September 19, 2005
All the way to China | Town debates whether to approve a proposed biodiesel production facility
By Taylor Smith
Scott Pierz likes to think of China, a central Maine town nestled between Augusta and Belfast, as a pretty progressive place, with local leadership that encourages business development and is willing to work closely with prospective entrepreneurs. At the same time, he admits that many regulatory hurdles ˆ from environmental rules to traffic concerns ˆ need to be cleared before the town will okay a project. And, as China's code enforcement officer, Pierz says he's often the one stuck between an entrepreneur's proposal and the town planning board's stamp of approval. "I'm the guy who's often seen as the wrench in the works," he says.
Lately, Pierz has been the go-to-guy for the China Planning Board as town officials try to work through a somewhat contentious ˆ and ambitious ˆ new plan by Ralph Howe to build a biodiesel manufacturing facility on his 69-acre South China property. For both Howe and the town of China, the stakes are high: If the town approves Howe's plan ˆ which calls for a plant that will pump out more than three million gallons of pure biodiesel a year ˆ Howe stands to become a major player in the fledgling U.S. biodiesel industry. But Pierz says that many town officials are concerned that development on that scale might produce some unwanted byproducts, from increased commercial traffic on the town's bucolic back roads to potential environmental damage to the nearby Sheepscot River watershed.
Pierz has been working on behalf of town officials to gather additional information about Howe's plan, which was submitted to the town in August. Pierz says the evaluation process is pretty straightforward for most business development plans, but Howe's proposal is considerably more complicated than the typical retail operation or auto repair shop: If the project is approved, China could find itself as a long-term host to a large-scale manufacturing facility churning out biodiesel, a diesel fuel alternative derived largely from natural materials such as soybean oil.
Despite the environmentally friendly sound of biodiesel, Howe says town officials haven't immediately warmed to his proposal. "They don't know a lot about it, so they're nervous," he says. "It's a new concept and Mainers aren't interested a lot in change. They balk at it."
Indeed, Pierz says the mantra among members of the planning board has been to proceed, but with caution. From concerns about whether the nearby Weeks Mills fire department is prepared to handle a fire emergency at the plant to whether local roads can handle a marked increase in heavy-truck traffic, Pierz says the board is taking its time to review Howe's proposal. "We need to slow the process down, examine the facts and information, and get well versed on what this is," he says.
Salad dressing factory or oil refinery?
One sticking point, according to Howe, has been his reluctance to divulge many details about the manufacturing process. The idea for a biodiesel manufacturing plant came to Howe from his father, who Howe says spent more than three decades working with organic compounds called esters, a primary component in biodiesel. Howe, 27, says the proprietary manufacturing method he and his father developed will be more reliable than biodiesels made by so-called "homebrewers," or small-scale biodiesel producers, a few of whom he says are scattered across Maine. "We've gotten some bad publicity because there are a lot of questions being asked [about the manufacturing process] that we're not prepared to answer," says Howe.
Pierz says he and the rest of the planning board have pored over Howe's initial proposal, which contains a site plan that details how the operation will be set up as well as a list of materials that will be used in the production of the biodiesel, including chemicals such as phosphoric acid and potassium hydroxide. But Pierz doesn't seem overly concerned about how, exactly, the biodiesel is made. "I just have to reach a comfort level that the process that's involved is relatively safe to the neighborhood," he says.
To convince China officials of the safety of his process, Howe might do well to check in with Martin Tobias, a Seattle technology veteran and current CEO of Seattle Biodiesel. The company earlier this year began production at a $1 million biodiesel manufacturing facility in a waterfront industrial park in downtown Seattle, just steps from Puget Sound. But Tobias says he spent more than a year working to convince local authorities and regulatory agencies that the company's production method posed no substantial environmental risks.
The secret? Spreading the word, says Tobias, that biodiesel is less toxic than salt and biodegrades faster than sugar. "The hard thing is to get the existing government to authorize a process that they've never seen before," says Tobias. "But if [biodiesel] spills, it's just like spilling salad oil on the ground. So we had to convince them that they should regulate it like a big salad dressing facility rather than an oil refinery."
Finally, says Tobias, the project took off after he was able to get Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels on board. For his part, Howe says that once he can convince the China Planning Board to back his project ˆ which he is confident will happen ˆ then the facility won't be far behind. "If I could get the permits, we could be up and running by January," he says.
And once the China facility is operational, Howe says he will try to publicize the venture and attract enough capital to purchase land and build a much larger facility. With that larger facility that would employ as many as 120 workers and produce as much as 30 million gallons of biodiesel a year ˆ or roughly half of this year's estimated U.S. biodiesel consumption, according to the National Biodiesel Board. "We have people who would be willing to buy 50 million gallons a year," says Howe. "You could do that much volume here in Maine."
