RES makes national headlines

A controversial plant in Carthage will be the subject of a cable television program later this year, but Carthage's mayor said the city doesn't need the press the plant is bringing in.

The Renewable Environmental Solutions plant, which converts waste turkey offal and other materials into diesel fuel oil, and fertilizer, will be featured as a Modern Marvel in the History Channel's popular series of the same name.Julie Gelfand, spokeswoman for Changing World Technologies Inc, which owns the Carthage plant, located at 530 N. Main St., said this was not the first time the plant has been featured in the national media.

"Obviously there's been of controversy about this company in Carthage over the years," Gelfand said. "But for what it's worth, the scientific community really is celebrating what this company is doing. It's been a major feature on the Discovery Channel several times, it's been featured annually in Discover Magazine, and it's been featured in the New York Times, Business Week, Fortune, and Money Magazine. It's just extraordinary; the Wall Street Journal did a front-page feature on the company. The other History Channel program that featured the company was called Bone Yard. It also was on two Discovery Channel programs, one was called Future Cars and one was called Techknowledge."

Gelfand said scientists and journalists from outside Carthage have toured the plant frequently in the past five years. She e-mailed articles from the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Economist magazine, Discovery Magazine, NewScientist and others to The Carthage Press to illustrate her point.

"I cannot tell you how many reporters we have worked with in the last several years who have come in with their arms folded across their chests with skeptical expressions across their faces going I simply don't believe it, it's just too good to be true and I'm going to blow the top off this," Gelfand said. "I can point you to articles where that very same reporter has been chastened and said to the reader, I started out all prepared to blow this up, but I'm a believer."

Woestman said he welcomes the reporters and hopes they experience what Carthage has been experiencing with the plant.

"I think that's great that they're bringing other people in," Woestman said. "I hope they come on a day when they've got a major stink going on. I welcome all outside people to come in here because they cannot hide that stink. He calls that a woops, he can't hide that every day. He's got to have one of those on a days when someone is here."
Changing World Technologies Inc.'s Thermal Conversion Process (TCP) technology is the first commercially viable method of reforming organic waste into oil, according to a written release from the company.

The company's Renewable Environmental Solutions subsidiary can convert approximately 250 tons/day of turkey offal and fats into approximately 20,000 gallons of a renewable diesel fuel oil and valuable fertilizer products.
Local industrial customers use the renewable diesel fuel oil to hedge against rising energy prices and as a way to reduce their fossil fuel consumption and carbon emissions. Local farmers are also applying fertilizer to minimize their escalating costs and a way to secure a local supply.

The focus on CWT's TCP technology comes as global oil prices continue to set and break new record highs.

Utilizing above-ground waste streams to create a renewable, environmentally sound domestic source of energy is one of our most promising options for breaking our virtual bondage to oil imports," said Brian S. Appel, CWT Chairman and CEO in the written release. "Modern Marvels is a highly respected and highly rated forum in which to demonstrate the potential of waste-to-oil technology."

Gelfand said she understands that Carthage residents have had complaints about the plant, but she hopes they would keep an open mind to the technology and its potential.

"What I would hope is that yes, they are citizens of Carthage but they are also citizens of this country and they are affected by the same economic impacts of the energy crisis and the economic crisis that we're all currently suffering," Gelfand said. "I would hope that they could open their minds just a little bit to appreciate the scientific importance and the potential economic importance of what is being done here, and embrace the very genuine and public effort that this company has made to continually refine and change it's plant operations to address their concerns. The company has poured millions into reconfiguring the actual equipment to minimize the impact on the community and they will continue to do so. They have been very public about that, they have been cooperative and entirely accessible to the DNR and to the local leadership.
Woestman said Carthage has been open-minded for five years and is still paying a price,

"We should not be sacrificed, one town should not be sacrificed for something like this," Woestman said. "It is hurting our tourism, it is hurting people coming and moving into town. I've got a call right now from a manufacturing company because he couldn't get someone to move here because our city has this problem."