EcoTech Fuels eyes Newcastle

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
Life may be brought back to the old sawmill east of Newcastle after years in limbo if EcoTech Fuels, a California based company, has its way. The privately owned renewable fuels company will meet with both the Newcastle City Council and the Weston County Commission on Tuesday, July 6, to discuss plans for its Black Hills Advanced Synfuels LLC, the next step in opening a facility locally. 
 “The project will create at least 80 jobs, plus construction. Because of the high jobs multiplier impact of a project like this, many more jobs will be created in Wyoming to support the plant,” said Linda-Rose Myers, the company’s president and founder, according to her LinkedIn profile. 
The jobs created would include chemical engineers, skilled labor and entry-level work.  
The company is discussing the purchase of the old sawmill with Jim Neiman, owner of the sawmill, who, Myers said, “likes” the idea. Use of the rail tracks would be needed by the plant and has been agreed upon. 
“The point of doing the project is to reduce the incidence of catastrophic fires in the Rocky Mountain area forests, by removing dead and diseased wood, slash piles and other pre-commercial thinning,” Myers said. “That’s why we have the support of both the Black Hills National Forest Service and Region 2 of the Rocky Mountains. The National Forest Service hopes we will do similar projects in my home state of Colorado, in Montana and elsewhere in the area.” 
EcoTech’s team of experts, according to information provided by Myers, has the field-proven capability for converting biological and carbonaceous waste materials, including woody biomass, into advanced synthetic fuels. 
The local project, Black Hills Advance Synfuels, would convert 500 tons per day of fire-prone diseased and dead woody biomass from the Black Hills National Forest into 1,150 barrels per day of advanced synthetic SAF or diesel. 
The plant would produce 16 million gallons of product per year, with the capability of producing either ≤1 ppm sulfur synthetic diesel or sustainable aviation fuel. Due to expected demand, the company anticipates producing primarily SAF via the Fischer-Tropsch engineering process and a major jet fuel supplier has offered a letter of intent to purchase all fuel produced by the plant. 
Total costs for the project are estimated at $389 million. 
The project was well received when presented to John Keefe, head of the Wyoming Business Council and Glen Murrell, head of the Wyoming Power Authority, according to Myers, who has also had initial discussions with Mayor Pam Gualtieri and Commissioner Don Taylor. 
“It sounds awesome. I’m just hoping that everyone comes in and learns without assuming,” Gualtieri said. “This could be a huge thing for Weston County.”
She encouraged the public to attend the meetings, do their research and ask questions regarding the proposed venture. 
“It is something that could help Weston County, and I believe it will. Everyone needs to be there and get their concerns out and their questions answered,” Gualtieri said.