Federal loan OK'd for Hoke ethanol plant

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Business Enterprise Program will provide the money to Clean Burn Fuels LLC, which plans to build a $110 million plant on 500 acres southeast of Raeford.

Clean Burn Fuels will produce 60 million gallons of ethanol per year at the plant, which will provide the only ethanol production between New York and Georgia, officials said. The plant also will provide area farmers with a new market for corn, they said.