Company Considers Tennessee Ethanol Plant

Officials in Tennessee say an energy development company with an arm in Fayetteville, Arkansas, is considering a former uranium-enrichment plant at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, as the site for an ethanol-production facility.

BRI Energy LLC of Florida announced tentative plans to build one or two ethanol facilities potentially employing up to 500 people. The facilities would be at the 1.4 million square foot K-31 building at East Tennessee Technology Park.

Ethanol, often made from corn, can be blended with gasoline to reduce emissions and increase octane levels. The national energy act passed last year offers incentives to increase average ethanol content in a gallon of gas from two percent to ten percent.

James Gaddy, president of Bioengineering Resources Incorporated, the company's research center in Fayetteville, Arkansas, did not immediately return a call for comment.

But Tennessee Congressman Zach Wamp confirmed that he had been talking with the company for several months about the Oak Ridge site. He said he recommended the project to the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee, which oversees site leasing.