As word leaked from federal officials that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill had swelled to the size of Connecticut, a few local companies here were offering major solutions to keep the disaster in check.
At deadline, Green Earth Technologies Inc. had yet to hear whether the federal government would purchase its G-Marine brand oil and fuel spill clean-up product to emulsify the oil that was still gushing into the Gulf of Mexico as of late May, after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency complained that a solution being used in cleanup efforts represented a toxic cocktail.
Founded to sell engine lubricants made from beef tallow, the company has since broadened its focus to include cleansers and G-Marine, which to date it has marketed for use by marinas in treating small fuel and oil spills at dockside.
Green Earth is relocating its headquarters to White Plains, though it says it will maintain an office in Stamford as well. The company manufactures its products in Michigan.
CEO Jeff Marshall said the company had not previously considered the use of G-Marine in catastrophic oil spills, but responded in the wake of the BP rig explosion. It did not take it long to do so and get its product tested for the job ”“ not to mention securing an endorsement from William Loiry, who is chairman of the Disaster Response Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C., which identifies effective disaster-response solutions.
“We had to build an action plan in very short order,” Marshall said. “This is something that will go on for years.”
That meant ascertaining whether the small company could manufacture 1 million gallons, enough of the stuff to meet the needs of the disaster. Within 72 hours, the company had a plan in place and approached the government ”“ and Marshall even managed to line up a delivery mechanism, after a visitor at Green Earth Technology”™s Stamford office suggested a Louisiana company that has a fleet of agricultural crop dusting planes. A pilot himself, Marshall called the company and learned the company could apply G-Marine at a rate of 14 square miles daily.
Aircraft over the Gulf today look down on miles and miles of floating oil booms manufactured by Seymour-based Slickbar Products Corp., which won worldwide attention as it attempted to meet demand in the days after the spill. The company also sells skimmers and pumps to remove oil from the surface of water.
Marking its 50th year in business earlier this year, Slickbar is owned by the Finland-based Lamor Corp.
If Slickbar is an old hand at this kind of thing, Green Earth Technologies is still feeling its way along in responding with a ready solution ”“ but the market potential is not lost on Marshall. He says there are more than 250 significant oil spills and slicks ongoing internationally that require cleanups.
For now, he added, Green Earth Technologies”™ bread and butter remains the retail market. Currently more than 30 retailers carry its products today, but the company closed the quarter ending March 31 with less than $700,000 in revenue and a $9.4 million loss.
The company recently received a $1 million investment from a California oil producer interested in its product mix.
“We”™re on every shelf in Home Depot,” Marshall said. “We”™re not just a couple of guys that came up with an idea.”
