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I haven't had time to listen to the interview but thanks for the heads up. The next few months should be quite interesting.
This could be helpful as well. Time will tell.
3/29/2007 10:01:00 PM
Cities, County unite in pursuit of Enterprise Zone
Williams and Colusa City Council members and Colusa County Supervisors who attended the quarterly Cities/County Joint Meeting hosted by the City of Colusa on March 27 at the Wintun Dinner House agreed that it is time for the cities and the county to work together and to diligently pursue an Enterprise Zone [EZ] in Colusa County.
The Enterprise Zone program targets economically distressed areas throughout California. Special state and local incentives encourage business investment and promote the creation of new jobs. The purpose of the EZ program is to provide tax incentives to businesses and allow private sector market forces to revive the local economy.
During the Tuesday evening meeting, Colusa County Economic Development Corporation [EDC] Executive Director Peter Jukusky stated that it is expected that by the first or second week of April, the State will make the announcement of potentially up to eight new Enterprise Zones available in California.
"I would estimate that the application cycle would be six months from the time of announcement," Jukusky said. "If we are going to do this as three joint government agencies, we can't waste time," he added.
In 2004, Colusa County applied for one of the three EZs available. At that time, the county was number four in the finalists, missing the award by a narrow margin.
Colusa County Supervisor Kim Dolbow Vann spoke to the task of application during Tuesday evening's meeting. She stated that Colusa County's miss in 2004 could be due to not presenting a united effort in the application process.
Vann commented that for Colusa County to receive one of the EZs in this round its leaders would have to be united, and lobby hard to make it clear that this county is deserving of the award, but also that it is willing to support the effort in the long-term.
She urged those gathered for the meeting to make a commitment to the effort as a united community. "We need to have good conversation and flesh out how we want this to work," she said. "We need to hold hands, go to Sacramento, and prove that we not only want this, but that we deserve it."
Vann said that the cities and the county need to be committed to not only applying for the EZ, but to marketing it as well.
The application process in 2004 was funded by Colusa Industrial Properties and the Valley Ranch Business Park, along with EDC. The application process costs $100,000 to $125,000. Vann said the cities and the county would need to be committed to this project financially as well.
She urged the city and county leaders in attendance to find a way to 'carve' this out and make it work.
The group was also reminded that the tax incentives involved are State and Federal, and that it is not coming from local coffers.
"It is time to take care of ourselves," said Vann adding that the cities and the county should no longer depend on outside sources to take care of the problems. "All of the entities need to have a shift in thinking."
The consensus in the room was one of a positive effort to move forward. An exploratory committee including Supervisor Dan Yerxa, Colusa City Councilmember Kay Hosmer and Williams City Mayor Don Barker was formed. With assistance of city staff and EDC the committee will move forward to decide first were the county's core industrial areas are located.
Jukusky said on Wednesday morning that he was pleased with the reception of the EZ application by the city and county reprsentatives at the meeting. "Now it is the task of these individuals on the committee, and in attendance at the meeting to bring the knowledge they have gained on Enterprise Zones back to each Board or Council," he said.
At the onset of the meeting, Colusa Mayor Bob Mackaben commented on the need for industry here. He added that Ed Hulbert and Colusa Industrial Properties are doing their part. He also added that Premier Mushrooms, located on CIP, are set for success. "They are doing things right," he said.
Representatives from the cities of Williams and Colusa, the County of Colusa, and the Colusa County Economic Development Corporation, as well as area business members and guests, attended. Elected officials attending were Supervisor Vice Chair Tom Indrieri, Supervisors Kim Dolbow Vann, Gary Evans and Dan Yerxa, Colusa Mayor Bob MacKaben, Vice Mayor Richard Patton, Councilmember Kay Hosmer and Williams Mayor Don Barker, Vice Mayor Patricia Ash and Councilmember Mark Azevedo.
Tom Bowers stated to me that it would most likely be a debt/equity arrangement. That was a few months ago so I'm not sure if that is still the plan or not. Time will tell.
CB,
Tried the link and it failed I guess I need someone who is a little more tech savvy then myself. I manage people for a living, computers on the other hand have never been my strong point. (lol) Bid .08 ask .09 the first I've seen that in a while. Have a good weekend.
CB,
What do you think about Jarats request concerning the power point presentation? Can we put it on this site as well? I think it does contain some good information for potential investors.
CLME's web site also indicates that Mikeal Anania has been hired as a lab tech. It will be interesting to see what happens between now and September.
I think that the air quality permit is the main obstacle at this point. Hopefully we'll have an answer to that question by September. I think that once that's in place the rest of the pieces will come together.
I haven't heard anything about specific numbers related to Flanigan's investment. Although we only have a vague pr concerning his involvement it's one of many small pieces of information that led me to invest in this stock. I probably own too many shares but I can afford to lose the money if the permits are not granted.
