The most recent company is called McKinstry Reklaim: http://www.mckinstryreklaim.com/

We have a plant in Oregon that recovers materials and energy from discarded automobile tires. This is exciting because today discarded tires are mostly burned or buried. A small percentage are used for playgrounds, mulch, and other uses but the true value of the tire is in the raw materials from which the tire is made. And, we have a process to recover those raw materials without burning the tire and releasing harmful gases into the air. As you can imagine, this is both fun but also not something that I can blog about because of the confidentiality of the process that has been developed. Therefore, I have been quiet about this for some time. There will be more to talk about later but this is a great story, really smart folks with a vision who created a process that works better than anyone realized. I was brought into this after the plant was built so it is especially fun for me to be involved in the fine-tuning of the process, the marketing of the end products, and the expansion of the business.

The second company  is called Pacific Coast Canola: http://www.pacificcoastcanola.com/

We have designed and permitted the construction of a canola processing plant in eastern Washington. Washington state can become a major producer of one of the world’s healthiest, most versatile, and fastest growing oils: Canola oil. We are in the final stages of putting together the financing for the plant, so again it is difficult to say too much right now. This project has many exciting parts to it: first, it will create tremendous economic opportunity for Washington state, not only because of the new jobs but also because of the new canola crop that can be grown by Washington state farmers. Below is a photo from last month of canola growing in Eastern Washington. Second, there are no large scale canola processors on the west coast of the United States so we will have great access to Washington, Oregon, and California who all care about healthier lifestyles, healthier foods, and therefore healthier oils like canola oil. And third and by no means last, canola oil makes the best quality biodiesel. At the moment the market for biodiesel is not in good shape. But when that market rebounds we will be ready with a locally produced biodiesel feedstock that can help our state, our economy, and our environment in many ways. We are lucky that canola oil is a fantastic edible oil as well as the best biodiesel feedstock because we will have many options to create value for Washington state and its farming community regardless of the timing and direction of these two markets. If all goes well we hope to start construction on this plant in late 2009.

Canola Field