the latest news about the coal plant from http://ohiocitizen.org/?tag=baard-energyBaard begins property purchase
January 23, 2011 - By TOM GIAMBRONI (
tgiambroni@reviewonline.com)
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EAST LIVERPOOL - Three down and 14 to go.
The Columbiana County Port Authority this week closed on acquiring property for the Baard Energy project from three of the 17 property owners, a move hailed by officials as a major step forward in the often uneven progress of the project.
"In my mind this is a major step forward for the Baard project and Columbiana County," Port Authority CEO Tracy Drake told his board.
"This is huge," Charles Presley agreed.
Baard Energy plans to build a $6 billion plant to convert coal and biomass into diesel and jet fuel on 522 acres located outside Wellsville in Yellow Creek Township.
The project has been stalled for the past two years, mostly because of Baard's inability to line up the private financing needed to proceed. These delays forced the port authority to obtain numerous extensions on the option/purchase agreements from the various property owners, for which they received additional compensation.
In October, a Florida-based investment company by the name of Planck Trading LLC agreed to finance the project, and last month Planck wired $600,000 to the port authority to begin acquiring the property on behalf of Baard.
Some of the $600,000 enabled the port authority to proceed with acquiring the first three properties while also seeking yet another extension on the option agreements from the remaining landowners.
The properties purchased this week and the amounts paid are: Pusateri Excavating, 40 acres, $255,300; George Yaney, 78 acres, $310,664; Burdell Brandle, 12 acres, $137,049. These figures are higher than the original purchase price because they include additional payments made for agreeing to the various option extensions.
Of the $703,013 paid these three property owners, the port authority contributed $161,000, according to port authority attorney Tim Brookes. State funding received by the port authority was also used to help pay for extension of the option agreements.
Drake said he expects a second infusion of cash any day from Planck so they can continue closing on the properties. Once completed, the port authority will t