Bomb found at Illinois ethanol plant forces evacuations
FBI searches for more devices after credible threat at BioUrja facility in Peoria, same week European bomb scares proved hoaxes and aging telecom grounded US flights
A bomb found at an ethanol plant in Peoria, Illinois, kept residents within a mile of the facility under evacuation orders into Saturday as FBI teams searched the site for additional devices.
The device was discovered Friday afternoon at the BioUrja Renewables plant on the Illinois River and has since been "rendered safe," officials announced. Peoria Police Chief Brad Dixon left little room for the usual reassurance: "This is a credible threat. We need to take the blast radius seriously." FBI Special Agent Ryan Pressley said the bureau would "work tirelessly to identify the individual responsible and bring them to justice," then declined further detail. Shelters have been opened for displaced residents. As of Saturday morning no arrests had been made and no injuries reported.
Peoria Mayor Rita Ali told WMBD-TV the facility holds "ethanol and highly combustible types of chemicals, and so that's what alarms us." Corn ethanol travels in American gasoline because federal law requires refiners to blend it — the mandate, not the market, is why a plant full of flammable liquid stands on the Illinois River in a city of about 110,000. On Friday a device with a blast radius turned up at that plant.
The find lands in a week crowded with threats of assorted provenance. Bomb scares against European airlines diverted hundreds of passengers and drew military escorts before officials declared them malicious hoaxes. In the United States, the week's other mass disruption ran the other direction: a telecom crash in air-traffic control stopped departures nationwide, in equipment Congress had already voted money to replace. Suspicious-package calls are routine police work, and most do not survive inspection. Peoria's did.
Dixon asked for "the public's patience while we work to make this area safe," and Peoria, 150 miles southwest of Chicago, spent Saturday waiting. BioUrja bought the plant in 2021. As of Saturday morning a mile of the city around it stood empty while officers searched for anything else left behind.