ALEXANDRIA — Roger Bennett says living next to the Poet ethanol plant is like having a neighbor who mows his lawn every second of every day.

The Poet biorefining plant, which opened in April, turns corn into ethanol to be used as fuel. The ethanol-making process includes the grinding of corn and a process similar to that used to distill alcohol.

Bennett lives on Orchard Lane in Alexandria, one and one-half miles from the Poet biorefining plant, but said the sound of the manufacturing facility reaches all the way into his home.

He is not alone.

Bill and Mary Remington live less than a mile from Poet and said the sound of the corn grinder running resembles that of a lawn mower, one that never shuts off. “It’s irritating to everyone,” Bill Remington said.

Remington said the noise was affecting not only his family and that of Roger Bennett, but every neighbor of the plant.

“You could start down here on 1400 and come down this road and interview everybody,” Remington said. “They hate that plant. They hate it for the noise.”

Despite complaints about the noise level of the plant, Poet plant manager Dave Hudak said the company was doing nothing wrong.

“Our equipment is operating correctly,” Hudak said. “The noise levels are within nationally and locally recognized acceptable levels for sound.”

Nathan Schock of Poet said the sound levels had been tested and approved.

“Our goal at Poet is to be good neighbors to the people who live near our 23 production facilities,” he said.

“Shortly after Poet Biorefining Alexandria started operating, we commissioned an independent study of the noise levels and found that at all edges of the property the level of noise was lower than the normally accepted standard of 50 decibels. By comparison, a regular conversation 3 to 5 feet away is 60 to 70 decibels and a lawn mower is more than 100. If someone finds that level of noise distracting, we apologize. We’d also like to thank the many people who have welcomed this plant to the area and pledge to continue being the best neighbor possible.”

Hudak said there was no plan to attempt to quell the sound of the plant.

“We are operating within acceptable noise levels,” Hudak said, “so there’s no reason for us to explore other options.”

State guidelines mean little to Bennett and Remington, who say the sound is annoying, no matter how legal it may be.

“I don’t know about the decibels on it or what the state says,” Remington said, “but if I had a tractor sitting out in your front yard running all day, maybe it’s not over them decibels, but who’s it’s going to irritate? It’s irritating.”

He added that he feels like Alexandria residents were misled by Poet and those who pushed to give the plant an Alexandria address.

”That wasn’t the deal when they put it in there,” he said. “They didn’t say anything about that much noise when they put it in there.”

Butch Lewis lives within a quarter-mile of the plant.

“They told us in the meetings before they got the OK to build it,” Lewis said. “And they said if noise was a problem, they’d find ways to muffle that.”

Lewis had previously complained to city and county officials about the condition of his road since the construction of the plant began.

Lewis lives on County Road 1300 North and has not received mail in over a year because the road has been deemed unsafe by postal carriers. The disintegration of the road was blamed on trucks coming and going from the ethanol plant during its construction.

County workers began repairing sections of roads surrounding the plant last month.

“They are today beginning to pave my end of the road,” Lewis said. “They’re starting on it today, so I’m very thankful for that.”

Though he’s grateful for the paved road and the promise of mail delivery, Lewis said, the noise coming from the plant is notorious.

“There’s people from as far away as five or six miles who hear this. I’m just across the road from it so it’s quite annoying.”

For now, Poet officials are not planning to do anything about the noise, but Lewis said he’s a bit too happy about his road to get angry about the sound just yet.

“It’s something that I’m just going to have to learn to live with, I assume,” Lewis said. “I’ll put up with a little noise just as long as I can get my road paved where I can have my mail delivered again.”

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Alexandria Poet plant by the numbers

— 60,000 Bushels of corn processed each day

— 65 million Gallons of ethanol produced each year

— April 22 Date plant came online this year