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By JERRY MORGAN, Reporter

The world of renewable energy and greenhouse gas offsets is joining hands with the local dairy industry and biotechnology and all meeting at the site of a closed dairy southwest of Dublin.

The result will be the construction of a large industrial facility that will feed the manure from around 10,000 dairy cows and other agricultural wastes into large stainless steel digester tanks where bacteria in an oxygen-free, anaerobic, environment will produce large volumes of renewable natural gas.

The renewable natural gas plant will be named the Rio Leche Estates RNG Facility and will be located at 1429 CR 339 on the DeLeon side of Dublin.

GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONIES. On Wednesday afternoon, June 11, a host of local area dignitaries, company officials and reporters gathered under wind-blown tents at the plant site for ground-breaking ceremonies at the Rio Leche Estates RNG Facility, which will be located at 1429 CR 339 on the DeLeon side of Dublin.

On Wednesday afternoon, June 11, a host of local area dignitaries, company officials and reporters gathered under wind-blown tents at the plant site for ground-breaking ceremonies.

Rich Kessel, CEO of Environmental Power Corp., served as emcee for the occasion. Microgy, a subsidiary of Environmental Power, will be the company operating Rio Leche.

Environmental Power is a publicly-traded company based in Tarrytown, New York and founded in 1982. It holds the exclusive North American rights to Danish-patented anaerobic digestion technology.
Kessel stated the Rio Leche Estates plant will create approximately 635,000 MMBtu of pipeline grade natural gas, the energy equivalent of 4.5 millions gallons of oil, or enough to heat around 11,000 homes. Texas Gas Services, based in Austin, has already contracted to purchase the gas.

Kessel stated, “This project stands as a bright example of what can be done right now with available technology to produce renewable energy and create and support domestic jobs. Moreover, this type of project is a great fit with communities with strong ties to the dairy industry and other agricultural sectors.”

Kessel noted that the facility will trap and use methane gas which is ordinarily released into the atmosphere as manure composts. Methane is described in company literature as more than 20 times as potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. By trapping and putting to beneficial use the methane gas, the plant generates greenhouse gas offset credits.

A similar facility was recently constructed and placed into operation in January near Huckabay and Stephenville. The Huckabay Ridge plant uses eight large digester tanks, whereas the Rio Leche plant will employ only six, but larger tanks.

In addition to dairy manure, waste cooking grease and other food processing by-products are used to boost microbial activity and gas production.

The plant is projected to be completed near the end of the first quarter of 2009.

The tanks are fairly large and tall and may be visible on the eastern horizon from the DeLeon area, just as another renewable energy project, the Desdemona area windfarms are.

After the ground-breaking ceremonies last Wednesday for the renewable natural gas plant being constructed near Dublin, the following questions were posed by a Free Press reporter. The answers were supplied by company officials.

Q. What is the total construction budget?

A. Environmental Power has estimated the facility will cost approximately $18 million to build.

Q. How many people will the plant likely employ when operating normally?

A. The plant will create between 7-12 full-time jobs once operational.

Q. It appears that the plant will be a heavy water consumer. How much water will it use, and will it be obtained from groundwater or from treated lake water?

A. I don’t have a hard number available on the amount of water the facility will use, but it will be sourced from municipal system. Like at Huckabay Ridge, a portion of the water in the system will be recirculated to minimize discharge and the amount of water needed for operation. We anticipate the facility will help protect nearby water sources by improving the nutrient profile of the liquid portion of the digested manure.

Q. How large a factor in the total economics of the plant is the sale of greenhouse gas offset credits?

A. We expect to monetize offsets Rio Leche generates either on an exchange such as the CCX or via a bilateral sale to a business that wishes to offset its emissions. We will be following protocols established by reputable organizations such as the CCX, or the VCS, to calculate the amount of offsets the Rio Leche facility generates.

