Stinky neighbors moving from Atwood to Huntington

Nature's Fuel, an Fort Wayne-based biofuel company is planning to move its facility from Atwood, IN to Huntington, IN. The company has been surrounded in controversy for violating Kosciusko county odor ordinances.

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management Tuesday came to terms on an order between Nature's Fuel and the state agency that Nature's Fuel would shutdown operations in Atwood by Jan. 31st, or face a $1,000 per day fine for every day the facility operates past that date.

Nature’s Fuel converts manure and household waste into biofuel, (low sulfur fuel oil). Atwood residents have complained of “biochar,” which is discharged by the plant is landing on gardens and homes, and they claim it causes people to suffer health problems, including headaches, sore throats, respiratory problems and nausea.

The principals of the company, as listed by the Indiana Secretary of State’s office are:

PAUL FELGER
Incorporator
29924 CHAPLIN COURT
FORT WAYNE , IN  46845

WILLIAM A SINISH
CEO
918 SUNSET LAKE COVE
FORT WAYNE , IN  46845

GLENN JOHNSON
President
12609 CHAPELWOOD PL
FORT WAYNE , IN  46845

Glenn Johnson is the only principal listed for Nature’s Fuel Huntington, LLC., with the same corporate address of 421 E Cook RD, Suite 400, Fort Wayne, IN 46825.

Welcome to Huntington boys.

Comments

[Smooth Move]

Maybe these guys should switch to making Green Kool-Aid. There is obviously a big market around here for it. To think we stopped our recycling program for this? Oh well look at it his way, not only will they bring jobs, but the oncologists, hospitals,ENT's,surgeon's and clinics will make a fortune too! Were so lucky they chose Huntington.

[Randy Meekin]

People you simply cannot have it both ways here. Do you want hundreds of millions of gallons of oil dumped into our oceans? Do you want billions of dollars to be continually fed to the middle eastern countries who attack us? Or would you rather have something smell bad? I would assume that their are ways that we can work with the facility to help resolve the "BioChar" In turn we are getting a fuel that doesn't kill the ocean or blow up our buildings AND we get some much needed jobs in our area. I know many of the politicians in both Huntington and our country do not care about the employment situation. Politicians seem to get raises for doing next to nothing anyways! There are a lot of people who need jobs though in and around the Huntington area! Does anyone remember H.K. Porter or Kunkle? They smelled terrible and were not good neighbors, but they were employers! They supplied hundreds of jobs, which supplied money, which in turn funded local grocery stores and small local businesses. Once those "Smelly unfriendly neighbors" went out of business so did many small businesses around them! Unemployed people affect everyone, the person unemployed, their family, their community, local business, and the economy!

[AWB]

Randy, Randy, Randy... Take off the Green Peace t-shirt for a moment. Maybe you should research the facts first?

First - Blow up buildings? Surely you jest? Or actually, just what the hell are you talking about?

Biofuels can never replace petroleum based fuels, that's a fact.

As far as jobs, NF employs 10 people at Atwood, and those jobs are already spoken for. All they are doing is moving their problems from one country to another. Do 10 jobs justify risking peoples health?

BioChar is similar to the ash emitted from a campfire, but in massive quantities. The exception here is they burn household refuse including, yard tires and furniture. That furniture can contain chemical-based plastics, which when burned, in spite of the filtration system can still get into the air.

By NF's own admission, they "process any garbage, plastics, papers, cans, rags, yard clippings, tires, and other stuff you can throw in the trashcan to make fuel."

There were over 100 signatures on the petition to shutdown NF from the immediately surrounding neighbors within a 3 block radius. These are from families that have experienced the discharge and resulting health issues.

Have fun with the stink, discharge residue and those 10 wonderful jobs that employ residents from another county.

Meanwhile back in the Fort, we just landed a Canadian Potato Chip manufacturer that is moving it's corporate headquarters here, along with 125 jobs. It's about 1/2 mile as the crow flies from my house. That's a smell I will enjoy when the wind blows in my direction.