If gas spikes to a new high this summer, permits are granted, and construction actually begins on the plant this stock will move very quickly. It's still a big gamble at this point but I like the odds based on my dd. Good luck with your investments.
I'm not sure if this artcle has already been shared on this board but I thought that it was a nice summary of events from last year.
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10/18/2006 8:14:00 AM Email this article • Print this article
Proposed ethanol plant gaining ground
BY KATHY CRAIGO
Staff Reporter
GRIMES - Tom Bowers, CEO of Colusa Biomass Energy Corporation [CLME], has worked diligently for nearly five years to bring an ethanol plant to Colusa County. Bowers estimated that the company would employ 13 employees during the engineering stage and that staff would grow to 30 or 40 employees not including gathering staff.
"We estimate an annual payroll of $3.5 million when in full-swing," he said.
Last week, Bowers began to see positive results of his efforts. Thirty acres of rice straw near Grimes was harvested and prepared for production in the plant. Bowers now anticipates being in production here by the fourth quarter of 2007. Bowers has worked to bring this business to the county, and has now accomplished the funding for the project. He has contracted for the needed rice straw and has acquired enough with the Grimes site and two other in-county sites to feed the first year's ethanol production.
Earlier this year, Bowers shared with the Colusa County Sun-Herald a letter of intent for the project signed by Colusa Industrial Properties, Inc. [CIP] C.E.O. Ed Hulbert, which stated CIP would provide an industrial zoned 15-acre site for a renewable energy bio-refinery ethanol facility in Colusa.
The letter of intent from CIP also indicated that CIP would negotiate a 15-acre long-term land lease for the construction of the facility. The initial term is 30 years plus options. CIP would also provide additional option acres should they be needed for expansion. CIP would provide water and wastewater service. CIP would help to facilitate engineering, permitting and disposal of process wastewater. CIP has adequate capacity under its existing permit with Regional Water Quality Control Board. CIP would also provide and commit its industrial construction experience to the project, and it would provide rice straw that it controls to the project.
At that time, Bowers said he was confident the project is moving forward. In addition to the CIP letter of intent, he also shared that he had struck a verbal agreement for a 30-acre parcel in the Grimes area to be used as satellite storage of prepared straw. The verbal agreement came to fruition with last week's harvest.
Rick Nannen of Grimes, is on board as the director of field gathering and biomass preparation.
Bowers told the Sun-Herald that Nannen designed and executed the harvest which is a method that is being used for the first time worldwide.
Bowers owns the patent on the process, and said he is willing to bring that
process to Colusa County. He said he doesn't need to finance himself on the
backs of the local farmers, and that is not his intent. Bowers has financed the project using his own capital and had also received backing from England.
His next step will be to apply for the plant's air quality permit, and building permit, and to appear before the Colusa County Board of Supervisors for final approval to open the plant here. He said he anticipates having all of the applications to the county by mid-November. If the Board denies his request to move forward in bringing the business to the county, he said he would accept a written invitation to build the plant at an alternative site out of county.
Regardless of if the plant moves forward in Colusa County, Bowers said he is now confident that the plant will not only be built, but that it will be duplicated in multiple sites. But, Bowers continues to see Colusa County as the ideal location for the facility.
Although the company has had several offers from surrounding states hoping to entice the project out of the county, Bowers said he'd rather see it happen here.
"It just makes sense to be in the middle of the material supply as biomass residues cannot be hauled very far economically," he said.
The product can be derived from any number of cereal grasses, as well as
wood chips, which become available during the normal maintenance process of national forests.
Bowers estimates that his company could support five storage facilities of rice straw drawing on product from the major rice producing counties of Colusa, Glenn, Sutter, Butte and Yolo.
If the facility were built in Colusa County, it would be the first of its type in the world. Bowers said the county has the potential to be the national leader using post-harvest residues to convert to transport fuels.
Bowers is not a farmer, he is a professional manager, and he said he hopes
that he and the producers can come to an understanding, which would benefit each of them.
He added that he feels very blessed to have the expertise and experience of Nannen working on this project.
"I just feel extraordinarily blessed to have him on the team," he said.
Bowers explained the method of making ethanol as being similar to the method used for making beer, wine and spirits. He described the facility as a giant brewery type operation.
While there has been some inquiry into if the plant would generate an odor, Bowers said the only smell connected to the facility would be that of a pleasant bakery aroma similar to the Sierra Nevada brewery in the city of Chico.
He said he envisions this area as being the ethanol blending fuel for transportation gasoline supplier from Stockton to Seattle as this is the logical distribution area for ethanol refined in Colusa County.
