CROWN POINT | Lowell's apparent decision to remove itself from the running as the site of an ethanol plant in Lake County has not impacted Crown Point's status as a possible location site, Mayor David Uran said Friday.

That said, Uran said he has not had conversations with anyone from Powers Energy since a meeting earlier this month attended by representatives of the Sisters of Saint Francis Health Services.

"We're pretty much in a stalemate, I guess," Uran said.

Before the meeting, environmental attorney Vicki Wright, hired by the Sisters, sent a six-page letter to Uran opposing the plant because its adjacent to a possible site for a Crown Point campus of the University of Saint Francis and other medical facilities.

After the meeting, Wright sent another letter to Uran, thanking him for a meeting with the company's vice president Ken Bosar. However, the letter states the Sisters' opposition is unchanged.

Uran said he took the letter to be the questions from the Sisters in writing that Bosar was not able to answer during the meeting.

"Those are some of the same questions we need answers to as well," Uran said. He said no decision on a plant location has been made and no contracts have been signed.

The second letter lists the information the Sisters believe should be available such as the resumes and reference of the company's key players, the business plan, proof of long-term financial viability and a variety of studies including economic impact, air emissions, traffic flow and wastewater.

Besides Crown Point, Schneider has also been mentioned as a possible site for the plant.