[Wise Up]

Randy, you should lay off of the Green Kool Aid. It's not healthy to drink so much. And by the way,"bio-oil" as it's called, is so corrosive it can eat through a gas tank. Bio-char and bio-oil are not as environmentally friendly as we've (us Kool-Aid drinkers) have been led to believe.

[Words on a Screen]

Heads up...........
Having actually had business dealings with Natures Fuel......it's not the 'Biochar' that we should be worrying about. We need to keep Natures Fuel and what they do under the microscope and watch them like a hawk. We need to demand that our city leaders GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING.....and we have to be equally as adamant that someone oversee what goes on there.
Someone needs to 'follow the money' and make sure Natures Fuel holds up their end of the deal.
If our city leaders act like rubes with these people, they will chew them up and spit them out.
Remember......they are not in business to 'help Huntington' or anything altruistic like that......they are in business to make money, plain and simple.

P.S. I am with Randy, this town desperately needs decent employers, why can't our town attract some good solid employers with integrity?

[Randy Meekin]

I prototyped containers for diesel, gasoline, E85, Nitromethane, and many "BIO" fuels. These containers (Fuel Tanks) and the delivery systems that carried whatever given fuel were plastic. The "BIO" fuels required nothing different for the fuel tank than conventional multi-layer tanks. They use the industry standard layering: HDPE, LDPE, and EVOH polymers. That stadard has been being used in the automotive industry for plastic gas tanks for over 15 years now! In short Bio-Diesel will not eat through a conventional plastic gas tank that has been manufactured in the last 15 years! I didn't say we should let them move here and do anything they want. I agree that they should be made to conform to EPA, OSHA, and local standards. I also agree they are not here to "Help" us. They are here to make money but that brings money into our community also. Also I never said that BioFuel would replace crude oil consumption, but every gallon of BioFuel and E85 that sells is one less gallon of crude that we purchase from the middle east oil cartels.

@AWB: The term blowing up buildings was in reference to terrorists who are heavily funded by crude oil production in the middle east!

In short my thinking is when you have an unemployment rate of 10% in your community then you really cannot be too picky. Take what you can get now for employers and when things improve you can be more selective!

[Wise Up]

Randy, You gotta ease up on the Kool-aide man. First of all. They are making pyrolysis oil and only dreaming of making bio-diesel. All of the different plastics for fuel tanks doesn't fix the problem of corroding internal engine parts. People have tried to find a safe, suitable use for pyrolysis oil for more than 100 years with no luck. So I'm not holding my breath. Or maybe I should? Their promise "low cost diesel" for our school buss's is a fantasy for the future. I wonder if there is a 12 step program for kool aide addicts?

[Agent R]

I have to give props to the Republicans for weakening IDEM and the EPA and welcome our new cancer and emphysema-causing overlords. :P

[Randy Meekin]

I know why I loved the south so much now. The educational system as a whole was far superior. It created a more intelligent population that was capable of forming opinions on their own. Instead of what seems to lurk here, which are people who are only effective at name calling. I read a story, comment on that topic and do not attack anyone with name calling. Then others read my comments, skip the article or ideas all together and call names lol. It's like trying to have a conversation with spoiled three year olds! Is this what the people, news, and politics are in Indiana now?

[Randy Meekin]

Pyrolysis Oil is used to make SynGas. SynGas can then be converted using the Fischer–Tropsch process to create Biodiesel. The process was used commercially in 1936 in Germany and Japan. It accounted for about 25% of their transportation fuel at that time. Malaysia is producing about 12,000 barrels of biodiesel per day using the Fischer–Tropsch process. In Qatar they are producing 140,000 barrels per day of biodiesel and another 120,000 barrels of oil equivalent in natural gas liquids using the Fischer–Tropsch process. I realize at our current consumption rate this will not REPLACE crude oil, but any reduction in the consumption of crude oil is a step in the right direction! It also proves that there IS a use for Pyrolysis Oil and BioMass technology.