Over $100 Million To Be Invested, More than 150 Jobs To Be Created
By Doug La Rocque
Thursday May 26 at the workshop meeting of the Berlin Town Board, CEO of the SAFE Holding Company Michael Pasternak laid out his company’s plans to collaborate with Green Renewable and two other firms on a major production facility that will produce fuel oil from wood and generate electricity. The four companies will remain their own separate entities, each making their own product, but there are important synergies to having them all work closely together on the same campus.
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One of these new companies would be Ensyn, a firm that has been developing technology to turn biomass into liquid fuels. According to Pasternak, while still a more expensive process than typical crude oil production, special federal subsidies, matched by some states, make it a growing alternative fuel. Its signature product is an advanced cellulosic biofuel know as RFO (Renewable Fuel Oil). It is used by large industrial and commercial heating customers, and as a feedstock for petroleum refineries. Ensyn would make use of the heat generation from the aquafarm facility to fire its refining process.
Ensyn would need wood chips to feed its production process, which is where Green Renewable comes in. The company now operating out of the former Cowee plant has, according to Pasternak, the history, knowledge and connections within the timber industry to provide the wood that Ensyn will need. All timber used in the process would have to be harvested under strict renewable guidelines, and delivered to Green Renewable either in the form of chips or round wood.
The third company involved in the project is called Olympic Power. They would use a by-product of the fuel oil production to run turbines to generate electricity. This would feed into a newly constructed micro grid, which could include the Berlin Fire House, Elementary School, and other nearby facilities the community may designate. The development of the entire project is estimated to cost about 125 million dollars, about 100 million of which is anticipated to come from a combination of federal grants. It is hoped the combined endeavors would mean between 150 and 200 new jobs for the Taconic Valley.
To create this, SAFE has hired the engineering firm of Barton and Loguidice. Managing Landscape Architect Ted Kowlankowski outlined a procedure for the Board, which would create a Planned Development District (PDD), very similar to the Luther Forest district in Malta and Stillwater, that eventually housed Global Foundries. Kowlankowski said the district would not be as large, but the concept is the same. To make this happen, the Town Board would have to consider and approve a local law and re-zoning of the area to include a mix of industrial, commercial and possibly retail outlets. B&L is proposing to file a Generic Impact Study similar in nature to a long form Environment Impact Statement except it does not require the often complicated interaction of the Town Board, Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals. It puts the onus of the approval process on the Town Board, and according to Kowlankowski, allows the applicant to work with the Board to develop parameters as to what regulations would be put into the PDD. It also allows for flexibility and change during the process, something the long form SEQR often precludes.
The timeline for the project is for SAFE to file the formal proposal for the re-zoning with the Town Board in early fall. Typically, the Board would then accept the application and declare itself to be the lead agency (something it has already done). The Board has also hired Clough Harbour Associates to work as their consultant throughout the process. The cost of this is legally borne by the applicants. Spring is the tentative date for SAFE to return with the results of their studies and file a Draft Generic Impact Statement. This generates more Board debate and a public hearing before the applicant returns in the Fall of 2017 to ask the Board to create a local law approving the re-zoning. Kowlankowski emphasizes the timeline is preliminary.
As far as the Aquafarm goes, Pasternak said work is nearly complete on repairing the lower greenhouses from several years of nonuse. Most are gutted, and the next few months should see a dramatic increase in activity as contractors install state of the art lighting and hydroponic growth tanks. He expects the lettuce production to begin in the 4th quarter of this year. He hopes the entire joint venture project to be fully operational by 2020.
In response to questions, Pasternak said the Ensyn facility is expected to produce about 20 million gallons of biofuel a year, and feels this will generate an increase in large truck traffic to about 30 to 40 trucks a day. As to the amount of water to be pumped out of the ground, Pasternak said he expects this to be about 400,000 gallons a day. He describes this as “a miniscule amount, equivalent to what might flow through a six inch pipe each day.” Asked by Water District 2 Chief Jim Winn how this might impact the village water supply, Pasternak said it is downstream and should have no impact. He assured Winn that if it does, the appropriate adjustments will be made. In his summation to the Board, Pasternak called the project, “good for employment, good for the environment and good economically.” Speaking with
The Eastwick Press after the meeting, Town Supervisor Rob Jaeger said he was obviously impressed and hopeful the proposal can fulfill its stated potential, but cautioned it’s complicated, open to adjustment and change and has a long way to go before it can come to fruition. [/private]