The $90 million ethanol plant is located in the town of Shelby.Ethanol production has begun at a $90 million plant in Orleans County, the first of its kind in the Northeastern United States.

According to the Albany Times Union, Western New York Energy began grinding corn this week at the facility and will produce an output of 50 million gallons of the additive each year. Ethanol is blended with gasoline to reduce emissions and increase octane.

"We are closer to the ultimate ethanol markets," said Michael Sawyer, executive vice president of Western New York Energy. "Ethanol's being consumed here on the East Coast and the economics of moving ethanol are challenging. We do not have to move our ethanol as far to the ultimate market as the typical Midwestern plant."

The plant will buy up to 20 million bushels of corn from state farmers every year and procure the rest from farmers in the Midwest. This comes as a boon to farmers in New York State, who have begun devoting more acres of farmland to corn already.