About twenty of us met in the Plant Kitchen the other day to pulverize the idea of becoming one entity.
For a while now we have been operating as two entities. Piedmont Biofuels Coop, on a bend of the Pittsboro Moncure Road, and Piedmont Biofuels Industrial, on the eastern edge of Pittsboro.
One collects feedstocks from area eateries. One buys feedstock from global commodity markets. One does tours every Sunday; the other does tours once a month. One makes four thousand gallons of on spec. fuel a month. The other does that in a day.
To adequately describe the entangled web between the two is high on impossible-or would take an entire book. All we know for sure is that occasionally the two entities find themselves working at cross-purposes. Out of alignment. One hurts the other.
Moya has introduced us all to the concept of “personal BTUs,” which is a unit of energy we all spend talking amongst ourselves. She is a fan of Coop structure. And she is a fan of alignment. As the Grease Goddess on project, she also holds the cards to everybody’s future.
At the heart of “alignment” discussions is the idea that we can stop squandering personal BTUS negotiating with one another, and instead turn that energy to the outside world.
After a month of discussions, passionate arguments, and pulverization, we have decided to join forces. Forget Coop. Forget Industrial. We have elected to enter the future as simply Piedmont Biofuels. We are going to take the personal BTUs saved in the process, and invest them in more meaningful things.
Like the membership. Or is increasing grease collections. Or in eliminating debt. And expenses.
As far as we can tell, we have four constituencies to serve. We need to take care of the members. And the employees. And the investors. And the creditors.
Easy. As long as we have all oars in the water, and as long as we are all pulling in the same direction, everyone can win by becoming one Piedmont.
From left to right, Matt, Original E.D., Jason, Farmer, Simon, Coop Board President, Caleb, Coop Executive Director, Dr. Estill, Tim, Design Build, Spencer, Design Build, Leif, Engineering, Russell, Production, Greg, R+A, (Next row, right to left) Amanda, Administration (dying for one set of books), Chris, Master of Everything, Nick, Design Build, David, Design Build, Rachel, Founder (front line left to right) Mary Beth, Farmer, Scott, Network Czar, Jeremy, Fuel Maker, Link, Morale Engineer, Kate, Feedstock Collection Star
Members first. We think we can do better here. It appears the universal truth behind Cooperative endeavors is that they line up like a pyramid-or Maslow’s hierarchy. At the base, the overwhelming numbers of members just want biodiesel. They want the B100 Community Trail to be stocked and working, they have never visited our Moncure location, they don’t come to annual meetings, they just want to fill up and drive. They like being free of the petroleum grid.
For them, as we move forward together as one Piedmont, we are going to cut the Trail price back to 3.50 a gallon. That’s a one-dollar drop, and we will make it happen as soon as we can get new signage and the programming done.
The next tier of the triangle of members-smaller and mysterious-is those people who just want to belong. We have long sold memberships to faraway people, and we have never understood why. Why would someone in St. Louis mail in 50.00 a year? We have never understood it, until now. People have been cheering for us, people want to belong to us, and we are going to broaden this part of our member base.
More parties. More member events. More communication. We are going to continue to escort North Carolina into the low carbon future that awaits us, and we are happy to expand as a membership organization. It appears we will be going beyond biodiesel. The Abundance Foundation has agreed to offer a discount on its workshops to Piedmont members. “Belonging” is something we can deliver. Screech is about to erect five new greenhouses. He’ll be looking for volunteers who want to get their head around greenhouse construction. Email Screech if you would like to get involved.
At the pinnacle of the triangle are those who care deeply about Coop governance, and who run for the board and are fully engaged. That’s us. And we will leave that in tact. Members will elect a Board of Directors who will advise management on how to proceed in the best interest of the membership.
There are a bunch of us who are personally looking forward to interacting with members again.
Next there are the employees. For them we are converting twenty five percent of our stock into an employee equity compensation plan so that we can be employee owned. We will be rolling out option agreements in the next quarter. Preliminary plan is in place, and is modeled in part on the plan done by our friends at Southern Energy Management.
Next there are the investors. On the one hand they have agreed to being diluted, on the other hand they stand to benefit from alignment. They are good.
And finally there are our creditors.
This fusion of organizations will improve our fiscal health. Losses will end. Assets will mop up liabilities. Those activities that cash flow will be nourished to flourish, and those expenses that were holding us back will go away.
No jobs are lost. Momentum is gained. All lenders will continue to get paid, and some stagnant debt will go away. Creditors will love this union.
