Congressman Dan Lungren on Tuesday visited the former cogenerating plant near Ione, which will be the site of a new green energy plant that could open by May 1st of 2009 and bring as many as twenty jobs and about a million dollars in salary to Amador County. He also stopped at the Ione Pharmacy to discuss a U.S. House bill aimed at protecting community pharmacies across the country. Lungren, California District Three Congressman, representing Amador County, met with Oneto Group owners Rux and Eddie Oneto at the Co-Gen electric power plant on Coal Mine Road, along with Amador Air District Pollution Control Officer Jim Harris and project director Bob Buckingham of the Renegey corporation, of Tempe, Arizona.
Buckingham is set to negotiate a lease agreement with the Oneto Group and his company would purchase the business, then use it as a biomass electric plant, operating on wood from logging waste, construction refuse and agricultural waste. “It’s just straight forward wood combustion,” Buckingham said. Emissions in the air would be one-tenth of that of similar coal electric plants. The burning biomass would operate the turbine generator and produce 18.4 megawatts of power, the equivalent of 15,000 homes. “It’ll probably power the better part of this area,” Buckingham said. Lungren said the biomass plant was the next logical step in the power industry, noting that, in his opinion, the use of “corn for methanol production has taken food stock and turned it into a fuel stock.” Lungren said he has been trying to get such alternative energy legislation into the house floor, though the speaker of the house has not been allowing such legislation into Congress. “We’ve been trying to do that – wind, solar – all these alternative sources. It just makes sense now,” Lungren said. Buckingham said Renegy would have people on the site in October and would put five million to six million dollars into refurbishing the plant, with testing planned for the spring, and they hoped to have the plant online and operational by May first of next year. Buckingham said the plant would burn 200,000 tons of biomass a year. “Economically, it’s a very viable opportunity,” he said. Using the existing plant will save money too. “If we build this from scratch, we’d be looking at close to $60 million,” Buckingham said.
Congressman Dan Lungren on Tuesday visited the former cogenerating plant near Ione, which will be the site of a new green energy plant that could open by May 1st of 2009 and bring as many as twenty jobs and about a million dollars in salary to Amador County. He also stopped at the Ione Pharmacy to discuss a U.S. House bill aimed at protecting community pharmacies across the country. Lungren, California District Three Congressman, representing Amador County, met with Oneto Group owners Rux and Eddie Oneto at the Co-Gen electric power plant on Coal Mine Road, along with Amador Air District Pollution Control Officer Jim Harris and project director Bob Buckingham of the Renegey corporation, of Tempe, Arizona. 
Buckingham is set to negotiate a lease agreement with the Oneto Group and his company would purchase the business, then use it as a biomass electric plant, operating on wood from logging waste, construction refuse and agricultural waste. “It’s just straight forward wood combustion,” Buckingham said. Emissions in the air would be one-tenth of that of similar coal electric plants. The burning biomass would operate the turbine generator and produce 18.4 megawatts of power, the equivalent of 15,000 homes. “It’ll probably power the better part of this area,” Buckingham said. Lungren said the biomass plant was the next logical step in the power industry, noting that, in his opinion, the use of “corn for methanol production has taken food stock and turned it into a fuel stock.” Lungren said he has been trying to get such alternative energy legislation into the house floor, though the speaker of the house has not been allowing such legislation into Congress. “We’ve been trying to do that – wind, solar – all these alternative sources. It just makes sense now,” Lungren said. Buckingham said Renegy would have people on the site in October and would put five million to six million dollars into refurbishing the plant, with testing planned for the spring, and they hoped to have the plant online and operational by May first of next year. Buckingham said the plant would burn 200,000 tons of biomass a year. “Economically, it’s a very viable opportunity,” he said. Using the existing plant will save money too. “If we build this from scratch, we’d be looking at close to $60 million,” Buckingham said.