Howe's proposal was due to be discussed again by the China Planning Board in mid-September, after this issue of Mainebiz went to press, but Pierz says it's unlikely the matter will be resolved during that meeting. And regardless of whether the China facility will just be a staging ground for a larger facility elsewhere in Maine, Pierz says the decision of whether to approve the plan still has consequences for the town. "We have to be focused on what he's doing right now in the short term," he says. "You hope you find that balance between development and individual property rights."
Lately, Pierz has been the go-to-guy for the China Planning Board as town officials try to work through a somewhat contentious ˆ and ambitious ˆ new plan by Ralph Howe to build a biodiesel manufacturing facility on his 69-acre South China property. For both Howe and the town of China, the stakes are high: If the town approves Howe's plan ˆ which calls for a plant that will pump out more than three million gallons of pure biodiesel a year ˆ Howe stands to become a major player in the fledgling U.S. biodiesel industry. But Pierz says that many town officials are concerned that development on that scale might produce some unwanted byproducts, from increased commercial traffic on the town's bucolic back roads to potential environmental damage to the nearby Sheepscot River watershed.
Pierz has been working on behalf of town officials to gather additional information about Howe's plan, which was submitted to the town in August. Pierz says the evaluation process is pretty straightforward for most business development plans, but Howe's proposal is considerably more complicated than the typical retail operation or auto repair shop: If the project is approved, China could find itself as a long-term host to a large-scale manufacturing facility churning out biodiesel, a diesel fuel alternative derived largely from natural materials such as soybean oil.
Despite the environmentally friendly sound of biodiesel, Howe says town officials haven't immediately warmed to his proposal. "They don't know a lot about it, so they're nervous," he says. "It's a new concept and Mainers aren't interested a lot in change. They balk at it."
Indeed, Pierz says the mantra among members of the planning board has been to proceed, but with caution. From concerns about whether the nearby Weeks Mills fire department is prepared to handle a fire emergency at the plant to whether local roads can handle a marked increase in heavy-truck traffic, Pierz says the board is taking its time to review Howe's proposal. "We need to slow the process down, examine the facts and information, and get well versed on what this is," he says.
Salad dressing factory or oil refinery?
One sticking point, according to Howe, has been his reluctance to divulge many details about the manufacturing process. The idea for a biodiesel manufacturing plant came to Howe from his father, who Howe says spent more than three decades working with organic compounds called esters, a primary component in biodiesel. Howe, 27, says the proprietary manufacturing method he and his father developed will be more reliable than biodiesels made by so-called "homebrewers," or small-scale biodiesel producers, a few of whom he says are scattered across Maine. "We've gotten some bad publicity because there are a lot of questions being asked [about the manufacturing process] that we're not prepared to answer," says Howe.
Pierz says he and the rest of the planning board have pored over Howe's initial proposal, which contains a site plan that details how the operation will be set up as well as a list of materials that will be used in the production of the biodiesel, including chemicals such as phosphoric acid and potassium hydroxide. But Pierz doesn't seem overly concerned about how, exactly, the biodiesel is made. "I just have to reach a comfort level that the process that's involved is relatively safe to the neighborhood," he says.
To convince China officials of the safety of his process, Howe might do well to check in with Martin Tobias, a Seattle technology veteran and current CEO of Seattle Biodiesel. The company earlier this year began production at a $1 million biodiesel manufacturing facility in a waterfront industrial park in downtown Seattle, just steps from Puget Sound. But Tobias says he spent more than a year working to convince local authorities and regulatory agencies that the company's production method posed no substantial environmental risks.
The secret? Spreading the word, says Tobias, that biodiesel is less toxic than salt and biodegrades faster than sugar. "The hard thing is to get the existing government to authorize a process that they've never seen before," says Tobias. "But if [biodiesel] spills, it's just like spilling salad oil on the ground. So we had to convince them that they should regulate it like a big salad dressing facility rather than an oil refinery."
Finally, says Tobias, the project took off after he was able to get Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels on board. For his part, Howe says that once he can convince the China Planning Board to back his project ˆ which he is confident will happen ˆ then the facility won't be far behind. "If I could get the permits, we could be up and running by January," he says.
And once the China facility is operational, Howe says he will try to publicize the venture and attract enough capital to purchase land and build a much larger facility. With that larger facility that would employ as many as 120 workers and produce as much as 30 million gallons of biodiesel a year ˆ or roughly half of this year's estimated U.S. biodiesel consumption, according to the National Biodiesel Board. "We have people who would be willing to buy 50 million gallons a year," says Howe. "You could do that much volume here in Maine."
Howe's proposal was due to be discussed again by the China Planning Board in mid-September, after this issue of Mainebiz went to press, but Pierz says it's unlikely the matter will be resolved during that meeting. And regardless of whether the China facility will just be a staging ground for a larger facility elsewhere in Maine, Pierz says the decision of whether to approve the plan still has consequences for the town. "We have to be focused on what he's doing right now in the short term," he says. "You hope you find that balance between development and individual property rights."
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