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East Coast Ethanol L.L.C. recently announced plans to build four rail-served ethanol plants in the Southeast.

The company will construct the facilities near Seaboard, N.C., on a CSX Transportation mainline; near Jesup, Ga., along a Norfolk Southern Railway mainline; near Campbellton, Fla., on an abandoned rail spur west of a mainline operated by the Bay Line Railroad, which interchanges with CSXT and NS; and near Chester, S.C., on a line operated by the Lancaster and Chester Railway Co., which also interchanges with CSXT and NS. For the Georgia plant, NS will build a $4 million siding about 16 miles north of the site.

Slated to open in 2010, the plants each will produce about 110 million gallons of ethanol and 353,000 tons of distillers dried grains annually.

East Coast Ethanol — which was formed in August 2007 by the merger of Atlantic Ethanol L.L.C., Mid-Atlantic Ethanol L.L.C., Florida Ethanol L.L.C. and Palmetto Agri-Fuels L.L.C. — will spend about $870 million to build the plants, which also will be located near interstates and U.S. and state highways.