ALEXANDRIA — Ready to bail out ethanol, too?

Lobbyists for the Renewable Fuels Association want Congress to send a little bailout money to failing ethanol companies across the country who’ve been hit hard by the drop in gas prices, the fluctuating corn market, and the plunge of ethanol prices.

Just five years ago, ethanol was hailed as the antidote for America’s addiction to foreign oil, and plants shot up across the landscape of rural America.

The Midwest and its endless acres of corn quickly shot into the spotlight as the world turned its eyes on farmers and ethanol producers.

Alexandria joined that spotlight last year when the Poet Biorefining ethanol plant was built just outside city limits.

With an annual capacity of 60 million gallons of ethanol per year, the plant offered a permanent buyer for area farmers and gave locals a front row seat in the race for a renewable fuel source.

In the past three months, however, the industry has taken a hit.

VeraSun, one of the nation’s largest producers of ethanol, filed for bankruptcy at the end of 2008.

Just last week, the company announced that it was closing three of its plants in the Midwest, including one in Linden, Ind.

Today is the last day of production at a Pacific Ethanol plant in California, at least until the market rebounds.

While other industry leaders are clamoring for government assistance and the protection of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, one company is confident that it will weather the recession.

Dave Hudak is the general manager of the Poet plant near Alexandria and said the company grew in 2008 while others were laying off workers and shutting doors. “In 2008 alone, the capacity increased by 35 percent by opening five plants in Indiana and Ohio.”

The Wichita-based company also hired over 350 workers across its 26 plants.

Locally, Poet employs 40 workers.

Hudak said the company, which started in 1987, has consistently grown over the years and manages to stay afloat with a combination of caution and innovation. “We have a conservative approach to risk management,” he said. “We don’t take risks by purchasing corn real far in advance.”