Libby, Montana Awarded BDO Zone ‘A’ Rating for Woody Biomass

(Bioeconomy Development Opportunity (BDO) Zone Initiative) The BDO Zone Initiative has issued an ‘A’ rated BDO Zone designation for Libby, Montana for more than 225,000 green tons per year of woody biomass. -- Lincoln County Port Authority (LCPA) and Ecostrat are pleased to announce the issue of a new Bioeconomy Development Opportunity (BDO) Zone designation for Libby, Montana.

“AA” and “A” BDO Zone Ratings identify the areas in the country that are best positioned for low-risk bioeconomy project development. Libby’s ‘A’ Rating for Forest, Pulpwood & Sawmill Residuals is expected to drive new market development for bioeconomy projects that can utilize the region’s 225,000-275,000 green tons per year of available woody biomass.

The Libby, MT BDO Zone is rated ‘A’, or low risk, based on strong assets such as reliable anchor suppliers, available forest products labor market and limited competing markets for its Forest Residuals and Pulp-wood. The ‘A’ Rating issue indicates that Libby merits strong consideration as a location for new bio-based development that requires stable, long-term supplies of wood fiber.

“With the Kootenai National Forest growing over 800,000,000 board feet of woody biomass a year, it makes sense for Lincoln County to pursue a BDO Zone Rating,” says Lincoln County Commissioner, Jerry Bennett. “This ‘A’ rating provides the opportunity to affordably manage our forest and private grounds, while attracting new market development to the County.”

The BDO Zone extends an 80-mile drive distance from Libby and is centred around the Kootenai Business Park, an optimal location for incoming biobased projects.

“The clean energy market is growing at an unprecedented pace, and rural communities need the tools to keep up on a competitive global stage,” says Jordan Solomon, Chairman of the BDO Zone Initiative. “Libby’s BDO Zone rating is a powerful signal to project developers worldwide that Libby has undergone rigorous and extensive due diligence using over 100 standardized, transparent, and validated risk indicators based on the BSCR Standards for biobased investment.

Libby’s BDO Zone rating fills a critical need for more credible financial tools that empower rural regions to gain attention at the international level and enable local communities to leverage local biomass assets to attract new biobased manufacturing plants, and create jobs.”

For more information on the Libby, Montana BDO Zone, or to see the full BDO Zone Rating, visit www.bdozone.org.

Libby, Montana is located in the northwest corner of the state in Lincoln County. Located inside the Kootenai National Forest, the town is nestled in a valley carved out by the Kootenai River and is on the flank of the Cabinet Mountain Range and Wilderness Area. The town is home to approximately 2,800 residents.

Geographically, Libby is in a unique position nearly bordering the state of Idaho and the province of British Columbia, Canada. The town is about 3 hours east of Spokane, WA, 3.5 hours northwest of Missoula, MT and 2.5 hours west of Glacier National Park.

Libby is also located within a Federal Opportunity Zone where eligible new investment can take advantage of the preferential tax benefits. Investors and developers interested in siting a project in the Libby BDO Zone can tap into the Lincoln County Porty Authority to provide programs and incentives through local, state and Federal resources.

Lincoln County Port Authority was formed in 2003 as a means to develop the 400 acres acquired after Stimson Lumber Company ceased activity on the property in 2002. This property, now known as the Kootenai Business Park (KBP), was remediated in 2012 and is a suitable area for commercial and industrial redevelopment. The KBP encompasses approximately 400 acres and includes wood product companies, remediations contractions, a heavy construction equipment company, a 100,000 square foot vacant industrial warehouse and a wood products waste generated on-site landfill.

LCPA’s mission is to attract and develop business investment for the purpose of increasing private investment, job creation, and allow for further diversification of the regional economy and tax base.

The BDO Zone Initiative is an economic development platform that enables local communities to deploy powerful economic development tools – BDO Zone Ratings—to achieve the goal of driving, accelerating and catalyzing biobased investment and commercial project development in BDO Zone designated regions for new biofuel, renewable chemical, biogas and bioproduct plants. BDO Zone Ratings do this by carrying out credible technical evaluations on feedstock and infrastructure risk, and then enabling communities to effectively and easily signal and promote key feedstock and infrastructure “success” characteristics valued by biobased developers and investors around the world.

BDO Zones have the ability to move the needle on job creation, decarbonization, and social justice. With a goal of 1,000 BDO Zones in four years across the U.S., this Initiative has the potential to create over 160,000 clean jobs, and reduce green house gas (GHG) emissions by 2.59%.

Ecostrat led the USDOE/BETO funded project to develop the new investment Standards and Ratings for Biomass Supply Chain Risk. Its Biomass Supply Group has over 25 years of experience in sourcing and supplying over 5 million tons of biomass feedstock for bioenergy, biofuel, and biochemical projects across North America. Its Advisory Group combines the BSCR Standards with powerful predictive analytics to understand and minimize supply chain risk.

Jordan Solomon is Chairman of the BDO Zone Initiative and President of Ecostrat. He has overseen development and operation of biomass supply chains for over 5,000,000 tons of feedstock over two decades for bioenergy, biofuel, and biochemical projects.