American Renewable Fuels is, as I recall (but will check) 100%...

American Renewable Fuels is, as I recall (but will check) 100% owned by Australian Renewable Fuels.

ARW have struck a deal in the USA whereby they get free land and a 15 year tax exemption (US$75M Industrial development bond) in return for establishing a bio-diesel plant in Clovis, USA. Contruction to commence in March next year and production in Sept next year. Production when fully operational to be around 75 million gallons (285 million litres - compared with OZ = 44 million litres from WA and SA)

Cost of establishment approx $80M (hope/assume Macquarie Bank is onside)

We have not been told this by ARW yet .... but its certainly been published on the web. I would have expected that ARW would have disclosed same ... but maybe they are still trying to get the lethargic politicians in OZ to recognise the value they can provide. I posted earlier on the subject and have checked out to see why ARW thinks it is disadvantaged. As far as I can see, if you are a primary producer and buy a litre of diesel from an (American) oil company in Australia, you can claim a 36c per litre tax rebate from the government. However, if you buy a litre of bio-diesel from ARW (an Australian company), no such tax break is afforded to you. One wonders just who the bloody pollies
are supporting!!!!!

Full article: http://www.cnjonline.com/news/city_23674___article.html/water_clovis.html

Here is part of the article re: American Renewable fuels:

"Biodiesel plant construction gets OK
By Gabriel Monte: CNJ staff writer
November 1 2007 11:11 PM
American Renewable Fuels can begin construction of its Clovis biodiesel plant after City Commissioners voted to work with the company.

Commissioners approved an agreement that would give the company 25 acres of land at the Industrial Park and a 15-year tax exemption.

The Australian company will begin construction in March on an $80 million biodiesel facility at the park south of Clovis, according to Clovis Industrial Development Corp. Executive Director Chase Gentry. The plant will use animal fat to produce 75 million gallons of biodiesel a year, company officials said.

Commissioner and Mayor Pro Tem Randy Crowder was the lone dissenter in a 7-1 vote.

Crowder voted against the agreement because of water use. He noted the city’s water conservation plan that designates water use for Clovis residents.

“It’s inappropriate for me to ask people to conserve water and pass something like that,” he said.

The tax exemption forgives the company from paying property tax for 15 years through a $75 million industrial development bond, Gentry said.

Crowder said under the agreement, the company could also request capital outlay funding from the Commission.

The facility will use about 40,000 gallons of water a day according to CIDC business recruiter Gene Hendricks.

Mayor David Lansford said the plant, which will create about 40 jobs, is a good compromise to losing the water to farms that don’t create jobs.

“I don’t think it’s fair to beat up on an industrial user that’s a reasonable water use that creates jobs,” he said. “I think it’s a good trade, 40 jobs for 40,000 gallons a day.”

Hendricks said corn growers are allowed 1 million gallons of water a year for every acre of corn by the state.

City Manager Joe Thomas said the land the facility will build on used to be a corn field.

“In your conversation of agriculture versus industrial use, based on that premise, we’d probably be using 100 million gallons per year less at the cost of 40,000 gallons a day,” he said.

Crowder also brought up concerns about any odor the facility would emit in it’s process of converting rendered animal fat into biodiesel. City Attorney Dave Richards said the city does not have any regulations regarding odors. Thomas said the facility is a self-contained plant that would not emit any odors if operated properly. "