The GENX plant where the fire happened was only producing 25k gallons a week according to this article....so 100k gallons a month - we sold 950k gallons last month alone ....hmmmm ?
Biofuel plant plans to rebuild after arson fire
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
A biodiesel production facility in Burbank, Wash., put off its plans to tap into growing biodiesel use in Oregon after arson stopped production.
Scott Johnson, president of GEN-X Energy Group, Inc., said his company has temporarily relocated to Pasco, Wash., after a fire in a portable toilet outside the Burbank facility July 4 damaged the plant.
The arson investigation is still ongoing, Johnson said.
Manufacturing at the plant has ceased entirely until insurance issues are addressed, Johnson said. He expected to remain with the Port of Walla Walla, which owns the property where the company began operating in June 2007.
The company had planned to tap into a growing market with the state of Oregon's mandate that requires B2-blend biodiesel, or fuel that is at least 2 percent biodiesel, in all gas stations, Johnson said. That would have led to the company approaching more oilseed producers.
"We intended to be one of the key suppliers for that mandate," he said. "That would have increased the demand for our locally grown feedstock."
The company made biodiesel from used cooking oils, soy, canola, camelina, beef tallow and fish oil. Johnson said it was bringing in camelina from a crusher in Sunnyside, Wash.
"We do our share in providing a demand for oil," he said. "We will continue to work with local growers to build the biofuels industry."
"Any time you lose part of a production line process, it leaves people scrambling to fill that void," said Bill Riley, a board member for the Big Bend Economic Development Council and longtime supporter of regional biodiesel efforts.
The tallow and oil used by GEN-X can be transported somewhere else, Riley said, but that adds transportation costs and reduces the supply of biodiesel locally.
It's important for the suppliers of the biofuel materials to have an outlet, said Moses Lake, Wash.-based engineer John Ousterhout, who has made biodiesel from used cooking oil for years.
Companies have come to rely on the sale of used cooking oil, once considered a waste product, he said. If people like Johnson are not available to take it, the oil becomes a liability for the suppliers, with disposal very expensive.
Johnson said there are plans to rebuild the facility.
"It's too soon to tell where and when," he said, noting the company plans to pursue grants, although its plans and designs are in place and already prepared to begin the permitting process.
The company recently secured additional storage for operations in Moses Lake, Wash.
The facility was rated to produce about 5 million gallons of biodiesel per year, and had reached the point where it was producing more than 1 million gallons per year, about 25,000 gallons per week, Johnson said.
Matthew Weaver is based in Spokane. E-mail: mweaver@capitalpress.com.
More online
Access the GEN-X website at www.genxenergies.com
