NEWS October 26, 2021 Our Workers Coop is born! Oct 21, 2021 The founding members of the Northeast Biodiesel Workers’ Coop have met and agreed to Articles of Organization, effectively forming a coop. These workers plus others that they recruit will be the owners of the coop that provides workers for Northeast Biodiesel. They will continue meeting to approve bylaws (“Operating Agreement”) and Membership Agreement. These documents have been substantially developed by the Board of Managers, but the board welcomes the input and approval of the workers’ coop members. This is an exciting and major step toward launching our biodiesel plant. September 29, 2020 Northeast Biodiesel is hiring! Northeast biodiesel is seeking workers interested in starting up and being part owners in a manufacturing business making biodiesel from used cooking oil in the Greenfield Massachusetts industrial park. The biodiesel we make will be used in oil heat systems and diesel engines. The plant is already built, permitted, and ready to launch once final financing has been secured and the processor is commissioned. New hires need to be in place for our anticipated launch in November or December. The federal government voted in December 2019, to give a one dollar a gallon credit For each gallon of biodiesel produced, so we will be launching the plant under very good financial conditions. The plant will be owned by Co-op Power, an energy cooperative, and the people who work at the plant. This is a great opportunity to be an active owner in your workplace. In addition to salary or hourly wages, all worker owners share in the profits each year and participate in major decisions impacting the business. Workers become owners by purchasing an equity share paid out of their annual patronage distributions up to the individual cumulative total. Equity contributions may also be made now with sweat equity by helping with start-up activities. Hiring and Start date are dependent on availability of funding. Fundraising is on-going. SUMMARY Carries out activities as a worker-owner of a worker-cooperative, biodiesel production facility to obtain optimum efficiency and economy of operations, to produce high quality fuel, and maximize profits. For more information, and to apply for the Senior Production Operator job, go to: https://www.indeed.com/job/senior-biodiesel-production-operator-346a5b7756e2a6d3 For the Production operator job, go to: https://www.indeed.com/job/biodiesel-production-operator-8315aef6352e4ece April 8, 2016 Newspaper Feature: Northeast Biodiesel is "A slow burn for the long haul" Another nice feature in The Recorder this week talked about how the project has been financed by a supportive community and its 'patient capital.' "If you think there’s alchemy in turning waste french-fry oil and stir-fry oil into fuel for diesel vehicles and home heating, consider the magic of building a biodiesel factory in the Greenfield Industrial Park — and ensuring that it is a locally owned, co-operative venture..." Continue here. March 24, 2016 On Front Page of The Recorder This Week "Northeast Biodiesel LLC, owned by the Florence-based Co-Op Power energy cooperative, received its temporary certificate of occupancy last week as well as its first delivery of waste vegetable oil, to be used in its British-made Green Fuels processor that will begin churning out 1.75 million gallons a year of heating oil and diesel fuel in the coming weeks." Read on here. February 3, 2016 We're Hiring Our recycled-oil-to-biodiesel refinery in Greenfield, MA, is now hiring staff in anticipation of starting up operation! The plant will collect used cooking oil from around the region and turn it into fuel for trucks, tractors, cars, and home heating oil systems. If you know someone looking for good work in western Massachusetts, send them here. December 14, 2015 Public News Service Radio Story BOSTON – Sometime next month a new plant in Greenfield should start cranking out clean biodiesel fuel that is manufactured from recycled cooking oil. Co-op Power CEO Lynn Benander says the plant will take cooking oil waste from restaurants, schools and institutions in the area and convert it into millions of gallons of a clean source of energy that works in both vehicles and for heating homes. Read more and listen here. September 4, 2015 Loan from Common Good Finance boosts completion of Northeast Biodiesel plant in Greenfield By RICHIE DAVIS For the Gazette - Sep 4, 2015 Long in the planning to ensure it is locally owned, the Northeast Biodiesel plant nearly ready at the Greenfield Industrial Park is getting a final boost from a 160-member, community-based nonprofit finance system. The $200,000, seven-year loan is provided by Ashfield-based Common Good Finance to Co-op Power, a Hatfield-based energy cooperative that is developing the $4.2 million biodiesel plant. It will cap a six-month campaign to raise the final $850,000 so the plant can begin producing biodiesel fuel from used vegetable oil. May 8, 2015 Biodiesel Factory Project Needs Final $850K Article by The Recorder Friday, May 8, 2015 (Published in print: Saturday, May 9, 2015) The member-owned co-op that’s trying to build a $4.2 million biodiesel factory in the Greenfield Industrial Park is racing toward a June 1 deadline on construction bids to raise what it says is the final $850,000 for the project that has been in the works for more than 10 years. Two-thirds of the Northeast Biodiesel factory, on a 26.5-acre Silvio Conte Drive site, is complete, and some of the 475 members of the Hatfield-based Co-op Power Energy Cooperative have stepped forward in the past month with $500,000 in new loan commitments toward the final $1.3 million in financing. “Assembling the financing for Northeast Biodiesel from the ground up has been a long haul,” said Lynn Benander, chief operating officer of co-op. “This is a very serious moment for us ... But we’ve made tremendous progress in the past year and are ready to get the plant finished if we can clear this final hurdle in time.” The co-op is appealing to its current members to dig deeper and hoping that new backers will join the co-op and contribute toward the remaining goal so it can meet its deadline to award bids that have come in for final work on the project. The co-op would love to sign up more members “who would like to see a locally owned manufacturing plant come back to Greenfield ... feeding the local economy,” said Benander. If they miss the deadline, the project would be delayed yet again, costing thousands, because the contractors and a general manager the co-op has hired would move on to other projects. “This is the first time we’ve known exactly how much we need to finish the job,” said Benander. Co-op Power has raised and spent more than $2 million to date for the land, site work, foundation and building, installed tanks, equipment and a biodiesel processor. The group has received a building permit to complete construction. In the past few months, Co-op Power has hired a general manager and has completed final engineering designs and received construction bids. Once funds have been secured, final plans will be submitted to the town for the final permit, said Benander. The facility, with a startup capacity of producing 5,000 gallons of biodiesel a day from used cooking oil, was originally projected to be ready for 2006. The biodiesel can be used for heating as well as diesel-powered farm equipment, construction equipment and vehicles. Once operational, it should be able to add a second processor within a year, for a total capacity of 3.5 million gallons a year, according to Benander, whose co-op is the majority owner of Northeast Biodiesel. “It’s time to launch,” she said. “We have everything in place to get the plant finished and in production.” December 2, 2014 Volunteer With Us, and Build a Veggie Powered Economy! With our plant targeted to go online in January 2015, Northeast Biodiesel and Co-op Power have begun the process of recruiting new local restaurants in Franklin, Hampshire, and Hamden(VT) county to participate in waste oil collection. This is the first step in creating a sustainable Community Biofuel Cycle and building a veggie powered economy! We are always looking for volunteers to help us with outreach and restaurant recruitment. If you're interested in volunteering to help sign up new restaurants in your community, please contact us at info@cooppower.coop or at 413-772-8892. November 7, 2014 New Crew Members Northeast Biodiesel has hired three new interns through the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center’s Fall Internship Program. Laura Addabbo is a Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency student at Greenfield Community College. Bryant Davis and Alex Ziter are both participating in the Clean Energy Certificate Program at Holyoke Community College. They all will be assisting in various tasks to ready for the opening of the plant, including organizing new volunteer programs for restaurant recruitment, researching the installation of a member-only biofuel pump, and tapping new potential volunteers within their own college communities. Biodiesel Processing Plant: 179 Silvio O. Conte Drive Greenfield, MA 01301 Mailing Address: PO Box 688 Greenfield, MA 01302 Phone: 413-772-8892 | Fax: 413-517-0300 | info [at] northeastbiodiesel.com