VeraSun Indiana ethanol plant returns -media

NEW YORK, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Production of ethanol has returned at a VeraSun Energy Inc. VSE.N distillery in Linden, Indiana after a short outage on poor economics for making the alternative fuel, according to a report in a local newspaper.

The 110 million gallon per year plant returned to service on Wednesday after a short slowdown, Wade Bennett, Linden's town council president said in a story on Wednesday in the Journal and Courier.

"I was tickled to death when I was told," Bennett was quoted as saying. "I have had much anxiety about it."

The company has 16 ethanol plants in eight states. It has said it hopes to have an annual production capacity of about 1.64 billion gallons per year by the end of 2008.

VeraSun put itself up for sale in September after taking a beating for costly contracts it had signed for corn, the main input for U.S. ethanol. Average ethanol profit margins have suffered in recent months on slow demand for motor fuels.

Bennett and VeraSun did not immediately return phone calls about the plant's status.

(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by David Gregorio)