SUN PRAIRIE, Wis. -- North Prairie Productions officials said that they're abandoned plans to build a $42 million biodiesel plant near Evansville because of the continuing high soybean oil prices.

Board chairman John Sheehy, of Sun Prairie, said that a letter announcing the decision was sent this week to investors.

Sheehy said that the firm investigated every option it could come up with, including merging with others, commodity prices continue to make it impossible to make biodiesel out of soybean oil.

The plant would have produced an estimated 45 million gallons a year of biodiesel, which is a substitute for diesel fuel used by farm tractors and some trucks and cars.