Biomass plant won't locate in Tallahassee (FSU)

[jpak]

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070113/NEWS01/701130323/1010/NEWS01

A biomass plant that had been proposed for Tallahassee will instead be built in Liberty County after a deal between the city and Florida State University to locate the plant on FSU-owned land fell through.

City commissioners received a letter Friday from Biomass Gas and Electric, which is building a 38-megawatt plant to serve the city, telling them that FSU has withdrawn its offer to sublease the 21.2-acre site in southeast Tallahassee.

The plant is expected to employ 20 to 25 full-time workers, with an annual payroll of more than $1.5 million. In addition, BG&E's offer of $2 million to build an alternative-energy-research center, linked to the plant, at FSU has been put on hold.

"If the plant's not there, I'm not sure how it all works together," said BG&E CEO Glenn Farris. "We're disappointed."

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[nealmhughes]

1. I have a friend who grew up there, it is in the middle of nowhere. Literally.

It is basicly not even in the Panhandle, but where the Big Bend starts at Apachicola Bay begins. Only about 8000 people live in the entire county, and most of the land is tied up in the App. Nat. Forest.
When he was last there, going to a wedding in App., a black bear was sleeping in the highway and would not move for him no matter how furiously he honked! He waited half an hour before it decided to amble off into the woods!
This is a very, very poor part of Florida, and any industry they can get is good for them, especially biomass!

[madrchsod]

2. i have friends that moved just north of there

they love the area and acually it`s not all that far from tallahassee. he moved from northern illinois to there and what struck him is that most people thought that driving 3-40 miles for a job was crazy. the folks in his town thought that tallahassee was really far away because it was 35-40 miles down the road...