Baton Rouge Port Officials Are Close to Lease Agreement for $300M to $700M Renewable Fuel Plant

by Timothy Boone (The Advocate) Officials with the Port of Greater Baton Rouge said they are about a week away from reaching a lease agreement with a Houston renewable fuels company that wants to lease 164 acres and build a $300 million to $700 million diesel fuel plant.

“We’re just about there,” said Jay Hardman, executive director of the port. If a lease deal is reached with Greentech Materials, the plan is to hold a special port commission meeting in November in which Greentech officials would discuss their plans for the property. Commissioners would then vote on the lease at the meeting.

In January, the port commission approved a measure that gave Greentech 90 days to reach an agreement for an option on the land, located west of the Genesis Energy terminal at the port's Inland Rivers Marine Terminal.

Negotiations with Greentech were delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Company officials couldn’t travel to look at the site; port officials couldn’t meet with them; and consultants couldn’t get out to the port, Hardman said. “It slowed everything down,” he said.

Greentech would produce environmentally friendly diesel fuel from soybean and palm oil.

Construction of the plant is estimated to create more than 500 jobs, and the first phase of the facility would lead to the hiring of fewer than 50 full-time employees. READ MORE