SIOUX FALLS - You can't drive around Sioux Falls without seeing them - branches stacked up on the side of the road. Now, a Sioux Falls company is turning those branches into energy.

According to KSFY television, the Poet plant in Chancellor burns the wood after it has been reduced to chips to produce ethanol.

Since the April 9 ice storm, trucks continued to add fallen branches and tree limbs to Mueller Pallets' recycling pile, which is up to about 400 tons. Mueller's main client is the Poet plant in Chancellor, which uses the energy from burning these wood chips to produce ethanol.

Mueller Pallets primary businss is recycling used wood pallets, but due to the high volume of broken tree limbs caused by the April 9 ice storm, the company has changed its focus to using the collected branches.

Poet Biorefining General Manager Dean Frederickson says the plant is currently burning about 700 tons of wood per week.

The Associated Press contrbuted to this report.

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