Alliant Energy Resources of Cedar Rapids is building a new power plant in Illinois that the company says will help lower electric rates in the Midwest. Jim Hoffman is President of the subsidiary of Alliant Energy.Hoffman says the 415-million dollar plant will burn natural gas with state-of-the-art equipment to produce the electricity. He says the “waste” steam from the plant will be used by corn processor Argo to process corn. Hoffman says the plant could eventually lead to lower electric costs for Iowans.Hoffman says the plant should be operating by mid 2003.Alliant serves around 500-thousand electric customers in Iowa.