Gulfstream Bioflex said two years ago that it wanted to build an ethanol plant between Rogersville and Fordland, and one or two others. Neighbors in southern Webster County fought the plan, fearing it would drain the underground aquifers that supply their wells.

The company got an option on a 320-acre site at Monroe City, about halfway between Hannibal and Moberly. The Hannibal Courier reports the option on that site has expired.

“We don’t know that it’s a dead deal, but it’s not an active deal at his time,” Monroe City Administrator Jim Burns told a Courier reporter.

No opposition arose to the ethanol plant in Monroe City because it would have drawn water from an aquifer tied to the Mississippi River. The price of corn has risen in the past two years, however, making ethanol plants less likely to be profitable. Investors that might have helped Gulfstream Bioflex two years ago are now less likely to do so.

The Courier, in a report picked up by The Associated Press, said “a sister facility near Springfield also is on hold.” An executive of Gulfstream wouldn’t comment on Wednesday to a KY3 News reporter and referred her to its attorney.

Opponents of Gulfstream’s plant in Webster County lost a lawsuit that attempted to stop it over environmental issues. They appealed to the Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District, in Springfield and now await the scheduling of oral arguments. Gulfstream, represented by attorney Craig Lowther of Springfield, continues to defend itself and the ruling that it won from a trial judge.