Q. Are the greenhouse gas offset credits sold overseas or outside the U.S.?

A. We anticipate sell all the offset credits in the domestic market.

Q. Would the plant be economical without the greenhouse gas credits?

A. The greenhouse gas credit revenue is an important consideration for the financing of projects. We analyze revenue from multiple sources -- gas sales, GHG offsets, and other by-products -- when determining the viability of a given project.

Q. Sid Miller referred to yet another plant to be built in Texas, and perhaps in his district. Where will that plant be located?

A. In addition to Huckabay Ridge, in Stephenville, we are developing a project at the Cnossen Dairy in Hereford, in Panhandle region. A fourth large-scale Texas project is also under development, but it is too early to state where that project will be sited.

By LAURA KESTNER, Editor

Billy “Bill” Scott, of Saginaw, Texas, has been named the new postmaster of the DeLeon Post Office. Scott, who was most recently officer in charge at the Hurst Post Office, began work here last week, but said the assignment was official on May 24.

“I’ve worked for the Postal Office going on 11 years,” Scott said. “I started out as a city carrier, then became supervisor, and officer in charge there at Hurst, now postmaster here.”

Scott said that at the moment he’s commuting back and forth, but hopes to move soon to DeLeon. “We want to move here as soon as we find a place,” Scott said. “I’ve already been talking to most of the real estate people around here.”

Scott, an Oklahoma native, said that along with his wife, Patricia, two of his three children will move to DeLeon. “Our 18-year-old daughter, and our 19-year-old son will be moving here with us,” Scott said. “And we have a 23-year-old son in the military, he’s stationed in Oklahoma.”

Prior to going to work for the Postal Service, Scott worked for Lockheed Martin, and also has experience as a construction contractor. “In the aircraft industry I got laid off too much,” Scott said, “and then with construction we didn’t have insurance.”

Scott said that in his spare time, he enjoys fishing, hunting and restoring old cars.

In the week he’s been here, Scott said he’s gotten a positive response from the community.

“Everybody has been very friendly,” he said, “I’ve really enjoyed it so far. The town I grew up in, Broken Bow, Oklahoma, is about the same size. I look forward to getting to where I know everybody.”

In addition to being comfortable with the size of his future hometown, Scott said he’s looking forward to the more rural aspects. “I was raised on a farm where we had cows and horses,” he said. “I hauled hay in the summer. It’s a lot more peaceful and a lot less stressful (in a rural setting). We hope to buy a house here with some acreage.”

Karina Salazar, the postmaster just prior to Scott, has accepted the position of postmaster in New Caney, Texas. Sheila Kendrick, the officer in charge for the DeLeon Post Office for approximately one year, has accepted the postmaster position at Lingleville.

“In the next week or so, I plan to get out and go around town and meet everyone,” Scott said. “I’ve already stopped by the Chamber of Commerce office, and of course I’ve already met the real estate people. But I want to meet as many people as possible. My wife and I are looking forward to being here in DeLeon -- a place that later, when we retire, we’ll already be where we want to stay.”

On Thursday, June 12, 2008, at approximately 8:15 p.m., DeLeon Police Sgt. Dustin Paulsen was advised by a citizen of some type of disturbance at a residence in the 900 block of Sipe Springs Road. Sgt. Paulsen arrived on scene and learned that an unknown male had attempted to abduct a 14-year-old female from the roadway in front of her residence.

“The juvenile female advised that a white male suspect in his 20s, driving a dark blue or black 4-door pick-up with red tape in the back glass, had attempted to abduct her,” Sgt. Paulsen said. Paulsen then alerted all available units, and officers searched for the suspect, to no avail.

The following day Sgt. Paulsen was advised that this same type of incident had happened to two adult females in the city.

“The other two females gave the same vehicle and suspect description,” Paulsen said.

Based on these incidences, still under investigation, the DeLeon Police Department urges all female citizens to use caution when alone and dealing with strangers until the suspect is apprehended. If any other citizens have information on the suspect’s identity or location, please contact the DeLeon Police Department, or Comanche County Crime Stoppers.

By LAURA KESTNER, Editor

The DeLeon City Council met in regular session, Thursday, June 12, and addressed a lengthy agenda, which included two executive sessions, both related to city employees being removed from a probationary status.

