From Michael Bartoszek
Recently, a few people pointed out this message board to me, mentioning that we had a following of investors that discuss our company and projects.
I have read through some of the posts and I am sorry to see so much negativity. It seems as if any minor hiccup results in all sorts of unfounded assumptions about our business.
The reality is that the recent election results in Berlin, NH have little impact on the project. We look forward to working with the new city government and we are actively finalizing our arrangements with the current owner, North American Dismantling.
The permitting for the Berlin project is handled on the state level, by the New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee. All other interested agencies, such as the DEP and the city, will be required to participate in the NHSEC process.
I don't think that there is any doubt that there is tremendous support for biomass energy and the economic development that it brings from the state, local governments and NH Congressional delegation.
I hope to be able to announce that we have finalized our deal and are moving forward with the Berlin project very soon - perhaps as soon as the next couple of weeks. I can assure you that we are actively working in furtherance of this goal.
In terms of Ellicottville, I feel very confident that now that we are moving out of the phase of dealing with the local planning board and forward with the Article 78 litigation against the town in state court, as well as a separate civil lawsuit in Federal court, that we will have our day in court and see that justice is done. Up until this point, the situation has been entirely one-sided, with the town essentially administering a "kangaroo court".
Our Final Environmental Impact Statement was prepared by nationally recognized experts in the fields of air, noise, civil planning, engineering, etc. The town's version that was the basis of their denial of our permit for the plant (but not the kilns) was prepared by their lawyer and the town planner, neither of whom have any expertise in power generation.
We are well capitalized and our partners have very deep pockets and I can assure you that we will not stop until we achieve justice with regard to the Ellicottville project.
We also have a number of other very good projects in the pipeline that we hope to be able to announce soon - including a couple of opportunities in Massachusetts.
We are also currently conducting an audit of the last few years of operations with a view of preparing the company to move to the OTCBB in 2008. In the interim, we intend to improve our transparancy to the public by providing more information on the company so that we may qualify for a better pink sheets listing. Nonetheless, I don't think we are a good fit for the pink sheets. It seems that many investors assume that companies listed on the pink sheets are of questionable character and I don't like that association. We run an honest business and we do not hype our company. We only put out news when we have something material and/or important to say.
I hope this gives you a better idea of where we stand and where we are heading. I hope to be able to check-in with the board from time-to-time to post updates.
All the best,
Michael Bartoszek
President & CEO
Laidlaw Energy Group, Inc.
