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Never-opened $300 million-plus biofuels refinery facing foreclosure in southern Oregon
Oregonian ^ | 1/8/2023 | Ted Sicklinger

Posted on 01/08/2023 11:47:18 AM PST by mac_truck

click here to read article


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To: mac_truck

Fracked oil production weakened bio fuels. Cheap utility scale battery storage will kill it.


21 posted on 01/08/2023 12:18:24 PM PST by cicero2k
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To: mac_truck

a wholly owned subsidiary of Lebenhauer Enterprises...


22 posted on 01/08/2023 12:18:25 PM PST by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. #FJB)
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To: Doctor Congo

This is curious, is it correct? Who lost out on the deal?

https://www.greendiamond.com/news/pdf/Oregonlive%20Biofuel%20Article_ORO.pdf
The project got a major boost in January when Oregon Gov. Kate Brown approved $245 million in bonds for Red Rock Biofuels. With the state’s backing, the project owners get tax exempt status on that portion of their borrowing, and lower interest costs. But taxpayers are not on the hook if the project goes belly up.
“There’s zero risk to the state,” said Laura Lockwood-McCall, director the Treasury Department’s Debt Management Division.


23 posted on 01/08/2023 12:18:34 PM PST by Doctor Congo
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To: mac_truck

Yeh, like I’d board a plane burning bacon grease for power!


24 posted on 01/08/2023 12:18:40 PM PST by SgtHooper (If you remember the 60's, YOU WEREN'T THERE!)
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To: butlerweave

“but if you stop growing food how you going to make bio-fuel from people ? LOL’

Buy stock in wood chippers!


25 posted on 01/08/2023 12:21:18 PM PST by SgtHooper (If you remember the 60's, YOU WEREN'T THERE!)
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To: PAR35
"...The money from Green projects doesn’t come from the product, it comes from construction subsidies. Developer/investment bankers make their money, then walk away as the project crashes and burns..."

Sounds like Communist Chinese Real Estate model.

26 posted on 01/08/2023 12:29:32 PM PST by rlmorel ("If you think tough men are dangerous, just wait until you see what weak men are capable of." JBP)
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To: mac_truck

Look out California, here comes Oregon.


27 posted on 01/08/2023 12:39:30 PM PST by Portcall24
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To: mac_truck

Should be fairly easy to convert this complex into a mixed brewery/oil refinery….


28 posted on 01/08/2023 12:40:43 PM PST by VanShuyten ("...that all the donkeys were dead. I know nothing as to the fate of the less valuable animals)
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To: OHPatriot
Sounds like bio-fuel version of Solyndra. Key Democrat bundlers must have made millions $$$$$

Exactly, You Beat Me To It!

29 posted on 01/08/2023 12:43:42 PM PST by fedupjohn (Waiting for Trump's new Caribbean Resort "Club Gitmo" to open for business! )
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To: mac_truck

What the hell is this guy doing with all his money? According to the latest SeeBS and YouBGov “poll”, Brandon’s ‘conomy is boomin’ and the demented pedophile is killing it! LOL.


30 posted on 01/08/2023 12:52:06 PM PST by FlingWingFlyer (Hey Amerika! The whole world is watching and laughing their asses off. )
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To: mac_truck

Well, sir, there’s nothing on earth
Like a genuine, bona fide
Electrified, biofuel refinery
What’d I say?

Biofuel!


31 posted on 01/08/2023 12:55:23 PM PST by Flash Bazbeaux
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To: SgtHooper

The USAF has successfully flown — I think it was a C-141 or KC-135 — on biofuel but it was like a lab experiment, not scalable and not economic.


32 posted on 01/08/2023 1:03:02 PM PST by steve86 (Numquam accusatus, numquam ad curiam ibit, numquam ad carcerem™)
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To: Doctor Congo

So the bond investors are the ones on the hook?


33 posted on 01/08/2023 1:03:44 PM PST by traderrob6
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To: mac_truck

Who is Red Rock Biofuels?

Principals: Terry & Kathy Kulesa. Registered address (with Oregon Secretary of State): 1001 E Harmony Rd, Fort Collins, CO. Also using mailing address of: 4745 Boardwalk Dr, Unit 101, Fort Collins, CO.

https://egov.sos.state.or.us/br/pkg_web_name_srch_inq.show_detl?p_be_rsn=1740568&p_srce=BR_INQ&p_print=FALSE

The Boardwalk Dr address?