That bend in the Moncure Road that has long been the home to our small scale biodiesel plant will convert back to farming and human habitation. That will align us with landowners and neighbors and regulators-many of whom have felt our activities were exceeding what the space could metabolize.
In the grand experiment that is Piedmont Biofuels, this isn’t our first circuitous route. Distribution began over here, was transferred over there, and back again, before realizing that really it should have been like “this” in the first place.
Same with education. Started at the College, headed to the Coop, got picked up by Abundance, and back to the College it went. Not bad. Just not linear. My guess is that education will go up a notch by having us all under one roof.
Workforce development is the same way. Many of us believe deeply in the internship program. And it will live on. All current internship commitments are being met as we become one.
I would dearly like to say there are no losers here, but it appears home brewing will incur a setback. That could be a temporary thing (all aspects of our project have endured temporary setbacks in the past), or it could be permanent-based on the passion and the viability of the homebrew enthusiasts. We are open.
Tours will live on-only the tchotche will not have to be toted around. The project will benefit greatly from a unified fleet, with one insurance policy, and a unified payroll, with one health plan for employees. It will enjoy reduced rent, reduced utilities, and reduced taxes.
One Piedmont Biofuels is just a good thing.
I should note that this idea has been perennial. In this iteration it traveled around the project for about a month and a half before reaching consensus. After endless lunches and meetings and emotional discharges we forged agreement with the Coop Board of Directors, Industrial investors, landowners, and employees to put together a picture that creditors would simply love.
Whew. Big job. Feels good. Everyone involved has done lots of work.
I feel like the Zen priest approaching the hot dog wagon on the street corner. When it is my turn to order, I simply ask the vendor to “Make me one with everything.”
While I have tried to make this entry as clear as possible, I’m guessing I have failed to answer all questions from all comers. I’ll be in the Control Room all week, and the fusing of our two organizations is underway now. Or email me. Or call me. 919-321-8260 if you would like clarification on any part of this fusion….
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“One Love, One Heart
Let’s get together and feel all right”
- Bob Marley
This is fabulous, and of course, Mark would approve.
To the Future!
Bravo! Well put.
Simon
well said, well done. let’s get going.
Collaboration and unity will always be successful!
Hooray!!
Thank you for this thoughtful post Lyle, you did a good job explaining an extraordinarily complex topic. I suspect that many people outside our immediate bubble have never really understood the difference between the two entities, and truthfully those of us inside often times are as equally confused.
One of the great lessons you have taught me is to get clear about what I want first, and then to manifest that reality.
And that is what I believe we are doing – getting clear.
So with some sadness in the face of change, and tremendous joy and hope towards the future I fully support that which brings greater clarity to the project, and makes the whole stronger.
I invite the thoughts and comments of other members as well.
Matt Rudolf
matt@biofuels.coop
Former Executive Director
I like the idea of unifying in an effort to stop the squandering of personal BTUS.
I wonder what would happen if we all stopped wasting personal BTUS? Perhaps only by coming together as one; as citizens not of nations, but of the planet, will change ever come.
It looks like this alignment is certainly a step in the right direction.
Yes Bob, Mark would approve:-)
Thanks for the informative and concise email. As both a “just want B100″ and “just want to belong” member, I am happy with this new development and congratulate all on their efforts towards it.
And I am especially happy about the $3.50 price!
I would love to drive this price down even lower. To that end, I would like to hear how our collection program is progressing. That may have been covered at this years annual meeting which I (and others) missed and a recap would be appreciated.
I have personally added one restaurant to the total and have four more on my goals for this year. News of others and their successes, setbacks, and strategies would also be welcomed.
I know this probably should have been two posts, but I got carried away.
Cheers,
John Hollingsworth
Chapel Hill, NC
I read through the entry, and I am still not clear on one thing. What will this combined entity be? Will it be a member owned coop? A partially employee-owned corporation? A corporation owned by the coop? I am just not clear what this thing will be after combining 2 distinct ownership structures.
Well I, for one, welcome the drop in price on the “Trail”. I’m a businessman. This is a dollars and cents thing for me. I don’t use a lot of bio, mainly enough to make sure that the lubriciity of the dino is up where it needs to be so that I don’t incure injection pump repair bills. So when the price jumped to $4.50/gal I was looking at spending $9.00/tank (roughly a 5% mix) vs $4.50/tank for a commercial additive. Now I can re-evaluate the situation and will be happy to do so!
I have enjoyed getting to know some of the people at the coop and will miss being able to make homebrew (or work on other projects) with them. During the past year I have been bringing in WVO and exchanging it for biodiesel. Where should I now take my WVO for exchange?
