Something’s fishy in the Valley

SPRING VALLEY — Grant money and an outside investor could help bring an Asian carp processing plant to Spring Valley, officials said this week.   

Mayor Cliff Banks told city aldermen this week the city could be eligible for up to $13 million in federal grant funding for the city’s proposed fish plant. The grants are available through the Environmental Protection Agency via an invasive species research initiative, city engineer Jack Kusek said. 

Plus, Banks said a former Spring Valley resident, Fred Foster, has recently contacted developers about backing plans for the fish plant. Foster, a business investor, had recently made a proposal to buy another local enterprise — Hennepin’s shuttered steel mill.

The Spring Valley fish plant would use invasive Asian Bighead and Silver carp harvested from local rivers to produce pharmaceutical fish oil and feed supplements for livestock.

The plant would be the brainchild of Rockford entrepreneur Dr. John Holden and partners. Holden, who has been in contact with Spring Valley officials in recent months, announced this year he plans to open several fish plants in the Mississippi River basin.

Earlier this year, Holden and partners opened Heartland Processing, a pilot fish plant along the Illinois River in downstate Havana. Spring Valley officials have since visited the plant to learn more about its operations.

“The smell’s nothing like what people thought,” Banks said, referring to earlier rumors that a fish plant in Spring Valley would produce an unpleasant, overwhelming odor that would bother residents.

According to company information, the Havana plant transforms whole Asian carp into a ground product which is flash-heated. The process separates water vapor from the fish, leaving behind fish oil and a fish meal product – while generating virtually no waste or odor pollution, the company says.

Tentatively, the top site for the fish plant would be along the Illinois River near Spring Valley’s ADM site, Banks said.

Banks noted he’s been in frequent contact with Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and Holden about the proposed plant.  

“I’ve talked to the governor three times already about Spring Valley’s part in this,” he said.

Banks said he’s discussing with state officials and Holden what the plant could mean for job creation in Spring Valley. And Banks is looking to secure revenue for the city from “tonnage off of the (fish plant) mill.”