The developer of a renewable diesel fuel plant in Oregon is tackling its final two bureaucratic hurdles before beginning construction on the $2 billion facility.
If no hiccups occur, NEXT Renewable Fuels of Portland predicts a best-case scenario of opening a plant capable of producing 50,000 barrels of renewable diesel daily by 2025 at the earliest. The site is at the Port Westward Industrial Park in Clatskanie, which is about 60 miles downstream of Portland on the Columbia River.
NEXT is awaiting approval of an air quality permit from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and completion of a federal environmental review.
The project is supposed to produce around 2.1 million gallons of renewable diesel a day from various types of greases, plus cooking and fish processing oils imported from around the world. There is a distinction between “renewable diesel” and “biodiesel” in that renewable diesel fuel does not need modifications in the engines that it serves, NEXT spokesperson Michael Hinrichs told NetZero Insider.
Production of 50,000 barrels of day could provide the diesel needs for all of Oregon, he said.
The Clatskanie project is one of several renewable fuel proposals in the works for the West Coast. Hinrichs said there is a market for several renewable fuel suppliers in California, Oregon and Washington. “The demand is high enough on the West Coast that it can handle a number of these facilities,” he said.
This demand comes from a major push among the coastal states to replace petroleum-based diesel for trucks, ships and heavy equipment with renewable fuels that produce fewer carbon emissions.
Port Westward in Clatskanie was selected because it has a deepwater port to handle ships containing the raw materials, plus rail lines and truck routes linking it to the rest of the West Coast. “It’s an ideal location to build. … We kind of blend in with this industrial area,” Hinrichs said.
NEXT hopes to have its permitting completed in 2023 and expects to take two years to build the massive complex filled with storages tanks and processing equipment. The company has an agreement with local unions to use union labor in both construction and operation of the plant. It expects to hire about 3,500 people for construction and to have a permanent staff of about 240.
The company has a contract with BP North America plus some other sources — who have not yet agreed to be publicly identified — to provide raw material for the plant. NEXT is in contact with several fuel companies as potential customers.