Discussion and action regarding the Industry Attraction and Marketing Initiatives for Lincoln County was a top item on the agenda at the Lincoln County Regional Development Authority Sept. 19 in Caliente.
Executive Director Mike Baughman was appointed to submit a proposal for presentation at the International Biomass Conference in Minneapolis in mid-April. Baughman has spoken before at the conference in 2014, and given the new information LCRDA has now pertaining to the availability and chemical characteristics of the Pinyon-Juniper biomass in the county, he might be able to get another opportunity to speak.
Jay Schofield suggested if Baughman does attend the conference, he might also arrange to tour the solid waste-to-energy project located in downtown Minneapolis.
The International Mountain Bicycling Association meeting is to be held in Bentonville, Arkansas Nov. l2-14. The board appointed Baughman to attend this conference also. Various planned panel discussions might be of value to the City of Caliente and Lincoln County as they work to provide community amenities and services to support the planned growth of mountain biking tourism in the area.
Baughman talked to board members about his continuing coordination with Enerparc regarding their proposed solar project in the Rachel area. He said Enerparc was discussing with Valley Electric about the potential of providing energy to Enerparc which in turn will sell it to the USAF Groom Lake Operating Area. He thought the company can sell solar power at 4 cents per kilowatt hour and plans to also talk with the Lincoln County Power District No. 1 to see if they would be interested in buying some of the solar generated power.
Estuary Capital Partners of San Francisco is said to be interested in a possible solar power site at Coyote Springs, although no further information was available.
Baughman reported on his work with FRAM Renewable Fuels of Hazelhurst, Georgia, and hopes to arrange a tour of Lincoln County and meetings with the BLM and local elected and appointed officials sometime in mid-November. The company is interested in investigating building and operating an industrial pellet mill in Lincoln County using Pinyon-Juniper biomass as a feedstock. The pellets produced here would be shipped to Los Angeles for export to Asia.
He has also been in discussions with other waste-to-energy companies, including AEG Coalswitch, Future Metrics, Encompass Biomass, BioCompactor, E2G and Biogas2.