As a board member and active Tuesday night volunteer, I will be actively pursuing how to keep Tuesday nights going. It will take some figuring out but the more member support the easier and faster it will be. There’s been talk of making fuel in Clean Tech and doing projects on it. Members interested in coming out for fuel making should get in contact with me or Caleb. As for the WVO exchange, Talk to Caleb or Moya about that.
Bravo! I have a variety of perspectives on this: As a co-op member and admirer of both organizations (and now I know for sure that there really were two separate ones), I think this makes great sense. As someone who teaches in a business school, I’m delighted to see that everyone came to their senses. As a person who is involved in Carolina Biodiesel, well, I’m kinda jealous (always have been, will continue to be). And finally, as a homebrewer who saw the changes building at the co-op over the last fall, I thought something like this might happen. I haven’t been down on Tuesday night in a while, and was hoping to get back into it at some point. But no hurry — there’s always plenty to do ….
Congrats all around. Grease on!
Bob Clemen
As a reply to Mark’s question above, I think the entity will be an Employee Owned Cooperatively Managed Limited Liability Corporation with a Membership Community. For short we call it an EOCMLLCw/MC (that’s pronounced EOCMLLCw/MC).
This is the worst possible direction the Coop could take. The objectives of either parties, the Coop vs the Industrial, are polar opposites. The Coop on 1 hand was intended to be a community based organization supported by and for the community. The Industrial is a business and as we all know a typical business model is based on profit, including and not limited to, selling fuel internationally, if the price is right anything for a dollar eh?
If someone would please post the section, paragraph and or sentence from the Coops Mission Statement that reflects a for profit mentality I would greatly appreciate it.
This allows the plant on lorax lane (formerly industrial) to produce wvo and sell it to the local market and at the same time keep it’s doors open and employ people. As I understand it selling chicken fat overseas wasn’t an easy choice, but the best one at the time. Now with the Bio-Refinery in place and a growing oil collection business the industrial-sized plant can scale back it’s production and not go out of business doing it. It’s been a long and rocky journey but I think the project is getting to where it needs to be. I’m optimistic that the new Piedmont Biofuels will have the financial freedom and owner constraints to make choices we can be happier about.
Does that mean we as Co-op members get to vote on how the Industrial does business? We are now one right?
So whenever there is a detrimental decision that has been made hmm say shipping tens of thousands gallons of poultry based fuel to an environment that cant possibly support it. We as Coop/Industrial members can recall that decision before it ultimately gives the entire industry a black eye?
Hey I am for it please send me an invite to the next Industrial Board of Directors meeting I have some ideas on how we can distribute the profits
Once again, a great idea and action here – and, once again I take my hat off to all of you! I would agree you are much stronger together than apart, in all ways. As usual, I am envious of the strong sense of direction, unity and community displayed by Piedmont.
Piedmont has always set the bar high – continue to do so.
Sincerely,
Randy
Foothills Bio-Energies
When Simon came home and told me that the coop and industrial were merging I cried. This may seem silly, but at first I was thinking of all the coop board meetings that Simon has gone to on a Sunday afternoon, sacrificing trips to see family, or just lazy days at home for the coop. Then I started thinking of all the work everyone else has put into the coop. Initially, I saw this merger as the end of the coop. The end of all of that work and the end of the primary reason why Simon and I moved here in the first place. Then I realized that the coop is not going away. Things about it will change, and that is fine, but joining industrial does make sense. Two friends are joining to become one. Hopefully it will reduce everyones personal BTUs and Simon and I will still have good reason to be here (with less stress as a result of the merger)! Good luck Piedmont! I’m happy that I am a member and I’m excited to see where the future leads! Optimistic smiles…
I understand it selling chicken fat overseas wasnt an easy choice, but the best one at the time.
No Ian it was not the best one at the time. Is there not one person in the Coop that has the common sense to realize that the Industrial was used as a tool? The easiest way to build consumer confidence in petrol is to provide them with a Biofuel that is not capable of sustaining its properties low temperatures.
The best way for petrol companies (and those who are paid by them) to protect themselves from competition is to build consumer disgust in the competition hence the Industrial collected handouts from both 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW and 10 Downing St
Welcome to you have played like a baby grand piano, population – you
Well I’m not familiar with that, but I do know The Plant is off of chicken fat and back on WVO. I’m looking forward to more palatable fuel going forward.
