Processing line at Fulcrum's Sierra Biofuels plant

Fulcrum BioEnergy returns to Gary for $600 million waste-to-fuels plant

Contributed By:The 411 News

Sixty acres of land in Gary's Buffington Harbor are getting closer to becoming the new Centerpoint BioFuels waste-to-energy plant.

Nearly three years ago, Gov. Eric Holcomb and Centerpoint owners came to Gary to announce negotiations had started at the state level on the possibilities of bringing to the city a $600 million plant that would convert household trash into jet fuel.

On Wednesday, Gary's Redevelopment Commission heard from a representative of Fulcrum BioEnergy, Inc. that its Centerpoint plant had secured contracts for airline fleet fuel and that the Indiana Finance Authority had granted it a $500 million tax-exempt municipal bond allocation.

Flyn Van Ejwik, Director, Project Development for Fulcrum said the company had entered into a purchase agreement with the Redevelopment Commission for the site of the old Lehigh Cement Plant in Buffington Harbor.

Centerpoint BioFuels will convert municipal solid waste into low-carbon, renewable transportation fuel, and will create up to 160 new jobs. Once operational, Centerpoint will produce approximately 34 million gallons of fuel annually.

When the plan was announced in 2018, Fulcrum said Centerpoint would divert approximately 700,000 tons of waste each year from local landfills in the Greater Chicago area. The company planned to build trash separating facilities at landfills in northeast Illinois, then ship the processed feedstock to Gary.

Site and environmental due diligence are complete. Van Ejwick said, "Right now, we are in the permitting phase. We've submitted an application for an air permit with the Indiana Dept. of Environmental Management. We're about to file a permit for solid waste handling with IDEM. Soon, we will submit a site plan to the city of Gary."

In the next 30 days, Van Ejwick said, Fulcrum will start on a detailed engineering plan that would take about 9 months. Following completion of the engineering and permitting process, procurement, and selection of a construction company, Van Ejwick said work could start on the project next year.

Redevelopment Executive Director AJ Bytnar said the project comes with a developer agreement to benefit the city.

The Redevelopment Commission asked for $50 million in developer-backed municipal bonds.

Bytnar said $40 million will go to infrastructure improvements and investments in Buffington Harbor. The remaining $10 million will be used for demolition and blight elimination throughout the city.

Fulcrum recently completed construction on Sierra Biofuels, its waste-to-fuel plant near Reno, Nevada that will go online later this year. That plant’s feedstock processing facility and refinery is adjacent to Waste Management’s Lockwood Regional Landfill, one of the largest landfills in the western U.S.

Investors in the Centerpoint plant are United, Cathay, and Japan Airlines, and British Petroleum.

Story Posted:10/07/2021