Bion, OBPA Port Use Talks Get Heated
By ELIZABETH GRAHAM
Bion Environmental Technologies officials and the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority are not saying much about the tenor of a meeting last week in which one official present reportedly asked the company why it wouldn't move the project to Oswego if the company can get better prices from the port of Oswego than from Ogdensburg.
The meeting was reportedly held to continue negotiations between the companyand the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority to use the Port of Ogdensburgfor grain shipments for the company's proposed integrated beef finishing andethanol production operation.
While OBPA and Bion officials won't discuss the details, Bion has reportedlybeen lobbying the port authority to reduce the price the authority wants thefirm to pay to use the port.
Reportedly among the officials at the meeting were Ogdensburg Bridge andPort Authority Executive Director Wade Davis and OBPA Chair Fred Carter, St.Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency Executive Director RaymondFountain, county Deputy Economic Development Director Patrick Kelly, IDABoard members Frederick Morrill (D-DeKalb Junction) Lynn Blevins, ofOgdensburg, OBPA staff member John Rishe and representatives of Bion.
Neither OBPA officials nor Bion officials are talking about what wasdiscussed at the meeting. Likewise, neither OBPA Executive Director WadeDavis nor Bion Vice President for Renewables and Project Development JeffKapell would confirm or deny that one official present suggested that thecompany use the port of Oswego if it offered better rates.
Kapell confirmed that a meeting had taken place, but said it wasconfidential in nature and refused to give details about what was discussed.
According to one source, Bion is looking at using the port of Oswego for its grain shipments for its beef finishing and ethanol project if the company can not get what the company considers an acceptable price from the OBPA. When this possibility surfaced at the meeting, the source said, an OBPA official suggested that the company work with the Oswego port rather than developing its project locally, which reportedly drew fire from other officials present who argued that the 700 potential jobs associated with Bion's proposed project were too many and too valuable to send elsewhere.
Davis said Saturday afternoon that he could not comment on "clientnegotiations." Asked at what stage in the process the entities are inreaching an agreement, he said simply, "We are negotiating."
Kapell said he could neither confirm nor deny what had taken place, but hedid say when asked about the possibility of an agreement with another portthat the company is examining other options.
"I wouldn't characterize it as an offer from another port at this point,"
Kapell said. "We're pursuing other possibilities, and those possibilities aren't necessarily mutually exclusive of continuing the project in St. Lawrence County. Any business needs to look at all the possibilities to move forward."
He added, "We've obviously invested a lot of time and energy and resources in this project in St. Lawrence County. We think it would be a great one for the community, and we'd like to see it move forward."
As for an agreement with the OBPA, Kapell said only that talks are continuing.
Bion has proposed the development of an 84,000-head beef cattle operation which will work cooperatively with a 42 million-gallon ethanol production facility. The beef operation would be split among five farms throughout St. Lawrence County. No specific site information has yet been determined.
In all, the company estimates that the project would create at least 500 direct and indirect jobs and could pump $140 million into the regional economy.
Source: Ogdensburg Journal - Sunday Advance News
