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Burbank biodiesel plant wants to get back to business
By Paula Horton Tri-City Herald, Kennewick, Wash.
Publication: Tri-City Herald (Kennewick, Washington)
Date: Monday, July 6 2009
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Jul. 6--BURBANK -- A suspicious fire that "heavily damaged" a Burbank biodiesel manufacturing plant won't prevent the facility from operating for long if company officials have their way.

The Gen-X Energy Group's 18,000-square-foot warehouse at the Port of Walla Walla's Burbank Industrial Facility

is not structurally stable after a fire believed to have started outside spread throughout the building, officials said.

The plant will now be idle, but company officials "are making plans to select a new site for production at the Port of Walla Walla in the next 48 hours," said Ramon Benavides, vice president of business development for Gen-X Energy Group.

Meanwhile, the Mid-Columbia Regional Arson Investigation Team and the Walla Walla County Sheriff's Office's Crime Investigation Unit are looking into what started the blaze early Saturday, Benavides said.

When Walla Walla Fire District 5 crews arrived at the fire at 3:15 a.m., flames were seen coming out of the roof and sides of the building and vegetable oil was linking inside. Benavides said he was told the fire started in a portable toilet on the northwest corner of the facility.

The plant was not operating at the time and the fire was not related to any operational aspect of the facility, said Benavides.

Walla Walla Fire District 5 Chief Bryan Bauer "stated the initial fire is suspicious and may be related to fireworks due to recent witnessed activity in the area," Benavides said.

The biodiesel plant, which opened in May 2007, was running at about half capacity, producing about 7,200 gallons a day, he said. The company had just received a three-year contract to produce over 1 billion gallons of biodiesel, he said.

"We were going to make that announcement this week," Benavides said.

Company officials were able to isolate tanks and keep them from getting damaged in the blaze. Floor drains were able to catch and contain the oil that did spill.

"The system performed just as it was supposed to," he said.

The state Department of Ecology sent a Spill Response Team to the site after learning about the fire and determined about 30,000 gallons of vegetable oil had spilled, said spokesman Dan Partridge.

None of the oil, however, made it to the Snake River and no fines will be levied against the company, Partridge said.

Benavides said the 30,000-gallon figure is misleading because it's actually a combination of the oil and water from the fire suppression. He also said it was fish oil and glycerin that combined with the water.

"We want to reiterate the community is not at environmental risk from this event," Benavides said. "This fire is not in any way associated with production practices of this facility. In fact, we just completed the field audit of the BQ9000 production compliance program and achieved what is considered a gold standard for biodiesel production practices in the U.S., and 12 hours later a potential malicious person burns down our plant."

To see more of the Tri-City Herald, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.tri-cityherald.com . Copyright (c) 2009, Tri-City Herald, Kennewick, Wash. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [e-mail] , call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.