It comes back as Tesla Certified Solar Roofing installer, “Tesla Solar Fort Collins”

https://tesla-solar-fort-collins.business.site/?utm_source=gmb&utm_medium=referral

Curiously, the name is NOT registered with the Colorado SOS.

Neither are the Kulesas listed among any business whatsoever in CO (or any others in OR).

Terry Kulesa has a linkedin page citing him as CEO of Red Rock Biofuel Holdings

https://www.linkedin.com/in/terry-kulesa-36a44310

with education originating from University of Minnesota.

His linkedin page links to a website for IR1 Group (Kulesa is pictured), along with co-founder and CFO Jeff Manternach and managers Jim Moore & Joe Winckler.

Ironically, Terry Kulesa was quoted as saying in 2015:

“Any renewable power is going to flow where it gets the best return. That’s just Business 101,” he said. “It’s going to flow to who wants it the most.”

https://choosesq.com/press/clean-fuels-standoff-could-put-republicans-on-thin-ice/

Clearly Red Rock’s insolvency is evidence of ‘lack of demand’.

Red Rock was awarded almost $300k grant for “a demonstration study to look at the feasibility of building a facility capable of converting post-fire charred waste to aviation and renewable diesel fuels, according to a press release from the U.S. Forest Service. The grant is one of many awarded by the Oregon Secretary of Agriculture. “

The problem is that the story suggests that Kulesa is no longer associated with Red Rock at that time (June 2022).

“The Examiner reached out to Red Rock through its media inquiries email for clarification on this, as it was reported by multiple news outlets in February — including the Examiner — that Red Rock had parted ways with Manternach and Kulesa.”

https://www.lakecountyexam.com/townnews/company/red-rock-biofuels-holdings-inc-awarded-grant/article_20ed674a-422e-584c-a486-06e9fd85554e.html

As cited by the OP, Chip Cummins became interim CEO after Kulesa’s exit. I found even less on Chip Cummins, though he’s Executive Director of RPA Advisors (which lists Red Rock among its ‘selected cases’).

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chip-cummins-19685937

https://rpaadvisors.com/our-team/chip-cummins/

In short, he’s a specialist in ‘managing’ firms in financial trouble.

Frankly, this Red Rock thing smacks as finance subterfuge (i.e., ‘fraud’).

Obviously, Tesla Solar Fort Collins is a front. Why would a biofuels investor originate from a fake business in another state?

I’d have to do a deep dive on the players, but I’m very suspicious of who is supporting Red Rock (and where the money went).

Background:

https://www.heraldandnews.com/news/local_news/fueled-for-the-future/article_b824da9c-49ad-5094-acac-21e71828b49d.html

https://www.lakecountyexam.com/townnews/company/red-rock-biofuels-holdings-inc-awarded-grant/article_20ed674a-422e-584c-a486-06e9fd85554e.html


34 posted on 01/08/2023 1:07:43 PM PST by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -)
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To: OHPatriot
I was gonna say, anything Bio-Fuel was subsidized from the git-go... follow the money on this one!!
35 posted on 01/08/2023 1:10:56 PM PST by sit-rep ( )
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To: mac_truck

“Red Rock Biofuels launched efforts nearly a decade ago “

So around 2013 huh? same time as the Solyndra debacle. Sounds like another rousing Obama success story.


36 posted on 01/08/2023 1:35:45 PM PST by antidemoncrat
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To: mac_truck

Would have worked if they just had the right people running the place. Will probably work next time if they pick better people and have more government money.


37 posted on 01/08/2023 1:36:01 PM PST by RetiredTexasVet (Biden not only suffers fools and criminals, he appoints them to positions of responsibility. )
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To: mac_truck

Joining WPPSS in an enormous waste on money


38 posted on 01/08/2023 1:59:43 PM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: mac_truck
We had a similar occurrence in Pocatello. A company named "Hoku" was going to build photovoltaic arrays. The manufacturing facility was constructed and the company crashed financially before anything was manufactured. The site sat abandoned for a time. After some negotiations, the property has been repurposed.

'NOTHING LIKE IT': Failed Hoku site rebranded as River Park Complex, first commercial tenants confirmed

PDF link to current listing

39 posted on 01/08/2023 2:15:40 PM PST by Myrddin
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To: PAR35

The money from Green projects doesn’t come from the product.

Xi snickers counts money


40 posted on 01/08/2023 2:33:05 PM PST by Vaduz (LAWYERS )
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