NORTH ANDOVER — State Sen. Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, praised Baystate Biofuels for having "a vision for the future."
State Sen. Steven Baddour, D-Methuen, called the company's ambitious plans to convert the former Lucent property into the state's first commercial facility devoted to biodiesel distribution a defining moment for Massachusetts energy policy.
Armed with citations from the governor's office and the state Senate, Tarr and Baddour joined a crowd of community leaders and potential customers help celebrate Baystate Biofuels' grand opening Tuesday night.
"In about 10 days, we'll have biofuel for sale off our rail cars," Baystate Biofuels chief executive officer Jesse Reich promised the crowd.
Reich noted that parts for the pumping station had arrived. Once it is assembled, oil companies will be able to buy biodiesel shipped in from Chicago and New Jersey to blend with petroleum diesel for use in automobiles and home heating to meet the requirements of the state's Clean Energy Biofuels Act of 2008 which goes into effect in July of next year.
Under the first year of the law, diesel and home-heating oil sold in Massachusetts must contain 2 percent biodiesel. The mix increases by 1 percent per year until it reaches 5 percent in 2013.
Reich told the gathering Tuesday night that North Andover's master plan had called for two 175,000 storage tanks already on the Lucent property at Osgood Landing to be torn down within a few years.
Instead, Baystate Biofuels cleaned them up and converted them so they can hold biodiesel, a clean-burning fuel produced from oil bearing plants, animal fats, algae and recycled products like oils and greases.
"We have tons of space to place more tanks," Reich said.
But the long-range plans call for Baystate Biofuels to build its own production facility onsite.
Within 18 months, the company will have a 10 million gallon production facility built.
"There will be a facility capable of producing 57 million gallons, and another 57 million gallon facility on top of that," Reich said. "We will create up to 300 jobs within the next three to five years when we do our production here. But our impact will be far greater than that."
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