Industrial Progress

In the words of Bruce, “We work and work and work, and then it looks like we done something.”

This is a dramatic week for Industrial. We received our final inspection, and certificate of occupancy for the outside part of our fuel terminal. That would be CO#2 in our collection. CO#3 also arrived for the kitchen space in Building One, but that is not nearly as dramatic.

On Monday I found myself unable to work as I watched a flatbed load of tanks roll in. And as the driver started repositioning his rig over and over again, beneath our newly permitted terminal, I found myself unable to watch.

I positioned myself atop a pile of dirt, looking down into our newly poured spill containment, and watched them off load our incoming methanol tank. In the foreground Junior scraped up errant cement to pass the time. Cynder block walls have been filled with concrete and rebar, capped, and coated with Portland cement. All that remains is a coat of acryllic sealant, which is on order.

It was an amazing feeling to see our methanol tank shooting skyward.

That day Girl Mark blazed through town on her way to some gig in the mountains. She landed in Raleigh, hit the grocery store, and in the middle of her shopping she stopped herself and headed for Chatham Marketplace. Good for her. She passes through Pittsboro enough to know the place, and I was lucky enough to catch lunch with her on her flyby. I noticed that I spent most of my time with her saying, “This is off-blog, right?”

I will say that I am caught in a strange sort of blogging paralysis. I don’t feel at liberty to discuss much of what we are doing. This is partly due to the unfinished permits we are working on, and partly due to the rapidly shifting biodiesel landscape in North Carolina.

When Evan came back from Atlanta, where he attended a meeting of the Southeast Diesel Collaborative, put on by the EPA, he reported that North Carolina had fallen behind other southern states in terms of infrastructure for blends. Apparently South Carolina has more B20 stations up than we do, and in this neck of the woods, that is an insult.

We countered this news with the creation of the B100 Scene, which gives some good snapshots of the B100 community in this state, where I would venture to say we have a lead. I was disappointed when no one from the renewables establishment patted us on the back for these remarkable web pages.

Rachel and I headed to Southern Pines for a ribbon cutting at America’s Fuels, and right in the middle of our time there, the fire marshal called. He had a 1:30 time slot open, or he could schedule next week. In our current paradigm, regulators take precedent over all things. Today we are operating under a list of permits that fills about one page, single spaced. So we raced home to jump into a meeting with the fire marshal.

These are days of constant pressure. If we are not keeping pressure on a plumber to show up at the appointed houróto replace our 8″ strainer or thirty year old foot valveóit is pressure on engineering to get us a stamped drawing for the trench, and if it is not pressure on engineering, it is pressure on an inspector to get onto their docket.

At this point we are required to keep the pedal matted, which is hard to do in the context of everything on our plates. This is a time when we are putting dreams on hold.

The sculpture I was working on for the berm at the entranceway? On hold.
The combined heat and power project brought to us by our giant generator? Later.
The fleet survey project that Blue Ridge was conducting? Sorry about that.
It seems every moment is focused on getting permitted, acquiring gear, clearing obstacles for the building crew, and making sure that no one is stuck. It seems every moment is focused on getting open.

At present we have acquired three certificates of occupancy. We have another on the way with our office/lab, and we are currently squatting in Building One. We have another that we are working toward on reactors, wash and dry.

Inspectors visit daily, and one day, when I was touring the facility with a reporter, I saw Leif escorting Rossie around taking pictures. He is a field representative for the USDA, to which we have recently applied for a grant. We all feel that a surprise visit from Rossie is a good signólike a blue bird that flies across your path.

We are making progress. And we are going to hit our August opening date. It’s just that we have some work to do between now and then…