I wonder what will happen to the Coop when Exxon or Chevron rolls into town in their black limousines spewing carcinogens into the Pittsboro air. The occupants fully intending to “make an offer” the Industrial can’t refuse…and they won’t. Has anyone thought that far? That is the intention of any business, to be profitable…
I see three potential scenario,
1) the Industrial sells to some big oil company because as Ian points out its “the best one [decision] at the time.”
2) the Industrial sells to some big oil company because it has no other alternatively, shut the doors or sellout
or
3) the Industrial sells to some big oil company because big oil is forcing them to shut down
What I would like to know is which Board Member sat down and read out loud both the By Laws and the Mission Statement before *yall* started pulverizing the structure of the Coop? Who was informed that this was even a talking point up for discussion? I know that myself, being a long time member, had no clue that the Coop was about to be dissolved into Industrial ownership. Certainly a decision of this magnitude should have been presented to the members for discussion instead of an clandestine meeting of an elite few
I wonder if anyone has considered that a merger between the two entities brings with it a certain amount of responsibility and accountability. Specifically, the By Laws of the Coop on reference to Article II subsection 4
http://www.biofuels.coop/coop/bylaws/
To engage in any other lawful act or activity which Cooperatives may perform under Chapter 54 of the General Statutes of North Carolina, Subchapter IV.
Which for my purposes map to Chapter 54 Item 11 here
§ 54-116. Bylaws adopted.
At the time of making the articles of incorporation the incorporators shall make
bylaws which shall provide:
(1) The name of the corporation.
(2) The purposes for which it is formed.
(3) Qualifications for membership.
(4) The date of the annual meeting; the manner in which members shall be
notified of meetings; the manner of conducting the meetings; the
number of members which shall constitute a quorum at the meetings,
and regulations as to voting.
(5) The number of members of the board of directors; powers and duties;
the compensation and duties of officers elected by the board of
directors.
(6) In the case of selling agencies or productive societies, regulations for
grading.
(7) In the case of selling agencies or productive societies, regulations
governing the sale of products by the members through the organization.
(8) The par value of the shares of capital stock.
(9) The conditions upon which shares may be issued, paid in, transferred,
and withdrawn.
(10) The manner in which the reserve fund shall be accumulated.
(11) The manner in which the dividends shall be determined and paid to
members.
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/pdf/ByArticle/Chapter_54/Article_16.pdf
Reviewing item 11, what is the manner that the Industrial will pay dividends to its members? Or perhaps the Coop Board members thrown out the By Laws entirely? If that is true, the coop no longer exists anyway
Guys i have resigned my membership, I really do wish you all the best… but I strongly suspect it will not … Good Luck…
“That is the intention of any business, to be profitable ”
Profitable for whom? Most entrepreneurial startups’ main intention is to provide employment for the employees, not revenue for investors. Piedmont’s main intention appears to us outsiders to be to provide sutainable fuel for the local area, and to set an example for others.”Profit” wasn’t mentioned or implied, and even trying to meet fossil fuel’s prices was ruled out in favor of a price that covered expenses (not profit for investors). Perhaps I’ve misinterpreted the image presented. Perhaps “dividends” equates to “profits”. I would be surprised if the members looked forward to dividends in the same way that investors look forward to profits. Many companies (such as the one I work for) make all business decisions with regard to the effect on profits, but does the coop make all business decisions with regard to the effect on dividends? I was not under that impression.
Wow, Lyle. What great progress you all are making!
Piedmont is, and I’m confident always will be, a source of great inspiration to those of us who understand that while the stereotypical “big business” corporate model is clearly broken, the best chance we have to fix it is to jump in and do our best to serve as models for a new business paradigm. We get to work with what we have. . .
I can only imagine how difficult this decision has been for you all — change hurts like hell. I suspect there will be days when you fear that your critics are right and that you have, indeed, “sold out.” I know I have those days. But then I remember why we have chosen to put our hearts and souls into this whole renewable energy business thing when, in fact, it would have been a lot simpler to plant ourselves on the side of a mountain somewhere, eating homegrown vegetables and watching the whole world go to hell instead of actually doing anything to try to change it. And while change doesn’t come as easily as we want it to, and we are still constrained by the realities of global economics, that doesn’t impede our power to make choices that — even if only in a small way — improve the lives of others by embodying the values we hold dear.
Lyle, you know me, and you know I could go on and on about my thoughts on this subject, but instead I choose to close here by saying — SHINE ON, Piedmont, and thank you for standing with us and helping us to grow as you work to grow yourselves. Maybe someday the world will be filled with EOCMLLCw/MCs? I didn’t know Mark, but am heartened by those who say he would be proud of your efforts. He must’ve been an incredible human being, as you all are.
Stay in the ray!
-Maria