PRESS RELEASE
Grand Opening Celebration of expanded biodiesel plant includes “Encore”
Super-Sizing of Oregon Biodiesel Now includes Oil Collection
Having headlined the ground-breaking last year, Superstar Willie Nelson is headed back to Oregon’s first commercial biodiesel plant, this time to celebrate a zero-waste upgrade and expansion to a capacity of 5 million gallons per year. The August 29 event will showcase the latest state-of-the-art processing technology from Pacific Biodiesel Technologies LLC, a subsidiary of Pacific Biodiesel, Inc. Located in Salem, Sequential-Pacific Biodiesel LLC (SQPB) has been producing biodiesel locally since 2005, and the expansion has brought two recent additions: investor Jack Johnson, and a new oil collection trucking service, Encore Oils.
When he came up with the name, “I was thinking about the second performance of used cooking oil,” explained Managing Partner Bob King, CEO of Pacific Biodiesel. “Later it dawned on me how appropriate ‘Encore’ is since we are partnered with two of the greenest musicians and this is a serious second gig for them!”
Also scheduled for a concert at the State Fair that same evening, Nelson, an original investor in the plant with his wife Annie, will be arriving in his biodiesel-powered tour bus for the Friday event. Popular Hawaii-based singer Jack Johnson and his wife Kim recently invested in SQPB, but Johnson has a concert that evening in Irvine, CA. Nelson and Johnson were named the top two environmental musicians of the year by Billboard Magazine.
Dedicated to the community-based production model, SQPB began as a joint venture between Portland-based SeQuential Biofuels LLC and biodiesel pioneer Pacific Biodiesel, Inc. of Hawaii. SQPB’s expanded biodiesel facility is the anchor tenant in the 10-acre commercial/industrial site at the corner of Kuebler Boulevard and Turner Road in Salem. The property is owned by SQPB investor John Miller, an Oregon developer who intends to attract other businesses to the site which will reflect the theme of sustainability.
Rounding out the SQPB ownership are Oregonians Cameron Healy, founder of Kettle Chips and Kona Brewing Co. (on the Big Island of Hawaii), and Ron Tyree of Tyree Oil.
The Salem plant currently processes recycled cooking oil from restaurants and food processors in Oregon and Washington, such as Burgerville and Kettle Foods, into about a million gallons of biodiesel each year. In 2006, SQPB also processed 20,000 gallons of canola oil grown in Eastern Oregon into biodiesel. With the addition of Encore Oils, and the expanded in-state canola production, General Manager Tyson Keever looks forward to stabilizing feedstock prices.
On July 12, 2006, Portland City Council voted to approve a citywide renewable fuels standard (RFS). The standard is effective July 1, 2007 and requires a minimum 5% blend of biodiesel for all vehicle diesel fuel sold in the city limits. This City of Portland ordinance alone expands the annual market for biodiesel in Oregon from four million to eight million gallons per year.
Additionally, a statewide RFS was included in Oregon’s Biofuels Bill (HB 2210) and will mandate a statewide biodiesel blend. When in-state production reaches its five million gallons per year capacity using raw materials from the Pacific Northwest, the statewide RFS will go into effect. The RFS will increase annual demand for biodiesel by approximately 10 million gallons, to total nearly twenty million gallons of biodiesel per year.
For more information, please contact:
Kelly King, Marketing Director
Pacific Biodiesel, Inc
808-877-3144
ktk@biodiesel.com
www.biodiesel.com
Tyson Keever
SeQuential Pacific Biodiesel LLC
503-978-3218
tyson@biodiesel.com
www.salembiodiesel.com