Ethanol is a clean-burning, renewable fuel made from crops such as corn and
rice straw. Bowers said there is an abundance of crops in the area, and there is an abundance of waste [harvest residues] as well which could supply the input stream for making ethanol.
When the rice farmer grows an acre of rice he potentially receives about 8,000 pounds of rice and 5,000 pounds of rice straw. Most of the rice straw has no commercial value. Worthless waste rice straw is not the case with CLME.
"We have the technology to make an acre of waste rice straw into 300 plus gallons of fuel ethanol and 900 pounds of high quality silica for industry. The CLME could generate more than $890 of revenue from an acre of waste rice straw," said Bowers.
These post harvest residues will then be processed at a $35 million dollar bio-refinery located in the region.
The company's mission statement states that Colusa Biomass Energy
Corporation is dedicated to converting biomass to energy for the
transportation sector of the U.S. economy. By using waste biomass as the
source for conversion to energy, the population benefits two fold immediately: The ethanol distilled from the waste biomass causes the unleaded gasoline to burn cleaner with less tailpipe emissions; and as the waste biomass does not break down releasing into the atmosphere methane and carbon dioxide which are key components of the greenhouse gases. Colusa Biomass will continue to pioneer uses of waste biomass to the benefit of its shareholders and the population in general.
Bowers explained that there are 4,400 ethanol refineries worldwide, and 160
in the United States that are new or being expanded which will double the
production capacity from 3.9 million gallons to 8 billion gallons.
"California is the largest importer of ethanol of all of the states," said
Bowers, adding that the state imports 950 million gallons annually. "Actually
this is a shortfall. California could consume twice that amount."
He said the plant is a clean process, and just as it only emits a pleasant
bakery-like scent, it is also a safe process.
While the facility would produce about 700,000 gallons of ethanol per month, it would never be stored on site for more than 24 hours. It would be shipped the minute it is denatured, Bowers said.
"There has never been an ethanol plant explode in the United States," he
said. "Ethanol plants do not blow up."
Research indicates that ethanol has the potential of significantly reducing
the United States dependence on foreign oil. From every barrel of oil [42.2
gallons] approximately 20 gallons of gasoline are produced. Modern automobiles can burn a mixture of gasoline ranging between 12 percent and 85 percent ethanol combined with 88 percent gasoline and 15 percent gasoline, E-12 and E-85.
Currently, there are approximately 3.5 billion gallons of ethanol produced in
the United States a year. More than 99 percent of this ethanol uses corn grain as
the starting material.
Colusa Biomass Energy Corporation has a U.S. patent that can use cellulose
[woody portion of all plant life] to produce ethanol; the starting materials for the CLME process is a rice straw and rice hull, corn stover and cobs, wheat straw and husks, wood chips from forest slashing, and sawdust from saw mills.
Bowers stated that CLME would initially build a 150,000-ton/year-rice straw
plant near Colusa. This plant will produce 9 million gallons of fuel ethanol, 12,000 tons of silica products, Distillers Dried Grain Solubles [solids] [DDGS], commercial carbon dioxide, and a high-energy lignin fuel that will be used internally in the plant to reduce the cost of natural gas.
I hope he can at least state clearly where the land is that they hope to develop. The map makes it pretty clear what section is it?
Great update anyways! Thanks!
Jarat,
Thanks for the update! How is ordering machinery equivalent to breaking ground? The way it was stated to me "breaking ground in 60 days" in February was a little misleading. imho
Jarat,
No rush. The pictures should be interesting if you can find the site. Thanks again!
Jarat,
Thanks for the update. If you can get some pictures of the site I would appreciate it. I live in New York so it's a stretch for me to get out there to verify the construction.
Thanks in advance!
On 2/19 Tom stated that the construction would start in sixty days. If we don't hear anything by the beginning of May I'll be contacting Tom for an update. It would be nice to see a pr in the next few weeks updating investors as to the status of the project.
Did they keep the bid at .075 for most of the day? I don't have access to level 2. Thanks for your insight.
Thanks for the update. When I talk to Tom in the future I'll share my conversations with the board.
On 2/19 Tom stated that the actual construction of the biorefinery will start within 60 days. If the construction doesn't start by the end of April I hope they put out a pr updating investors. If we don't hear anything I'll be contacting Tom to see when they plan on starting the project.
I know some people trade the ps and do very well. I just hope we're both right about this one. The next couple of months should be very interesting to say the least. Good luck with your investments.
Welcome to the ps! I usually shy away from these risky investments but I've made an exception with CLME. I hope everyone has a good weekend!
mthead,
Thanks for the info. It does sound very promising.
Did Tom tell you the name of the construction company?
One reason the stock has been moving on very little volume is because not many people are dumping their shares at this level. It really doesn't take very many investors to monopolize the float when it's so small and trading for pennies. If Tom is able to get the biorefinery up and running in a cost effective manner we'll be in for quite a ride.
