BY TERESA SMITH, Times-Union Staff Writer

“We are not going to have any comment prior to the announcement,” said Mike Mandel of Louis Dreyfus. “There’s a press conference after that.”

The announcement is likely the Louis Dreyfus Corp.’s long-awaited decision to construct a soybean processing plant south of Claypool.

A call from Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman’s office came to the Times-Union this morning, referring to an announcement by Gov. Mitch Daniels regarding a “biodiesel plant” and “Kosciusko County.”

Mandel and Daniels are in Washington, D.C., attending the national renewable energy summit. Daniels is expected to make the announcement at 2:15 p.m. today.

At 1:30 p.m., Daniels will discuss success stories during the “policies to advance renewables” session of the seminar along with Pennsylvania Governor, Edward Rendell.

Louis Dreyfus is one of the world’s oldest and largest merchandiser of grains and oilseeds. The company has plants in more than 50 countries.

The corporation has indicated an interest in the Clay Township area for more than a year. Louis Dreyfus purchased real estate options from Kosciusko Development Inc. in October.

“I received a call yesterday,” said Kosciusko County Commissioner Avis Gunter. “We weren’t allowed to say they were coming until the announcement is made.

“They are a huge company, this means a great deal to the county. There will be an announcement here at the end of the month,” she said.

The Dreyfus project is expected to employ 80 workers initially. Plans discussed so far call for the phased-in development of a 250-acre agro-industrial park with a $100 million soybean processing plant, an 80 million gallon-per-year biodiesel plant and a 100 million gallon-per-year ethanol facility.

Additional phases of development could include production of edible plastics and other leading edge technologies.

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management granted Louis Dreyfus Agricultural Industries LLC – Claypool a new source Title V air quality permit Jan. 24.

Louis Dreyfus is headquartered in Kansas City, Mo.