The Grand
Jury report of 2010-2011 states under findings: “The DOE (Department of Energy)
terminated funding for the Gridley Project in 2010. The response from the
Gridley City Council submitted to the Grand Jury read: “The Council disagrees.
The grant ended on schedule in 2010, it was not terminated. It should be noted
that this $20 million grant is with REII and Red Lion. The City of Gridley has
no responsibility for this grant.”
The
biodiesel plant project that many considered over has resurfaced with a visit
by Dennis Schuetzle, of Renewable Energy Institute International (REII) of
Sacramento with a study session held last week regarding Phase II of a grant
that the Grand Jury had been told was no longer viable. Phase II comes to an
end at the end of this year with a positive feasibility that a full scale plant
could be built.
The last
phase of the Gridley plant, between March 2015 and March 2016, is based on
finishing the report with recommendations of deployment of the first plant in
Gridley.
Another
finding reported in the Grand Jury read that “the City of Gridley has been
pursuing the biomass project since 1994 and so far the project has proven
non-feasible. At least one Gridley City Council member continues to advocate
for the project.”
The
Council's response read: “The council disagrees with the statement
“Non-feasible.” This project was and continues to be a research and development
project conducted in large degree by private entities. This research has
further technological advances that have demonstrated that rice straw can be
converted to syngas which can be converted to diesel or ethanol. Although to
clarify, this project is still in research and development. The Council
believes that advocation of a particular project or idea is a proper role for
an elected official, but such advocacy must exist with proper understanding as
to whom such an official represents.”
March
11, 2015
Gridley
Herald
By Lisa Van De Hey, Publisher/Editor
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