Today was a great day for CLME. I'm a little surprised we held up as well as we did.
I think we might be in for a very good week. April is just around the corner and the chart will slowly start to attract the attention of new investors. It would be nice to continue this momentum right up until the construction starts and then we should really take-off.
I'm sure they'll get quite a bit of coverage when they start building the refinery. This publicity combined with foreign affairs, summer gas prices, and severe weather related to global warming should create a very positive environment for alternative energy companies. It has the potential of being the perfect storm to jump start the entire sector. Time will tell. I think you know what I think.
You've stated it a few times already but it's nice to see the chart heading in the right direction. I wonder where we'll be by the end of April?
I hope that doesn't happen but I wouldn't be surprised if it did.
I think Tom is either a very genuine person or a very good actor. After looking at the business model and talking to Tom I made the decision that I'm in for the long-term. I'll either lose a little or potentially make a very big profit. It should be a fun ride!
I don't think dilution will be a big problem because so far I think Tom has done a very good job in keeping it in check. If we have a little dilution to get the initial biorefinery up and running I think that is normal. As we all know there are plenty of pink sheet stocks that dilute their shares for managements personal gain.
Tom did state and I agree that once the initail refinery is up and running dilution should no longer be a problem. At that point they should be able to receive additional funding for expansion from several sources. In Tom's words he stated that we will move away from a condition of "doubt" to more tradional sources of funding for future development.
This is only the beginning!
With the DOE loan dept not up and running yet and competition from many companies looking for grants I wondered what avenue CLME was pursuing to finance the inital construction costs. Tom stated that initially they will use a debt / equity arrangement to get the biorefinery up and running. I would have been surprised if it had been any other arrangement since lingo-cellulosic ethanol production is an emerging technology.
As far as producing ethanol by the end of the 4th quarter I didn't ask Tom about the final completion date. My guess is it'll either be the end of the 4th or the beginning of the first.
As far as the stock price is concerned when construction is finally commenced in April we should get some good publicity. This should bring in some new investors or encourage those that have been waiting on the sidelines. Time will tell.
I recently sent an email to Tom Bowers with a few questions about the financing and construction of the biorefinery. I was impressed with his quick and insightful reply. The plan is still on track and the construction will begin in April.
Slow and steady wins the race. I'm very happy with the stock movement the past few weeks. I hope it continues building momentum in small steps.
That's the funny thing about cellulosic ethanol. Every article I read seems to be about corn stover, wheat straw, wood chips, etc. but rarely do see any other companies mentioning rice straw. It's so abundant in Asia that the potential market is enormous.
I also like the fact that Tom has pursued grants to finance the project instead of waiting around for the DOE to get the loan dept up and running. I recently read an article that they may not be able to approve any loans until September at the earliest. I hope the grant falls into place because it would get things rolling early while a lot of other companies are waiting around for the guaranteed loans.
There are many things that I like about this company but one of the most important aspects is the cost effective way in which they harvest the biomass. This simple process combined with the dramatic reduction in the cost of enzymes over that past few years has me convinced that I think CLME will be successful. In the end the companies that can produce the cellulosic ethanol the cheapest will be the most successful.
I also like the fact that there is room for expansion in California. I'm not aware of any other companies that are looking to fill the same niche as CLME. Once they get a biorefinery up and running at that point it becomes very easy to replicate the technology and expand the business.
If they can produce cellulosic ethanol in a cost effective manner this stock will move faster than any of us can imagine. At this point it's still a big gamble but if I've completed my dd and I like what I see. I purchased a lot of shares at the .03 level and I'm not planning on selling any of them for a long time. The vast majority of my investments are in index funds so I can afford to take a gamble on this company. If I get it right early retirement could be a possibility. If not I can still sleep at night knowing that it's a small percentage of my investment portfolio. Good luck!
I agree with that statement. I'm glad that dilution doesn't appear to be a big problem up to this point. Anything can happen but I like what I see so far with CLME. The next few months should be very interesting.
MWM,
You must be good luck. As soon as you bought your shares up we went. If the the number of available shares is as tight as it looks can you imagine what will happen to the share price when the financing is complete and the biorefinery is actually being constructed.
Thanks for posting the article! It sounds like everything is still on track. I think we're all going to be very happy with this investment!
If their ultrafiltration system works as stated this technology will give CLME a huge advantage in Asia. Water scarcity is already a big problem in China and other countries. If CLME can desalinate sea water in a single step process for use in their ethanol production it would give them an enormous competitive edge.
If they can commercialize their patented process this stock will take off in a hurry. I do think it's only a matter of time before they get financing for their biorefinery. Once the ball gets rolling with this company I think it will pick up momentum very quickly. Time will tell.