There was a great deal of cheer leading for the biodiesel plant in Odessa and that is why you were told what you were.
There has been about 4 million dollars borrowed from the taxpayers and Odessa put their faith in GSPI. Brooks Agnew didn't ride into town to save the day as the miracle worker because he was the project manager from the beginning. I do believe you when you say that Brookes wasn't paid for his work because I hear a lot of people have gone unpaid for their services.
Their waterless process might work great in a hobby or small scale situation but seems to have run into many problems on a large scale.
This from the Spring 2010 newsletter from the Odessa Union Warehouse, (The Odessa Union is a major investor in Inland Empire oilseed and this is the newsletter it sent out to it's members). Keep in mind that is was in November 2008 that the plant was boasting of being in production.
"Over the last nine months our production
rose from 10,000 gallons per month to nearly 150,000 gallons in April".
Odessa was sold a plant by GSPI that was supposed to make 8 million gals/year. Here's an exerpt from a Nov. 19, 2008 press release;
Inland Empire Oilseeds LLC, an 8 MMgy biodiesel producer in Odessa, Wash., has begun producing biodiesel from canola. The company will ramp up production with hopes of reaching full capacity within the next few months, according to General Manager Steve Starr.
But there was little or no biodiesel being produced at the plant after all their big announcements, despite the $1 blenders tax credit being in place during that time.
They had the feedstock and the $1/gal tax credit, so why weren't they in full production? The only thing I can come up with was that GSPI's biodiesel making machines didn't work as they were supposed to.
Also the facts are they have laid off 21 of their 25 employees. To me all this doesn't sound like the plant is working great.
