news
The stark white refinery, built by the doomed Biodiesel of Mississippi Inc., isn't operating and isn't likely to do so any time soon.
If you call the Nettleton telephone number shown on its federal financial reports, you'll get a recording of an operator, saying it's been disconnected.
If you call the corporate telephone number on its publicity releases, you'll get a recording of the company's president.
Earlier this week, an out-of-state company acquired rights to the property by paying its $1,100 delinquent taxes.
That's the second year in a row, the Monroe County Tax Collector's office reports.
Late Wednesday, Nicole Singletary, a communications manager with its owner, Universal Bioenergy Inc., said that while the company has "no intentions" for the facility right now, it's looking for potential buyers.
Officials at the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, which considers operation permits, haven't heard anything lately about the Nettleton facility.
Last fall, a University Bioenergy Inc. official said the company was waiting for warmer weather to make biodiesel.
More recently, the company says it has lost nearly $15 million to the project since they acquired it, partly because its value has depreciated in the local economic downturn.
"The facility does not have permission to operate on any basis," said DEQ spokesman Robbie Wilbur this week. "Any attempt by the facility to operate must be brought forth to MDEQ for review."
Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley drove by the idle plant a few days ago. He was the town's mayor when BMI rolled into town with big promises and big dreams.
"Nothing's happened at the property," Presley reported as he looked at the locked gate at 128 Biodiesel Drive.
Whether anything will come of the property isn't clear.
But if you'll look deep enough into UBE's Aug. 17 Form 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, you can see it doesn't expect to generate any revenue until the plant is operating or some other money-making deal is done.
In 2006, the plant's builder, Biodiesel of Mississippi Inc., went bankrupt. Its top officials either pleaded guilty or were found guilty of a $2.8 million fraud on a federal biofuels subsidy program. One, Max Speight of Tennessee, was sentenced Thursday to 26 months in prison.
University Bioenergy bought the facility through its subsidiary Universal Bioenergy North America Inc.
As of Monday, the company owed $356.14 in delinquent property taxes to Monroe County.
"I visited the Nettleton refinery about six years ago, when it was still under construction," said Dr. Sumesh Arora, executive director of the Mississippi Technology Alliance's Strategic Biomass Initiative in Jackson. "The situation there is most unfortunate."
Arora said the financials for biodiesel are more problematic than usual since Dec. 31, when Congress did not renew the $1 per gallon federal tax credit.
He said the profit margins are still pretty thin, depending on what kind of raw materials are used to make the biodiesel. The Nettleton plant aimed to use soybean oil.
In its SEC report, UBE blamed the tax credit's non-renewal for UBNA's financial difficulties.
"The economic viability of most biodiesel producers, including us, is dependent on the biodiesel fuel tax credit," the statement noted.
Recently, Mississippi's role in biofuels increased with announcement from three companies Arora calls "next generation" - Bluefire Renewables, Enerkem and Rentech, which will rely on non-food sources to generate renewal energy.
The Legislature also OK'd a $75 million loan to help start five KiOR facilities to convert wood waste into petroleum products.
UBE doesn't seem to be involved with that trend.
Recent filings with the SEC say the alternative energy company has a new strategic direction to develop and market "a diverse product line" from natural gas and solar to biofuels, wind, wave and green technology products.
It's reportedly looking for mergers and purchases for growth.
In the past few months, Universal said it acquired a 48 percent share in NDR Energy Group in Charlotte, N.C., which markets energy and fuel commodities.
It's also signed letters of intent for deals to buy Roblex Aviation Inc. of Puerto Rico for air cargo, and Norcor Technologies Corp. in Charlotte, to sell fuels and energy.
As for its refinery and biofuels subsidiary, the company says UBNA has generated no revenues and "will continue to accrue operations losses" until its production is enough to pay its bills.
UBE says it's lost some $172,872 from the plant during the first three months of 2010 and $153,479 in 2009.
It's also using the Nettleton property as collateral on debt.
Monroe County Tax Collector's officials said Thursday that UBE has time to repay the two companies that picked up the county and city taxes for 2008 and 2009. The buyers likely want to make interest on their transactions, rather than to acquire the property.
Contact Patsy R. Brumfield at (662) 678-1596 or patsy.brumfield@djournal.com.
Let's let the market select the most economical fuels, and quit pandering to Willie Nelson!
Sure, the engineers assure us that these bastard fuels are completely compatible, etc. But when the driver who has the foresight to top off before entering MN sails right on through the bad weather, while the one with his head up his rear winds up down two days, and with a big tow bill, don't expect him or me to be happy about this bit of subsidy for farmers. As for the anti-gel treatments, yeah, they work. But, we have to lie to the OEM if we use them. They insist that they're not necessary (and, if you use 100% petroleum fuel, they aren't), and warn that use of such voids warranty.
Well, now. A $15K engine fails because it was assembled on a Monday or a Friday, or the engineers put too much trust in the materials specs of the low bidder, and we have to eat the loss because we're sitting there with a tank of adulterated fuel? How'd you like to explain that to your boss? Yeah, I tell my drivers to put it in, pay cash for it, and keep their mouths shut.
Why should faulty government policy cause us to have to subsidize uneconomical technology, and then stain our souls by lying about it to cover our butts?
And now the governor wants us to offer incentives to perpetuate the scam.
Sorry, I don't buy the smooth lines. They were written by the same people who tried to sell the Edsel, the Lisa, and the Commodore 64. If I were in their employ, I could churn out the same pap, but I couldn't respect the face I shave.
MTBE fouled up a few water supplies in Rhode Island during the 1980s and was banned by in California first and then all states by around 2005. Ethanol has been used since 1908 when Henry Ford built his Model T to run off of pure ethanol. Back the the MTBE days, it was added as an oxygenator to replace lead and increase octane, yet there was no Federal Mandate that gas station owners inform customers of the addition. So gas station owners kept their mouths shut and let customers believe they were getting 100% gas. What this did was increase the profit for the owners on gas sales by approximately 10%. There have been limited cases where ethanol "laced" gas has caused some problems but most cases come back to individual owners who were either too dumb or too stupid to read their owners manual where it clearly stated not to use ethanol in the motor.
Your problems with gelled biodiesel can be rectified by adding tank insulation or warming elements designed for cold climates. Canadain operators (hell of a lot colder in canada than Minnesota) have been able to convert diesel engines to run off of both diesel and used vegetable oil from fast food restaurants. So I fail to see how anyone is being led by the nose over some "scam". Your failure to keep current with technology does not become a scam for me.
This whole thing has been a farce from the git-go. "Bio-fuels" have never been a viable alternative. They cost more to produce than they're worth. The only reason they've gained any traction at all are subsidies and tax breaks.
The consumer should stand up and demand, "No more!"
I am tired of having tucks stalled in Minnesota with bio-diesel gelled in the tanks. The farm lobby has succeeded in getting it written into law that all fuel sold in the state contains the bio-adulterants. Now, John Q. Public is having to have the carb replaced on his lawn tractor and ATV because of damage from ethanol-laced gasoline...and the %^&#!! folls in the state house are talking still more incentives for the new wave of scammers -- now they're going to make oil from sweet gum bushes. P.T. Barnum was spot on, eh?