Buena Vista – An Arizona company hosted an open house Wednesday at the former Cogen wax plant on Coal Mine Road on what will be a $22.3 million capital funding drive to reopen the plant as a forest-waste-burning electric generating facility. Buena Vista Biomass Power company Managing Partner Mark D. Thompson told the dozens of people in attendance that the company has invested $2.3 million there, and was still assessing the project. He said: “We’re here very focused on getting this investment done.” He told attendees, including all 5 members of the Amador County Board of Supervisors, that they need about $20 million in capital investment to open the plant. He said it was 1 of 2 combustion electricity plants in California that would receive Federal grant funds, and it would be getting between $1.5 million and $3 million. Thompson said the plant will rely on biomass or wood trimmings from regional forests to operate 24 hours a day. Mechanical Project Manager Eddie Messinger said the plant would require 24.5 tons of wood chip fuel an hour to operate at full capacity, and run 7 days a week, generating 18.2 megawatts, to be sold on the open market. That would be 20 truckloads a day delivered to the site. The plant would keep on hand at the site 30 days’ worth of operating fuel, in 3-inch wood chips. Thompson said the project would help alleviate excess wood waste from forestry management, which could be stepped up after lumber mill closures slowed logging. The plant already has a forester on staff, and he has located 18 slash piles that they company could contract to pick up, rather than put a match to in the open air. He said to date this year 3,000 fires had been or were being fought in California, compared to 2,350 this time last year. CAL FIRE has spent nearly $10 million to fight the Stanislaus National Forest’s Knight Fire in Tuolumne County, which on Wednesday was 50 percent controlled, with 5,000 acres burned. Last year, Thompson said California spent an “unbudgeted” $800 million in fighting fires. He said removing biomass from forests reduces fire threat and eases pressure on watersheds. He said burning wood wastes there would help reduce emission in the region. With state-of-the-art filters, the plant will emit significantly less that the old plant and will try to be the best generating plant of its type in the state in emissions quality. Thompson said they were working with Amador Air District’s Jim Harris to modify the permit to remove lignite coal from its fuel list, and to have a program to pick up peoples’ biomass and lower the number of burn permits issued. He said last year, Harris issued 600 burn permits. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.