WRAL.com reports that Cary, NC-based Clean Burn Fuels has broken ground for North Carolina's first ethanol plant. The company expects to spend $100 million to build the facility near Raeford in Hoke County. It is expected to bring 100 jobs to the rural area.
The company plans to sell ethanol to major oil companies, which will blend it into gasoline. The owners said the facility will be well suited to transport ethanol to distributors in the East.
"This is unbelievable and an opportunity none of us believed we'd ever see in this part of North Carolina in our lifetime," Bruce Andrews, a business recruiter for the state's Department of Commerce.
Hoke County is located in south-central North Carolina. It is part of the state's 8th Congressional District which has been hit hard by textile mill closures.
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