The Iowa Department of Transportation is recommending several awards for rail projects, including a local one, to be voted on for approval by the Transportation Commission next month.
One of the recommendations is for the soybean crushing plant that’s under construction between Storm Lake and Alta. The project is being recommended for a loan award of two-million dollars, as well as a 612-thousand dollar grant. The state’s Transportation Commission will vote on approval of the recommendations at their next meeting.
The plant being built by Platinum Crush LLC will procure soybeans and process them into livestock feed and vegetable oil. The 37-million dollar project includes a private loop track that can accommodate five unit trains. The total project costs for the rail improvement is over 14-million dollars.
The soybean crushing plant is expected to begin operations in the spring of 2024. It will create over 50 jobs at an average of more than 22-dollars an hour.
