The Crow Creek Sioux Tribe wants to be at the forefront of the next revolution in fuel production.
The tribal council last week unanimously approved signing a memorandum of understanding with EcoTech Fuels, a division of Victory Circle Fuels.
Linda-Rose Myers, a founder and managing member of the company chartered in Delaware and headquartered in Los Angeles, will be in South Dakota this week meeting with tribal officials to choose a site for a $39 million fuel production plant that would turn municipal waste to Torqazine, a fuel or fuel additive recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency that produces greater octane than ethanol and burns a bit cleaner.
The plant would convert 100 tons of landfill waste per day to between 200 and 400 barrels of fuel that, like ethanol, can be used undiluted in flex-fuel vehicles or mixed with gasoline for use in all vehicles.
Myers estimates it will take 22 months to design and build such a plant and get it into operation. That includes about nine months to secure EPA air and water permits.
The plant would bring about 40 permanent full-time jobs to the tribe, ranging from engineering management to blue-collar labor. For signing the memorandum of understanding, the Crow Creek tribe is in line for 10 percent of the net profits if the plant ever produces fuel. The share of profits could rise to one-third if the tribe puts money into the venture or helps EcoTech secure federal grants, according to Tribal Chairman Brandon Sazue.
"I'm very excited about it," he said.
Myers also plans to meet with the Oglala Sioux Tribe when she is in South Dakota to continue discussions about building a similar plant at Red Shirt Table. She said the Rosebud Sioux Tribe's development arm has inquired about building a plant there, as well, using waste from hog farms on the reservation as the feedstock.
Sazue is not concerned that Crow Creek could become a de facto regional landfill. But he expects it to be able to draw from Chamberlain, Pukwana, Reliance, Highmore and Lower Brule for trash that otherwise would have gone into landfills.
Tribal leaders are prepared to walk away from the deal if they are not convinced it is environmentally friendly, Sazue said. But he thinks it holds the prospect of greatly extending the lives of regional landfills while producing a clean-burning fuel without generating toxic waste.
"Hopefully, it will be like we think it is going to be," he said. "That would be great for everybody."
Ed Cable, head of Save Union County, is leading efforts to prevent a new oil refinery from locating there. But he said the Fischer-Tropsch process that EcoTech Fuels plans to use at Crow Creek is entirely different from refining petroleum. It is greener and cleaner.
"Using waste and/or biomass as a source of energy is certainly something we support," Cable said.
Myers said the Midwest is attractive to EcoTech Fuels because the ethanol industry already has developed here.
"We do not want to get on the wrong side of ethanol producers. We are in this together," she said. "The fact the ethanol industry is here makes it easier for us. We go into the same fuel stream as ethanol. The same people blending ethanol will be blending our fuel."
Tribal leaders are prepared to walk away from the deal if they are not convinced it is environmentally friendly, Sazue said. But he thinks it holds the prospect of greatly extending the lives of regional landfills while producing a clean-burning fuel without generating toxic waste.
"Hopefully, it will be like we think it is going to be," he said. "That would be great for everybody."
Ed Cable, head of Save Union County, is leading efforts to prevent a new oil refinery from locating there. But he said the Fischer-Tropsch process that EcoTech Fuels plans to use at Crow Creek is entirely different from refining petroleum. It is greener and cleaner.
"Using waste and/or biomass as a source of energy is certainly something we support," Cable said.
Myers said the Midwest is attractive to EcoTech Fuels because the ethanol industry already has developed here.
"We do not want to get on the wrong side of ethanol producers. We are in this together," she said. "The fact the ethanol industry is here makes it easier for us. We go into the same fuel stream as ethanol. The same people blending ethanol will be blending our fuel."
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