Erie County Legislator Timothy M. Kennedy (D-South Buffalo) announces that RiverWright Energy co-founder Rick Smith will address the Erie County Legislature Economic Development Committee at 10 a.m. Wednesday, December 13, in the County Legislature Chambers on the Fourth Floor of 92 Franklin Street, Cheektowaga.

Smith and RiverWright Energy co-founder Kevin are planning to open a new $80 million ethanol plant on Childs Street, near Ohio Street, on the former ConAgra property in the OId First Ward. Smith will give the Economic Development Committee, chaired by Legislator Kennedy, a Powerpoint presentation on the project, which is anticipated to turn 40 million bushels of corn into 100 million gallons of ethanol per year for alternative motor vehicle fuel that may cost $2 a gallon.

"The plan by Smith and Townsell to covert the old ConAgra flour milling business into a plant to produce ethanol is an exciting opportunity for South Buffalo, Buffalo and Erie County," Legislator Kennedy said. "It would not only employ about 65 people, with 10 people already hired and working on preparations, but it would help generate more commerce and business as more lake freighters travel on Lake Erie to do business in Buffalo."

Smith serves as president of Rigidized Metals, which is located next door to the site of the ethanol plant, and is an accomplished musician who lives in Buffalo. Townsell operates the Shannon Pub and the Buffalo Irish Festival. The plant they are backing is expected to produce more than 110 million gallons of ethanol, a fuel made primarily from corn, as well as 400,000 tons of livestock feed grain as a byproduct.

They say that the cost to build the plant on 23 acres next to Rigidized Metals would cost about 30 percent less than building from scratch, due to the infrastructure already in place. The ethanol would be shipped to an ethanol depot in Albany by rail.

"I am excited about the potential this economic development project will bring to the region and I look forward to hearing firsthand the significant and immediate impact it will have on residents of the City of Buffalo and Erie County," Legislator Kennedy concluded.

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