MOPN=3 POSSIBLE CONTRACTS PENDING
4-6-2010
As you surely know by now, MOP 201 and 301 sorbents are the only oil spill pollution product on the planet that are green from cradle-to-cradle. . . manufactured with hydro-electric power, 100% recycled and natural materials and 100% biodegradable. We are very proud of this. From these patented products have sprung many other products that play an important part in sustainably addressing the broader challenges of hydrocarbon pollution and contamination.
Ironically, MOP’s effectiveness is one of its greatest challenges. It is easy to manufacture a cheap boom - for example - that must be disposed of as a hazardous waste and picks up only a small amount of oil, if no one pays attention to the over all effectiveness of the products.
On a pound for pound basis and on a cost per pound basis, MOP far out-performs every other sorbent around. But if decisions are made strictly on price without regard to efficiency; or if – as in this case – the government is restricting the amount of absorption as a way to control the weight of booms, we are challenged by how good the product is. This is a major challenge, but a challenge of which we can be proud. It is also a challenge we can meet while still maintaining a commitment to quality and sustainability.
Some of our friends and supporters have said to us, “don’t wait – put a container load on the road to Louisiana with one or two MOP cannons and force BP to use the product when you arrive.” After all they contend, “BP wrote a letter of endorsement for the product in the past, they should be held to their word.”
We even had one shareholder who came forward with an offer to cover the cost of production and shipping if we would do this. For those of you who are aware of the difficulties we have faced during the past year, successfully fighting to regain the company and to move forward, you will understand why this was a very tempting offer. While this individual later withdrew her commitment, we are grateful to her for causing us to examine our strategies on behalf of both the company and the planet. Her strategy may have been wrong, but her inclination to act and engage was spot on.
During the past two days we have been working diligently to respond to three separate “bid-requests” for large orders of booms for the Gulf coast. Had we shipped a container of the loose sorbent last week we would not have sufficient quantities of sorbent to fulfill these potential orders for much higher value-added products. As it is, the potential orders are large enough that we will only be able to service one of the three with our current available capacity. We felt that under the circumstances, the prudent business decision to make was to continue to negotiate on these requests, rather than take the risk that by sending a container, we would get an audience with the Coast Guard or BP. We believe VERY STRONGLY that at least one of these boom “bid-requests” will be shipped. However, we are aware that we are working in an environment where there are many unscrupulous players who do not deliver on their promises. We are being careful to do our due diligence regarding payment.
Additionally, we are in negotiations with two other companies to dramatically expand our production capacity. These are businesses that are NOT competitors but rather they are in the business of producing products that use similar lines of manufacturing equipment, thus creating an opportunity for us to be able to service two or possibly all three of these large bid-requests by subcontracting the excess production we need.
This is important to do for two reasons: First because, unfortunately, this spill will have a significant lifespan; and, second, because current negotiations with new distributorships in China, India, the Middle East, West Africa, Thailand and Malaysia will – once completed – create the need for added capacity, beyond the scope of the Gulf Oil spill.
We have NOT stopped working to get the Coast Guard to use our MOP sorbent directly. We still feel very strongly that the MOP sorbent is the ideal solution to the challenge of protecting the most fragile ecosystems and fisheries along the coastline.
We have made some significant progress in this area:
We were informed on Friday that MOP has been raised to the designation of a “Resource” by BP and the Coast Guard. This is not yet where we want to be, but it is a start. We are communicating daily with Command Central and with several friends and distributors in the Louisiana and Florida areas. They are standing by to go to the Command Center the moment we have an audience scheduled with BP, the Coast Guard or any state government willing to meet with us.
We will continue to keep our focus aimed like a laser on business practices that offer the best long-term hopes for growth and expansion of the MOP brand.
Let us all hold in our prayers all of God’s creatures that may potentially suffer from the calamity in the Gulf and pray this ends soon.
Charles Diamond
President
MOP Environmental Solutions, Inc.