Mayor Pro-tem Gayle Stroud conducted the meeting, in the absence of Mayor Danny Owen. Council members Roy Dale Freeman, Avery Carlisle and Lee Childers were also present, with Pauline Villarreal absent. Also present and participating at various times, were City Secretary Karen Wilkerson, Chief Ralph Dickey, Sgt. Dustin Paulsen, Officer Heather Harding, Emergency Management Coordinator Ray Helberg, Public Works Administrator Rob Duncan, and Burl Lowery, city accountant.

Council members heard a complaint from DeLeon resident June Bankhead who said she’d had an on-going problem, for the past three years, with a neighboring property (on the corner of Sipe Springs Hwy and Mosely St.) Although property values were not discussed, Bankhead did mention that the tall weeds and debris caused rats and snakes to be a problem for her. “I’ve talked to the city secretary,” Bankhead said. “I’ve been up here a couple of times. The mayor’s come by the house and looked at the property... like I said, it’s been an on-going situation.”

Bankhead went on to say that she was aware that the city was in the process of trying to toughen the ordinance dealing with tall weeds and grass.

“Well they cut the grass,” Bankhead said, “and they moved the tires. But there’s still junk, and there are still high weeds, because they just brought a brushhog out there and flattened it down, more or less.”

Bankhead then suggested that if the city was going to change the ordinance anyway, why not add an amendment to it, allowing for only two notices.

“Nine times out of 10, the same people are probably the offenders,” Bankhead said. “If you send them two letters -- one the first year, and another one the next year, you shouldn’t have to send another letter, you should automatically fine them, and mow it down and add it to their bill. It is ridiculous that you have to waste that kind of money, city money, on sending out letters over and over on the same people.”

Stroud told Bankhead that repealing the old tall weeds/grass ordinance was on the agenda. “I think some of your concerns are addressed in the new ordinance,” Stroud said. There was then a discussion on the changes being made to the ordinance, as well as the difficulties enforcing the ordinances with out-of-town property owners.

“I don’t recall exactly what the old ordinance addressed,” Stroud said, “but this new one does address accumulation of trash, debris, garbage, standing water, weeds and tall grass and sewage.”

There was then more discussion on the ordinance in general, and specifically the problems which Bankhead and her husband have encountered. Officer Heather Harding discussed with the council ways to handle citations and notifications to violators.

Eventually, Stroud said, “I don’t know what to tell you tonight, except that we are going to be strengthening the ordinance, if it passes, and it will be a much tougher ordinance to get around. We realize that there’s a real problem. At this point, I will say that we’ve heard your concerns and that we’re going to try to do something about it.”

Stroud added that she hoped the new ordinance would help others with similar situations.

“I know this is frustrating,” Councilman Freeman said, “and you feel free to hold our feet to the fire until something gets done.”

Bankhead thanked the council for their attention.

Council members then addressed an agenda item described as “Discuss and consider opening bank depository proposals.”

“Once a year, the state requires you to go out for bank depositories,” Karen Wilkerson told council members. “The city has never done that, or I can’t find any (record) that the city has ever done that. I sent out a letter on May 5, and a package, to each bank, Farmers & Merchants, Citibank and First National. Deadline was Monday at 5 p.m. I received two, one from Citibank and one from F&M.”

Wilkerson asked Hiram Smith and Tim Beaty, there on behalf of F&M, if they wanted to discuss their proposal.

“If you have any questions, we can answer them,” Beaty said. “We’re just here to let you know we’re interested in the deal.”

Once the proposals were opened, council members asked Burl Lowery if he would look at the two proposals.

Councilman Freeman noted that he would welcome some input from Beaty, because he didn’t know “exactly what the problem is, or the issue is.”

“I don’t think it’s a problem really,” Stroud said.

Beaty agreed, adding that by “opening it up for bids, you can see if somebody can give you a better deal than what you’ve got currently. The schools do it.”

While the packets were being opened, Stroud noted, “Karen said that we got one from First National, but it was late.”

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