Laidlaw Energy Group, Inc.(fka LLEG)

[veritas-twj]

HLH - Nice news article! Looks like some heavyweight support for Laidlaw is lining up at higher levels against the unfortunate opposition of the local Mayor and City Council... In the best interests of a majority of residents of Coos County...

"LANCASTER — The Coos County Commissioners said they plan to file as intervenors in support of Laidlaw Berlin Biopower when the company goes before the state Energy Facilities Site Evaluation Committee for its permit to construct and operate a biomass facility in Berlin. Laidlaw officials did a presentation at the commission’s monthly meeting yesterday on their proposal to develop a 66-megawatt biomass plant on the former pulp mill site. Commissioner Paul Grenier said the commissioners have informally discussed filing as intervenors in the SEC process and expect to do so. He noted the commission took an active role in supporting Granite Reliable Power’s proposed wind farm in Phillips Brook and said the board will do the same for Laidlaw. Commissioner Tom Brandy said he is 100 per-cent in support of the Laidlaw proposal. He said he believes the plant would help not just Berlin but the entire county. The commission’s support for Laidlaw is contrary to the position of the Berlin city council which plans to file as an intervenor to oppose the project. The council has increased the line item for legal services in its proposed fiscal 2010 budget by $100,000 to enable it to hire a lawyer to represent the city in the SEC proceedings. Laidlaw Vice President Lou Bravakis told the commission Laidlaw is still developing the site plan and working on the SEC application. The company has hired Barry Needleman of the law firm of McLane, Graf, Raulerson & Middleton, an expert in environmental permitting and compliance, to put it together. Bravakis said Laidlaw hopes to submit it to the SEC soon. Once the application is submitted, the SEC has nine months to issue a decision. Bravakis acknowledged the opposition of the mayor and city council to the project but said he feels the majority of Berlin residents are in favor of it. He updated the council on the progress made by Laidlaw so far. He said the company has arranged financing for the project which he said is an accomplishment in these financial times. He said the development financing has been released and as soon as the permitting is completed, Laidlaw will close on the construction financing. Bravakis said construction is estimated at $100 million and said Laidlaw has already heard from contractors who want to work on the project which will take 12 to 18 months to complete. He explained that the existing chemical recovery boiler will be converted to burn biomass using state-of-the-art combustion and pollution control technology. The biomass plant will meet the standards required to qualify for renewable energy credits. Laidlaw is in the ISO-NE interconection queue and Bravakis said the Coos transmission loop can accommodate both GRP’s wind farm and his company’s biomass plant. He said Laidlaw has an agreement to sell its power to Public Service of N.H. Laidlaw also has announced an agreement to provide Fraser Papers with hot water for its Gorham paper mill. Noting that questions have been raised about wood availability, Bravakis said Laidlaw has hired LandVest to expand the wood study it did for the state Department of Resources and Economic Development. He noted that before they closed, Groveton Paper Board, Fraser pulp mill, and the Gilman, Vt. paper mill used over 1.2 million tons of low grade wood annually. Bravakis said the Laidlaw biomass plant would use between 700,000 and 750,000 tons per year. With a 20-year power agreement, he said Laidlaw would be in a position to enter in long-term contracts with COMMISSIONERS from page oneloggers, providing stability to those operations. He said the biomass plant would have wood purchases of about $25 million annually. The biomass plant would employ 40 people directly. Bravakis said Laidlaw purchased 62 acres of the mill property and will use less than half the site. He noted when North American Dismantling took down the old mill buildings, it did not remove the foundations and the site is fill of rubble. “The property is a real brownfield,” he said. While not suitable for some businesses. Bravakis said Laidlaw is interesting in attracting light manufacturing or commercial businesses that could benefit from stream or hot water that are byproducts of power production. Attending the meeting with Bravakis was Laidlaw partner Raymond Kusche and its Berlin representative, Tony Urban."