Macon
firm to open biofuel refinery in Plains By Heather
Duncan February 21, 2007 PLAINS - Macon-based Alterra Bioenergy announced plans Tuesday for a new biodiesel refinery in Plains. It is the second such plant the company is building in Middle Georgia, and Alterra President Wayne Johnson said more may be on the way. Alterra also plans to bring more biodiesel to consumers by opening its own filling stations in Middle Georgia, said Johnson, a Macon native. Although he wouldn't yet pinpoint locations, he did say the Interstate 16 corridor is a key area because of truck traffic to the port of Savannah. In recent months, central and south Georgia have become hot spots for biofuel plants, with new refineries opening or planned for Dublin, Gordon, Soperton, Baxley and now Plains. Former President Jimmy Carter helped announce the Plains refinery, which will be able to turn oils made from peanuts, cottonseed, soybeans and rapeseed into a cleaner burning fuel that contains no petroleum. Carter recalled that developing alternative fuels and reducing foreign oil dependence were pillars of his presidency during the 1970s oil crisis. In the seven years following the time he took office, he said, American oil imports dropped from 9 million to 5 million barrels a day. He set a national goal of never increasing foreign oil imports beyond 1977 levels. "Now we're importing 12 million barrels a day and have not had one increase in auto efficiency requirements since I was president," he said. "In the last six years, too much of our nation's energy policy has been drawn by ... the oil companies and automakers." Joe Jobe, CEO of the National Biodiesel Board, credited Carter with the birth of the ethanol industry after the 1978 energy bill that emerged under his leadership. As part of Plains' Better Hometown Committee, Carter helped work with investors to bring the Alterra plant to a location six blocks from his house. The former president, whose family still cultivates about 250 acres in peanuts, cotton, soybeans and sunflowers, said he is interested in growing crops to sell to the refinery. His family owns thousands more acres standing fallow because they aren't irrigated. But the new biodiesel market for products such as the winter crop of rapeseed - used to make canola oil - might prompt him to return more of the land to production, he said. Plains Mayor Boze Godwin said the new plant is exciting because it offers both immediate manufacturing jobs and a market for local farmers' commodities. "Our farmers have really taken it on the chin in the last few years," he said. "Plus, this is really coming at a good time, because Collins & Aikman in Americus has closed and about 300 people lost their jobs," Godwin said. "Alterra is getting the opportunity to hire some really quality people with experience." Alterra expects to begin construction of the Plains plant within the next 30 days and be producing biodiesel made from soybean oil by November, Johnson said. The operation will bring about 25 new jobs to Plains. First the oil will come from existing crushing plants in Valdosta and Gainesville, but Alterra has begun talking with Vienna-area cottonseed and peanut crushing plants, some of which are now idle, about increasing the local supply. Alterra is building two production lines at the Plains facility, which together will be able to produce an estimated 30 million gallons a year, and it plans to add its own oil seed crushing plant by 2009, Johnson said. He said Plains was chosen for its location in the middle of the Southeastern oil seed farm belt, as well as its access to the ports of Savannah and Brunswick by the Heart of Georgia Railroad. Both the Plains facility and the soybean oil plant Alterra is building in Gordon will supply railroads, mining and trucking companies, and local governments with biodiesel, Johnson said. Alterra also will open its own fueling stations in the Macon area by the end of the year, he said. "There might be additional announcements (about other new plants) soon," Johnson said. "Our investment group has significant financial capacity." The Alterra plants are being funded by a team of Georgia and international investors, with the primary investors being based in Oslo, Norway. Haakon Korsgaard, chairman of investment firm Olympia Holding, spoke to a local crowd at the ceremonial groundbreaking Tuesday. "We hope to bring more investments to this place from Norway in the coming months," he said. Alterra did not ask for tax breaks or special deals, Godwin said. David Garriga, president of the Sumter County Chamber of Commerce, said, "It's been refreshing, because when I greet prospects, they usually have their arms open, saying, 'What are you going to give me?' Wayne Johnson came and said, 'What can I do to help this community?' " In an interview with The Telegraph, Carter said the quickest and easiest method to encourage the alternative fuel industry and reduce foreign oil imports would be for Congress to dramatically increase automobile efficiency standards. Carter said perhaps the most
promising alternative fuel is the type of ethanol that can be produced
from logging wastes, particularly from pine trees. This "cellulosic"
ethanol made from timber byproducts doesn't pose the ethical conflicts
faced by alternative fuels made from grains that could be used for food. |