? Too smelly? Will it create too much traffic for the community?
I’ve written about this debate before , and interviewed Rep. Jared Hagert, a Republican from District 20 who is also a soybean grower, about the project on my Plain Talk podcast .
But the most recent development in this debate isn’t about noise or smells or traffic. It’s about an existing company that doesn’t want competition.
Tharaldson Ethanol also operates in Casselton. In fact, they own 20% of the land adjacent to where this proposed soybean plant would be built, which, under local ordinances, allows them to force a supermajority vote to get the new plant approved.
