APRIL 2008: AROUND THE STATE
Sequential eyes Port of Umatilla for future plant
UMATILLA
Sequential-Pacific Biodiesel hasn’t even finished
expanding capacity at its Salem plant, and it is already
looking into building another factory at the Port of
Umatilla.
The port has received a $500,000 federal grant to develop a
facility that would connect rural farmers with urban consumers
who are willing to pay a premium for
“Made-in-Oregon” fuel. Port of Umatilla general
manager Kim Puzey is encouraging local wheat growers to use
canola as a rotation crop to supply the plant. The biodiesel
produced at the new plant could be blended into fuel barged
upriver to meet new state requirements, as well as shipped down
the Columbia River to Portland.
The City of Portland is already the only city in the nation
with a contract in place guaranteeing local farmers a
competitive price for canola. Kent Madison of Echo processes
canola oil year-round for the city from grains harvested each
July. But the oil Madison and other growers produce has to be
trucked to the Sequential-Pacific plant in Salem to be
processed. A local plant in Umatilla would cut transport costs
and pollution by using river barges. It would also contribute
to the rapid growth of Sequential-Pacific, a joint venture
between Sequential Biofuels of Portland and Eugene and Pacific
Biodiesel of Maui, Hawaii.
The 30-employee company completed Oregon’s first
biodiesel plant in Salem in August 2005 and is already working
to expand capacity from 1 million to 5 million gallons per
year, in addition to building new fueling stations in Eugene
and Portland.
“The market is really growing and we’re just trying
to keep up with it,” says Sequential-Pacific’s
plant manager, Tyson
Keever.
BEN JACKLET
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