The former operator of an ethanol plant in Hopewell, Va., is now planning to pay its debts under chapter 11 protection after several of its creditors tried to force the company to liquidate, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported today. Vireol Bio Energy LLC received approval on Dec. 14 from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond to convert its case to a voluntary chapter 11. Several of the company’s creditors, including Dominion Virginia Power, had filed a petition with the court in November to force the company into an involuntary chapter 7 liquidation of its assets. Dominion and three other creditors said together they were owed just more than $2 million.
