Draft-Minutes are not official until approved by council at the next regular meeting.

City of Effie October 15th, 2007 Special Meeting Minutes

In attendance: Mayor Matt David, Council Members: Liza Erickson, Lil Black, Bill Hastings, and T.J.Grady See attached for list of community members in attendance.

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm.

Dean Sedgwick of the Itasca Power Company spoke to the council about his company’s interest in building a biofuel plant in Effie. He stated that what he is looking for from the city is an unconditional and irrevocable letter of support. Mr. Sedgwick explained that the fuel source is forest derived, tree length aspen, which would be converted into fuel grade biobutanol and electricity. This is a direct 1:1 equivalency with petroleum derived gasoline and is compatible with cars right now with no modifications. The plant would require 40 acres of land. Construction would be planned for 2008 and in operation within 24 months. The plant would require at least 30 full time workers. He stated that his company likes Effie because of its proximity and size. It is within the Iron Range Resources area, which makes it available for grants. Processing wood here that was harvested in this area keeps the benefits close to home. 20 truck loads of wood per day would be required. One truck of ash would be hauled out for every 20 trucks of wood hauled in, which could be used for soil enhancement. This would produce 10 million gallons of butanol per year. The plant would require a sewer system. The amount of traffic would impact the roads. There would be housing needs for employees that might be new to the area. This would also then bring cash into the city. There will be a small amount of environmental emissions. 10 megawatts of electricity would also be an output. This is the equivalency of North Itasca Electric Company’s entire output. Two million in payroll would go out every year. Thermal energy would also be produced which could be turned into a district heating system able to heat the City of Effie. Forty construction workers would be needed for a period of about two years. The city would need to provide a letter of support, do some work with the county and state, deal with some issues with the land, help with the infrastructure (i.e. roads and upgrades), hotwater piping and utility accessibility, potential bonding, and proactive participation from the community. In turn, the plant would be generating tax revenue and possibly be a stepping stone to the future. Mr. Sedgwick broke the project into steps: · Provide information to the city. · Obtain a letter of support from the city. · Acquire the 40 acres of land. · Obtain necessary permits. · Obtain and confirm all contracts. · Construction · Training and startup

Many questions were asked, some included: How much water would the plant consume? It depends on the type of trees and how they are processed. They would look at the water available. They believe that there is enough water in the area plus the moisture from the trees would be used.

Would producing electricity consume water? It could.

Is there another plant like this anywhere? Not in the United States. The market for butanol is just starting to develop.

Is this plant the same one that was going to be built in Northome? No. The Northome plant failed because the State of MN chose not to enforce the law.

How much fuel would be stored on site? 20-50 thousand gallons.

Grady explained that there are no fire hydrants in the city and that the nearest fire department was in Bigfork.

What about road restrictions? Roads can be upgraded.

How does butanol burn in the winter? It burns just as good in the winter as in the summer.

Matt asked the council to get input from the community and do any research before the next council meeting. The meeting was adjourned.