Some 400 construction jobs and 80 full-time positions at a proposed biomass gasification plant are riding on an approval from the federal government for loan guarantees needed to build the facility in Orange County.
Jim Taylor, owner of Montgomery-based Taylor Recycling and president and CEO of Taylor Biomass Energy, has $20 million of private investment for the biomass plant, which needs the infusion of federal funding to become reality.
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer visited Taylor Recycling late last year promising to do all he could to get the nearly $100 million in loan guarantees Taylor needs to start construction. On a visit this month to the county”™s chamber of commerce, Schumer reiterated to Taylor he is working to get federal approval.
U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey joined with Schumer in asking U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu to commit to the project, saying in June that the innovative energy loan guarantees are needed to move forward with the nation”™s first commercial-size biomass gasification plant that would utilize municipal solid waste and produce electricity.
Taylor was born in Orange County where he started his business and grew it into a multimillion-dollar enterprise. He has been touting the positives of his trash-to-electricity plan since 2004. Although he”™s gotten support on the federal, state and local level ”“ with a healthy dose of neighbors”™ backing at a public hearing on the project July 15 ”“ Taylor needs the funding approval from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Taylor wants to break ground on the project this fall. The loan guarantee is the final piece of the puzzle.
The funds he seeks are part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which, in part, supports the creation of technology producing clean energy for the nation. In addition to the federal loan guarantee, Hinchey said Taylor Biomass would be entitled to receive a 30 percent federal tax credit made available for renewable energy projects once it begins generation of electricity.
The construction phase would create 400 jobs and 80 full-time positions, as well as producing enough wattage to power 20,000 homes.
“This critically important project will benefit the Hudson Valley”™s economy and environment as well as set the stage for the use of this new technology throughout the country,” Hinchey wrote Chu.
Taylor has worked hard to make his dream a reality, one that will generate jobs, electricity and income for his home county. While dumpsters bearing the Taylor Recycling name can be found across the state, “My goal is to build this plant in my hometown,” he said during an interview with HVBiz in 2008.
