Re:  RGE project continues to progress; E-Fuels renews land option

 

HELENA-WEST HELENA-At its monthly meeting, the Phillips County Port Authority provided an additional 75 days to RBE Arkansas, LLC to complete its financing and received a $60,000 nonrefundable payment from E-Fuels, Inc. to renew its land option for 12 additional months.

 

RBE Arkansas, which is owned by Kansas City investors, has been making steady progress for several months on its negotiations with the Port Authority.  An agreement has been signed, and RBE Arkansas is nearing completion of arranging its financing package.  Executive Director Martin Chaffin said, “This is a complicated deal.  I have been on conference calls with the investors, and I am confident that they will be making a commitment within the next month.  We have been making steady progress.”

 

RBE Arkansas’s proposed facility, which will make food-grade products for use in items like corn chips, biofuel with food-grade byproducts, fish pellets from the remains after biofuel production, and produce electrical power represents an investment large enough to qualify for superproject incentives from the State of Arkansas.  The $1.8 billion facility is estimated to employ 520 with salaries averaging $38,000 per year when completed.  Construction jobs are estimated to number 1000 over a four year period.

 

Chaffin said, “I am confident that this deal is moving forward.  We have met with state officials and with representatives of Woodruff Electric in the past two weeks.  Things are moving forward.  This is an exciting prospect for this community.  It is just a complicated transaction that takes time.  However, when this is done we are going to see the economy of our area totally transformed, and it is going to make our harbor one of the strongest in the nation.”

 

Chaffin also reported that E-Fuels renewed its land option at the slackwater harbor.  He said, “Their representatives were in last week and gave a $60,000 payment to renew the option.  The contract with E-Fuels requires that they begin construction within 12 months.  If they do not, then the land option automatically expires.  I still feel good about the prospects of this project as well.”  E-Fuels plans to produce biofuels at the slackwater harbor.

 

The Port also learned that the final phase of the bridge crane remains on schedule for completion in June.  The completion of the port’s infrastructure is largely credited with the increase in the number of economic prospects considering the harbor location in Phillips County for large industrial projects.

 

 

Chaffin said, “We have been working for thirty years to be in this position.  The puzzle is finally coming together, and I am extremely excited about the economic future of this harbor and this community.  We have a good community with good people and one of the finest inland harbors in the world.  We have good leadership, and we have the necessary infrastructure.  Only good things can happen.”